Anna Grows

Thanksgiving with the Fagellas It was a glorious warm Thanksgiving Day for 2015 - perfect for a drive north on I-95 to New York.  Uncle John, Aunt Yvonne, and Deborah were hosting the Fagella family festivities and several of the Fagellas were able to make the trip. Anna and family started out early Thanksgiving morning in an effort to avoid the traffic.  Thanks to the early arrival, everyone got to enjoy the beautiful 70 degree weather at Liberty State Park in New Jersey.  The views of the city were spectacular.  Anna thought the large playground at the park was even more spectacular.  It was a great way to enjoy the afternoon. Deborah, Andrew, James, Luke & Anna After a tranquil visit to the park, we rejoined the traffic masses and headed to Uncle John's house.  After some quality time waiting to get over the GW Bridge (where we were greeted by the sight of police officers with M-16s - you gotta love the increased terrorism threat level), ...

Anna at the completion of the race Saturday marked a big milestone for Anna:  she completed her first 5K! This was part of a new group at school - Girls on the Run (www.gotr.org).  GOTR met twice a week at 7:30 AM for a 45 morning practice.  There were 13 girls (3rd and 4th grade) who joined the group.  The program is not only about running but about setting goals and making healthy living decisions.  The grand finale of the program is a 5K race.  Several moms helped assist, including Theresa who served as one of the coaches. Anna & Sophie before the race Another part of the program is a community service project.  The girls voted and decided to collect donations for the local animal shelter.  What this meant for Theresa was a trunk full of cat food and dog biscuits to drop off at the local shelter.  Joe borrowed the car one day and for a brief moment thought he had the wrong vehicle when he opened the trunk to find a bunch of...

Another soccer season has come and gone.  Anna was fortunate to continue with Coach Tom and Coach Dad for the fall soccer season.  There were a few new players on the team, but many of Anna's friends returned for the season.  The Red Lobsters finished the season 2-2-4 (that's right - there were 4 tie games). The girls were excited to play in their first tournament on the last Saturday of the season.  Well, they were excited until they realized the game started at 8 AM on a Saturday morning (Coach Joe was not that excited about that start time).  Anna is definitely not a morning person and the coach has learned not to start her in any game before 10 AM.  It was also the coldest and windiest game of the year.  Needless to say, not to many girls were that upset when they lost the game.  Fortunately hot chocolate and doughnuts were waiting for them afterwards followed by a brief awards ceremony.  Anna received the "Fleet Feet" award for her s...

Anna & Friends at Trunk or Treat It is time for the second largest kid holiday of the year:  Halloween.  It is definitely one of Anna's favorites as it includes some of her favorite things:  hanging out with her friends in costumes and candy (throw in some presents and it would be perfect).  This year was no exception and the weather was perfect for outdoor events. The Halloween kick-off in Vienna, Virginia usually is the Wednesday before the holiday with the annual parade.  This is normally a two hour event and includes every community group, politician, band, and costumed kid in town.  It is a lot of fun and is the place to be.  For the first time in parade history, it was postponed due to thunderstorms on Wednesday.  This meant that Thursday night we went to the much smaller parade - 40 minutes, not one band, a handful of politicians, and half the amount of costumed kids.  It was still fun, but not the same (really - how can you ...