Anna Grows

1st Day of 8th Grade Anna officially started 8th grade at St. Mark's on August 26.  It is hard to believe she is in her 10th...and last year at St. Mark's.  It was a big first day. On thing that was not big was her school uniform.  Unfortunately Anna and Theresa realized a bit late that she was not going to be able to squeeze one more year out of her uniforms (at least not without being in violation of several dress code rules about mini-skirts and tight shirts).  As luck would have it, her new uniforms were back-ordered, so Anna is making do the first week.  So far, only Grandma noticed. There is a new principal and several new teachers (including a recently retired college science professor who has taken on the middle school science teacher position).  The new principal is learning the ropes and quickly realized her first challenge:  white soles.  As the parade of students entered the school, it became apparent that parents completely disregarded the uniform guidance

Enjoying dinner our Anna just returned from her favorite camp of the summer:  Camp Grandma & Grandpa.  Each summer Anna makes a trip to Ohio to spend a week with her grandparents.  This year, her parents tagged along to drop her off and spend the weekend in Ohio.  Joe returned to Northern Virginia Sunday night while Theresa went to West Virginia to work for the week.  Anna enjoyed some quality time in Ohio before meeting back up with her mom later in the week. Anna always enjoys a relaxing week in Ohio full of all of her favorite things.  There is the food her mom will not let her eat along with the television her mom will not let her watch.  There is ice cream every night before bed (courtesy of Grandpa) and there is bike riding all over town....without a helmet.  There is lots of shopping with Grandma, who always has Kohl's cash available.  In addition, there is usually a trip somewhere.  This year's trip was to the Neil Armstrong space museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio -

Anna, Theresa & Joe atop Beach Cliff Mountains or ocean?  Mountains or ocean?  Mountains or ocean?  Where should we go for vacation?  As it turns out, there is one place that has both:  Acadia National Park in Maine. While we have visited Acadia before, it was 10 years ago....in September.....when Anna was 3 years old.  We were a bit limited in what we could do at that point (Anna was not a big hiker at that age...unless someone was carrying her).  Actually, our previous visit to Acadia was a one-day drive through of the park while occasionally letting Anna out of the car....but not too close to the cliffs.  We are happy to report that Anna's hiking skills have steadily progressed over the past 10 years and she was up for the challenge.  Of course the bigger challenge was whether Anna could manage a week with her parents in the wilds of Maine. Anna climbing the iron ladders Our home base for the week was Bass Harbor, located about 20 minutes from Acadia National Par