Anna Grows

Anna the 4th Grader Today was Anna's first day of 4th grade.  She was looking forward to this for weeks and is quite excited for the school year to begin.  She got the teacher she wanted, Mrs. Wykoff.  She has most of her closest friends in her class (Sofia is in the other class).  Her only complaint was that the other Anna is also in her class, thus she is now back to being "Anna F" rather than just Anna (we are certain that Anna R has a similar complaint).  She is also excited NOT to go to after school care this year, or at least not on the days when Dad is home. Her first homework assignment was to bring in a paper bag tomorrow with three things that tell something about her.  First, Anna decided not to bring a paper bag but rather a popcorn tin from Chicago (the decision to forgo the paper bag says a lot about Anna's personality right there - always a bit outside the box).  She also chose a small soccer ball (because she is sometimes "sporty") and

Luke, Anna & Andrew After a busy few weeks, vacation time finally arrived!  This year's trip was to the beach in Rhode Island.  The added adventure this year was vacationing  up there at the same time as Aunt Lucy and Terri along with Luke and Andrew.  Aunt Loren arrived for a few days at the end of the week, making it a Fagella (or 50% of the Fagellas) family vacation. The run-up getting to the beach definitely warranted a vacation.  Anna completed two weeks of music and arts camp at Harmonia.  This year, Anna had a part in The Sound of Music (she was the 2nd half Marta).  For those of you familiar with the musical, you may recall that it is rather long, which leads one to wonder how you could master it in a two week camp.  The teachers addressed this problem by cutting out most of the dialogue and limiting it to the music.  In addition to the musical, Anna enjoyed lots of different art projects as well as learning to play African drums.  There was a new music teacher t

Grandma, Grandpa, Anna & Aidyn on the train The last week of July marked Anna's favorite vacation of the year:  a week in Ohio at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  As always, Grandma and Grandpa had a bunch of fun activities planned.  The fun for the week included: A trip to JoAnn Fabrics with Grandma and making some bags for Anna's friends Learning to drive great grandpa's riding lawn mower (otherwise known as the club cadet) Driving the kids John Deer tractor around (despite the fact that she barely fits on it) Picking green beans with Grandpa Riding in the 1965 Dodge truck with Grandpa (no seatbelts....or air conditioning) Bike riding Lots of ice cream treats The highlight of the week was the Friday visit to Cedar Point amusement park on Lake Erie, better known as "the Rollercoaster Capital of the World."  Mom and Dad flew in and picked up cousin Aidyn to join in the festivities.  It should be noted that the roller coaster lover in the group