Anna Grows

1st Day of 7th Grade The new school year has begun!  Anna started 7th grade on Monday.  She is easing back into the school routine with a week of getting organized, rules for classes, new books, etc....  Some of the changes for school this year include: Two days of PE instead of one (and one class is all girls while the other class is boys and girls) A choice between music and art class (this is tough as Anna prefers both, but she is leaning towards art class) Spanish class four days a week instead of three (Anna is not happy about this) No library class (very disappointed about that) There are several new teachers this year as well.  So far, Anna is giving them positive reviews. Some of Anna's other activities also started this week.  Jammers steel started on Monday.  Anna has aged out of the marimba group and is now in the steel pan drum ensemble.  This is something new for her that she is excited to learn.  She also started soccer...

Aidyn & Anna at Kings Island Anna made her annual summer trip to Ohio to spend a week with her grandparents.  This is probably her favorite vacation of the summer - largely because her grandparents provide all sorts of entertainment.....and no parents to contend with.  Mom and Dad were there for the first weekend in order to take Anna and cousin Aidyn to Kings Island amusement park. Anna was definitely excited to go to Kings Island.  Aidyn was less excited about the rides.  Anna did convince him to go on a roller coaster and a few other rides before ducking for shelter thanks to passing thunderstorms.  After spending the night at a local hotel (grandma and grandpa met the group there), the next day they headed for Soak City, the water park at Kings Island.  There were lots of long lines, but Anna and Aidyn waited it out for some water slide adventures.  Aidyn really enjoyed the wave pool.  Mom spent most of the day trying to figure out h...

Outside of Boulder, CO What to do for summer vacation?  This year we decided it was time to go back out West and explore.  While Joe and Theresa would be perfectly content to hike around national parks, Theresa was concerned about Anna's fun factor....which would have a direct impact on the fun factor for everyone else.  Where could we go that has something for everyone?  Thus was born the idea for going to a dude ranch.  Anna could ride horses.  Joe and Theresa could hike.  Good food so no one had to cook (everyone liked that idea).  The final destination:  Colorado and the Elk River Guest Ranch. It was the first trip to Colorado for Theresa and Anna and the first for Joe that did not involve skiing.  The adventure began with a 5:30 AM flight to Denver on July 26 (oh yet...that was early rising).  This meant we arrived in Denver at 7:15 AM and faced our first challenge:  the car rental.  We were greeted by a very ch...