Anna Grows

Anna as "Miss Viola Swamp" According to Anna, this week was one of the best since March.  We can thank Mrs. Prince, Anna's music teacher from St. Mark for that.  Mrs. Prince, along with her sister who also happens to be a music teacher at a local Catholic school,  came up with a week-long drama camp  for rising 6th-9th graders.  It certainly could not have been easy for them to get approval, but they kept the number small (20 students) and had all sorts of protocols in place to maintain social distance and wear masks (except for the performance).  Each day the parents had to sign a form saying their child showed no signs of illness and one of the teachers would take their temperature. All of the effort was worth it.  Their production for the week was "Miss Nelson is Missing."  Anna got one of the lead roles as Miss Viola Swamp.  In between rehearsing, they had plenty of games, art projects for the set, and general fun.  Four of Ann...

Enjoying a hike at Fountainhead Park Joe had a traditional Father's Day celebration this year.  This is truly remarkable since there are few traditions that remain in the time of the pandemic.  What, you ask is this tradition?  Well, it includes: Reading the morning paper Enjoying a hike (today we found a new trail at Fountainhead regional park) A swim at the pool Barbecued chicken on the grill (Peruvian style this year) Oh sure, there were a few modifications.  First, we had to take masks on the hike in case it was crowded (it was not....other than the mountain bikers, one of which was singing Bon Jovi's Living o a Prayer at the top of his lungs while barreling down a hill).  The neighborhood pool is open, but only for lap swimming and only for 50 minutes a visit - but hey, it is something.  The newspaper and the chicken required no modifications.  Joe also enjoyed a visit to our garden plot to harvest the first zucchini along with some p...

Graduation day! It was a graduation like none other.  Thanks to the creativity of the school principal and teachers, Anna had her 8th grade graduation on Monday June 8...….at a drive-in movie theater.  What better way to social distance and celebrate at the same time? The owner of the theater donated use of the facility for the evening, which had picture perfect weather.  They were able to live stream the ceremony so friends and family could watch the event. Everyone came with decorated cars....and there was lots of honking!  The evening concluded with the 8th grade video (check it out  here - Anna has a feature).  Given the circumstances, this truly was a great solution.  A big thanks to the principal, Mrs. Parker (what a first year she had) along with all of the teachers for working so hard to make it a special event. While Anna kicked of the week with 8th grade graduation, she also started another milestone:  high school.  She beg...

Alpacas on a walk As we complete week 12, there have admittedly been many times that we thought we were losing our minds.  Saturday night, we were taking Storm for his usual walk around the block.  From a distance, we saw what looked to be two giant dogs.  As we go closer, we saw our neighbors walking two alpacas down the street on a leash.  They seemed as if this was a normal nightly walk for them as well.  Many thoughts occurred to us as they approached. Are we all having the same dream and there are really no alpacas? Did they have alpacas in their backyard all along and we just didn't notice? Did they get tired of waiting for a new puppy (there are waitlists everywhere) and decided to go with alpacas instead? How do alpacas do in southern climates? As it turns out, you can rent alpacas by the hour.  Since it was their daughter's birthday and there was no party, why not rent an alpaca?  We are keeping this in mind for Anna's birth...