Anna Grows

 This year cousin Aidyn joined us for part of his spring break.  He spent the first weekend with Theresa at Grandma and Grandpa's and flew back to spend the second half of the break in Virginia.  Flying was more suspenseful thanks to the continued government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, including the TSA agents who were working without pay.  By the point of this trip, they were 6 weeks in without pay, resulting in growing security lines as many agents were not coming to work and quitting (who can blame them - they were not getting paid).  This meant arriving at the airport at least 2 hours before flight time.  Everyone else was also on spring break, which meant a crowded airport with frustrated travelers.  Fortunately, there were no major issues getting through security and just more time sitting around. Aidyn arrived in DC for record heat and exploding cherry blossoms.  We went on a hike one day at Riverbend park and enjoyed t...

 March definitely came in like and lion and seems to be going out like a lion.  We had everything from 70 degrees to measurable snow throughout the month and once on the same day (70 degrees to snow within 6 hours).    There were howling winds and threats of severed storms (schools actually let out early one day for thunderstorms that did not materialize, although flooding rains did).  While the weather was the main story, other March activities included: Theresa celebrating her birthday on March 1.  Highlights for the day included cake and roller skating (although she felt the "retro" skate night was misleading as there was little 80s music).  Actually, she celebrated multiple times with friends, including a lovely tea with Pauletta. A trip to see "Tina" at the Capitol One Center with Anna.  This was the Tina Turner musical, which was fantastic.  Who needs the Kennedy Center when you have the Capitol Once Center nearby? Cleaned the filter on...

A show at the Capital One Center  February has come and gone and with it more snow and cold weather.  In between the snowstorms, Theresa made a trip back to Ohio for President's weekend.  Grandma & Grandpa celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary on February 17.  The main objective of this trip; however, was to set up Grandma on a new iPhone (she was operating on an iPhone 6 and upgraded to a 13...a big leap in technology world).  Aidyn and Uncle Tim came up for a visit as well and Aidyn provided technical assistance to Grandma (he also several times offered to take the phone if Grandma did not want it since it was a newer version than his).  He trained Grandma on swiping since there is no longer a home button and adjusted all of Grandma's display requirements.  She was fully operational when her tech support left.  Also, in case you are wondering - Grandma & Grandpa celebrated their anniversary with dinner at the local Mexican restaurant...

 Joe at last realized a long-time retirement dream:  going to Florida in the winter.  In this case it was only for 2 weeks, but Theresa suspected he was using the trip as a scouting mission for something much longer.  He secured a beautiful Gulf-front condo in Sarasota, Florida.  Anna stayed behind for work and school and to serve as Benny's human companion.   Joe and Theresa had a chance to explore the greater Sarasota area as well as catch up with friends.  They enjoyed the Ringling museum (Sarasota was the winter location for the Ringling circus), the local botanical gardens, an electric bike ride around Venice (that was Theresa) and an eco-boat tour of the Sarasota Bay, complete with lots of birds and dolphins.  They also enjoyed lots of local seafood (there was some concern about the lingering fish smell in the condo from cooking fish almost every night - hopefully it aired out before the next renters arrived).  They did an overnigh...

 Christmas has come and gone along with its traditions and new adventures.  One of the traditions of the season is sending Christmas cards.  Did you ever wonder why we send Christmas cards?  Apparently, it dates back to 1843 in Victorian England.  Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant, found himself overwhelmed by the volume of holiday letters he was expected to answer.  The new "penny post" system made mail cheap and popular, thus everyone was writing to everyone else.  To save time, Cole commissioned an artist to design a ready-made holiday greeting card - the first commercially produced Christmas card.  Affordable postage made sending cards accessible to regular people and industrial printing advances made colorful cards cheap to produce.  While physical cards have diminished over the years and have been replaced by digital technology, cards still remain popular - especially photo cards.   The Fagella household has sent holiday photoca...

November brought the start of the holiday season and provided Anna the chance to get together with family to celebrate the holidays.  The season kicked off November 8 with a trip to Ohio for Veteran's Day weekend followed by Thanksgiving in Virginia with a visit by Aunt Loren, Aunt Mary, James & Sundance. Grandma's family gets together every year on Veteran's Day weekend for an early Thanksgiving celebration.  This is a large gathering of extended cousins and can be anywhere from 65 - 90 people (no joke).  Much of the gathering is spent trying to figure out how people are related.  While it is supposed to be a potluck, Grandma and Uncle Rolland make massive amounts of turkey, potatoes, gravy and stuffing for the group.  It is quite a feast.  There were a couple of added adventures on this trip.  First, Grandma & Grandpa's minivan was in the shop for an extensive repair.  As a result, they only had Grandpa's convertible to drive (this is a ...