Anna Grows

Back to the dorm After a month off for the holidays, Anna headed back to college on January 12.  She was home for the first snowstorm of the year on January 6 with more than 7 inches of snow (she did not seem to be around for much of the shoveling action).   Unfortunately, the storm knocked out power to the water treatment plant in Richmond, VA, leaving the city without water for most of the week.  On the plus side, it happened before classes started, although it did mean a delays in VCU students returning to campus as the dorms did not open until January 13 at noon.  Fortunately, water was working by then and the boil advisory was lifted.  Joe & Theresa drove Anna back for what was almost the equivalent of move in day as everyone was coming back at the same time. They made it in (lots of bottled water was being carried by all of the students) and got some lunch before mom and dad headed home.   Anna just finished her first week of classes and...

 It is time to say goodbye to 2024. It really was a year of transition in the Fagella household as Anna graduated from high school and headed off to college.  Many people have asked Joe & Theresa how they are adjusting to life as empty nesters.  Rather than empty nesters, a better term may be "bird launcher" as her parents feel that they have mostly prepared her to launch off on her own.  Anna has already acknowledged some of this preparedness after a semester in college (apparently the ability to do laundry and clean up after oneself is a rare skill for college freshmen).   There were many highlights and milestones in 2024, including: The first major snow in at least 3 years.  It was only 5 inches, but that was a lot! Anna & Theresa got to enjoy some Broadway musicals together, including Frozen  as well as & Juliet .  Separately, Anna got to see  Wicked  in New York with her cousins.  Theresa got to see Jesus Chris...

A visit to Meadowlark Gardens  The Christmas season flew by, partially because of a delayed start due to a late Thanksgiving this year.  We wanted in great anticipation for the arrival of Anna rather than Santa.  No one knew quite what to expect for her return home for a month.  Here is how it played out so far. Anna took the train from Richmond on December 13 (that would be Friday the 13th).  This took about 45 minutes longer than planned as she got to experience the reality of Amtrak sharing the rails with Norfolk & Southern (freight rail takes precedent).  Theresa picked her up in Alexandria and then Anna dropped Theresa off at the metro station so she could catch a plane for Ohio.  Anna proceeded to spend the rest of the weekend in her room as she was sick and finishing one final paper (it is unclear if Joe knew she was home).  Theresa arrived home on Monday in time to take Anna to get all four of her wisdom teeth out on Tuesday.  Ann...

 The Kohler family met up in beautiful Deep Creek Lake, Maryland for a Thanksgiving gathering.  This has become a bi-annual event with different houses each time.  This year's house had a lovely view from the top of a mountain and a wonderful deck to enjoy said view.  That was all good for Wednesday, but then the snow and wind moved in for the rest of Thanksgiving week.  Fortunately, there was plenty of other activities to keep everyone occupied. There were many ping pong games, led by Aidyn (at one point he and Anna decided to play while on their knees).  Grandma, an experienced ping pong player from her younger days, decided to show them how it was done but then realized this was contingent on them actually being able to hit the ball back to her.  She decided to coach from the sidelines.  There were also some highly competitive Uno games with Anna introducing new rules that the rest of the family did not know (Aidyn called them the "college rule...

 Anna has arrived home for fall break, which for her means that she has the week of Thanksgiving off.  She made it home on Thursday night (no class on Friday) thanks to a ride from one of her high school friends.  She arrived to be greeted by Benny, who was the only one home as Joe & Theresa were at a concert.  Joe told her later that her parents were busy every night of the week and had joined a bowling league, been out dancing, played darts, went to concerts.... really she was lucky Benny was home.  😄 Anna has all sorts of tales from the first semester of college life.  An overall theme is fire alarms going off several times a week (usually in the middle of the night) thanks to people smoking/vaping (one would think they would learn).  There also seems to be an appreciation for those basic life skills, like cleaning up after yourself (ask her about the communal kitchen).  She has her roller skates and has been doing some skating with a frie...

Richmond Botanical Gardens  Parents weekend at VCU was October 18 -20, which turned out to be a gorgeous fall weekend.  Joe & Theresa headed to Richmond Saturday morning (they did let Anna know in advance) to spend the day.  The first thing on the list:  a library tour (we didn't get to do this at orientation).  Anna noted that she had not actually been on a tour of the building.   That turned out to be a great find.  First, we discovered the makers lab in the basement.  This room has all sorts of cool equipment that students can use on site or check out - everything from 3D printers, to camera, to sewing machines.  You name it, they had it.  While touring the special exhibits on the 4th floor, there was a mini-Vienna Jammers reunion after running into Ryelyn and their mom Amy, who happens to be in Jammers Gold with Theresa.  The crew opted for lunch in the dining hall and headed out to tour some parts of Richmond.  We...