Anna Grows

Looking for bald eagles at Mason's Neck State Park Anna is back......and ready to return to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  While she was away, mom learned some new tricks, including how to use the parental controls on the mobile phone.  On the plus side, Anna can now share iTunes accounts and other apple purchases with her mom.  On the negative side, she now has screen time limits (along with some download limits).  Theresa is quite proud of her technology abilities (it is amazing what you can find with the help of google).  Anna is preparing to begin school on September 8.  She picked up her laptop this week and had virtual freshman orientation on Thursday.  Joe and Theresa had virtual parent orientation as well.  The school will be running a regular bell schedule, so Anna will need to log on and attend her classes at specified times just as if she were in person.  The hope is at some point they will be able to return to in-person instruction, thus will have the same sche

Driving lessons with Grandpa Week two at Grandma & Grandpa's was another fun filled week for Anna.  Her activities included: More jewelry making Canning tomato juice  A breakfast out and shopping trip with Grandma and her friend Mary Lou Sewing masks (Grandma found a new pattern) Fishing Riding bikes around town with Grandma and Grandpa Driving practice with Grandpa Canning tomato juice Anna had a great time with her grandparents.....so much so that she called and asked if she could extend another week.  Alas, it was not to be as she needed to return to Virginia to prepare for virtual school, which means picking up her school laptop in person.  Joe and Theresa made their way across the mountains for a long weekend to visit the grandparents and pick up Anna.  They decided to take a different way, traveling the Pennsylvania and Ohio turnpike.  Along the way, they stopped at Cuyahoga Valley National Park - a gorgeous place they had never been.  They also dis

 Anna's first week with her grandparents in Ohio was a welcome change of pace.  Grandma and Grandpa had a series of activities planned to keep her occupied.  Anna's week included: Building a decorative outdoor light with Grandpa (power tools were involved) A trip to Amish country to purchase 12 dozen ears of corn, followed by helping Grandma freeze it for the winter. A jewelry making class with one of Grandma's friends A shopping trip with Grandma (social distance with masks) Bike riding with Grandpa on Mom's old bike Driving lessons with Grandpa (you read that correctly) More than one trip to McDonald's So what were mom and dad doing while Anna was in Ohio?  Theresa worked and Joe tended the garden all while dodging a lot of rain over the course of the week.  In a moment of desperation, they did a tour of Meadowlark gardens in the rain (Anna definitely would NOT want to participate in that).  Other desperate people at the gardens included a wedding party trying to

 After a quiet week (aside from a tropical storm), it was a busy weekend for Anna.  Actually, it was an unusually busy weekend for the entire family.  The weekend started on Friday with Anna's confirmation.  This event was scheduled for May 15 and would have involved the Bishop  coming to confirm around 100 8th graders.  Usually the entire event takes around 3 hours (it is a lot of kids).  Clearly that was postponed.  The alternative was to hold 5 separate masses (20 kids each with a total of no more than 10 people per family in attendance) and to delegate confirmation responsibilities to the priest.  Masks were required for everyone and the families were spaced out.  Anna was able to secure the August 7 mass and her favorite teacher, Mrs. Miller, was her sponsor.  Father Pat presided and kept the mass to 1 hour followed by some socially distant photos at the end (he almost appears to be photo bombing the confirmation photos).  While it was not quite the same tradition, it will def

Tomato Harvest All of Joe's efforts at the garden are paying off.  The first big tomato harvest of the season occurred this weekend.  This worked out well for a few of our neighbors who also reaped the benefit of our harvest.  We enjoyed some delicious pasta dishes and tomato sandwiches, along with just eating them plain.  Nothing is better than a fresh picked tomato!  No word yet on whether Joe plans to embrace his Italian heritage and can his own sauce. In other news, Anna had her first (and only) swim meet of the season on Saturday.  Oh sure, the meet only consisted of 9 kids and was over within 15 minutes, but at least it was something.  The parents cheered from behind the fence....at a sa Swim "meet" view fe social distance.  Thanks to some neighbors and the swim coach, they were able to put together practices 3 days a week for small groups.  At least Anna got to do some swimming this summer (it helps that it is easier to social distance in swimming).  We are crossin