Anna Grows

Bonnie visits Northern Virginia It was with great sadness that we learned of Bonnie's passing on September 14.  She was definitely more person that dog and very much a fixture of Aunt Mary, Uncle Joe & James' family.  She was Uncle Joe's companion until his passing and a source of comfort to the rest of the family thereafter.  Bonnie was ever the people dog and always enthusiastic to greet visitors.  She was a big fan of Aunt Mary's cooking and was always happy to help clean up.  Her favorite treat was not any of her dog treats, but rather McDonald's (chicken nuggets to be precise).  We always looked forward to visiting her, playing with her, and just hanging out to pet her.  She even made the trip to Northern Virginia and got to visit the U.S. Capitol (well she didn't get any farther than the lawn.....but how many dogs get to do that).  Bonnie definitely influenced Anna's love of dogs....and even brought Theresa around to the dog side. Christ

Flowers from Aunt Mary....in the likeness of STorm Anna is officially a teenager!  Anna was very excited to remind her parents frequently that there is now a teenager in the house (besides Storm...although after you convert his age to dog years, he really is an old man).  Anna's birthday always falls around Labor Day, so she took advantage of the long weekend to celebrate. The weekend kicked off with a birthday/back to school sleepover with five of her friends.  This has been a birthday tradition, including Joe making pizza for the girls.  There was lots of challenge videos from YouTube, a movie (Monty Python and the Holy Grail), singing, giggling.....and not much sleep.  There was also a big breakfast in the morning before everyone left to go home and get some sleep.  The rest of the weekend included a movie ( Blinded by the Light , which was pretty awesome) and the final day of swimming at the pool. Anna's actual birthday was a school day, which meant lots of birthday