Anna Grows

Anna and the 5th Grade Girls Team If you go to Catholic school and are going to play a sport, then it must be basketball.  Anna decided this year was the time for her to try out her skills with the 5th grade team.  Anna and her parents learned a lot about basketball.....and the politics of Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) basketball this season. Lesson 1:  Developing Future Collegiate Recruits begins in Roughly 1st grade Anna, along with a couple of her friends, were late to the game of basketball even though it is only 5th grade.  After all, other girls in her class started in 1st grade.  This year, the coach was recruiting additional girls to play on the team.  While some parents (we will call them naive parents) thought it was nice they wanted to get more girls involved and teach them the sport, it soon became apparent that the real reason was so they could the divide the team into two separate teams.  All of the best players went to the "A" team so they could p

Lincoln's cottage Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday.  What better way to celebrate than a trip to Lincoln's summer cottage on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home.  Actually, Anna thought of several other things she would rather be doing.  Alas....her parents held the majority vote, so off to Northeast DC the family went. Lincoln's cottage was where his family spent the summer months.  It is about 3 miles north of the White House and was considered the country back in the day.  The cottage was renovated and opened to the public a few years ago.  It sits on the grounds of the soldiers home for retired veterans, which was also open at the time the Lincolns stayed there.  There are currently 500 veterans on the grounds.  It was a great tour and definitely a place worth visiting the next time you are in DC.  For more details, check it out at:  http://www.lincolncottage.org/ Statue of Lincoln & his horse  A visit to the cottage was a good diversion for Ann