Anna Grows

Thanksgiving with the Kohlers The weather for Thanksgiving can range from freezing cold to a balmy 70 degrees. This Thanksgiving we experienced both, thanks to the first snowstorm of the season on the busiest travel day of the year followed by 70 degrees to close out the weekend. This year year we headed to beautiful Deep Creek Lake Maryland to meet up with the Kohler family for the holiday.  This year's house was a lovely place right on the lake.  As always, with each rental we learn something new.  This year we learned that while the lakefront is nice, it usually means a very steep driveway which is not good for snow.  Grandma, Grandpa, and & Uncle Tim learned this firsthand when they had to shovel 7 inches of snow just to get into the driveway followed by a walk down icy steps to access the house.  Grandma decided she was not leaving for the rest of the weekend. Grandma & her new IPad The Fagellas arrived Thursday morning thanks to the snowstorm on Wednesday,

Team Awesome Another soccer season has come and gone.  It was a big season for Team Awesome.  First, four of their best players moved up to the travel soccer teams (these require a try-out), opening up opportunities for other girls on the team to step up.  Second, the team played a full field with goalies.  Finally, there were referees for the game (granted, some of their referees were maybe a year older than the girls, but still it was new).  In addition to the players moving up, Coach Larry moved on as well, opening up a spot for Joe to join the coaching staff. The role of goalie was always a negotiation for each game with Coach Tom requiring each girl to try it at least once.  One of Coach Joe's key roles was putting on and taking off goalie gloves - something that took some engineering.  A couple of girls were excited to play goalie after they figured out they did not have to run as much.  Others concluded that diving for balls and risking getting kicked in the head is re