Anna Grows

It was a beautiful September day in Washington with sunny skies and the temperature around 80 degrees -- a perfect day for a baseball game.  We decided to head downtown to watch the 1st place Washington Nationals so Anna could enjoy her first major league baseball game. We were hopeful for a great game so that we could call Uncle John afterwards and brag about how the Nationals have the best record in baseball....even better than the Yankees.  Alas, it was not to be today as the score was 8-0 (that would be the Nationals with 0).   We still had a great time.  The highlights for Anna included the Metro ride to the game, the escalator ride to the Metro, the cracker jacks, and the President race (that would be the race between George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt between innings.....only in Washington).  She was not as impressed with the actual baseball game, but let's face it.....there was not much impressive going on at the game today judging b

Anna & Grandma Today Anna celebrated her 6th birthday in Olympic fashion - with an Olympic themed birthday party. Since Anna enjoyed watching the summer Olympics so much and Anna's birthday was on Labor Day this year, Mom thought it might be fun to have an Olympic-theme party.  It could be at the house and Olympic games could be held in the yard.  Mom had a vision (something she is not short on).  Execution of the vision is another story. The first problem was the dilemma of who to invite.  The original plan was a small group of Anna's friends.  The problem was the first week of school, which was August 27.  Because Anna's school is small, it is customary to invite everyone in the class.  Who to invite?  Last year's class?  Her new class?  Mom decided to invite both and bet on the fact that several people will be out of town Labor Day weekend.  Then there were other friends to invite......pretty soon the list was long.  The end result:  23 kids + some parent

Anna enjoys doing magic tricks and telling jokes as of late.  There is much room for improvement on both fronts right now (she makes us her own jokes......and she is usually the only one that laughs hysterically). Last night's magic trick was a bear under one of four cones.  She would move three of the cones around, say some magic words,and try to make the bear disappear.  After trying various magic words and nothing would disappear, Dad decided to help. Dad gave Anna some different magic words, told her to put one cone on her head, and made the bear disappear.  "It's magic!" Anna exclaimed.  She was even more thrilled when Dad made the bear reappear under a cone.  This trick went on for at least an hour. What she did not see (or was unwilling) to notice, was that  a  few times when Dad was moving the cones around, the bear accidentally flew off onto the floor rather than Dad's lap.  She also did not notice that Dad always seem to see a deer, dog, or lighten