Pandemic Week 24: Parental Controls

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 schedule.  Since there is no marching band this year and virtual music is not quite the same, Anna opted to take an art class instead.  This week she will have a check-in day on Thursday with each of her teachers.  Mondays will be a teacher work day with classes held Tuesday - Friday.

Other items for the week:

  • Our next door neighbors welcomed a baby Labrador puppy.  Her name is Niki and she is adorable.  We will be playing with her a lot.
  • Sunday was a gorgeous day.  We went for a hike at Mason Neck State Park, which is known for is bald eagles.  We didn't see any eagles, but enjoyed the hike (Anna got a Slurpee afterwards, which is always a motivator for her).
  • We tried 4 new recipes from a Cook's Country magazine we received from Grandma (all were delicious....and we have more to try this week).

This week is Anna's 14th birthday.  We will see what creative thing we can come up with to celebrate. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Swimming with the Lakevale Dolphins

Image
The Swim Gang - Leo, Aidan, Megan & Anna Tonight Anna completed her third season with the Division II Lakevale Dolphins.  It was a great season for Anna as she improved her strokes and her times and made it to the "A"team to compete at Saturday meets.  It was an educational season for Joe and Theresa, who learned the ins and outs of life as swim team parents. The neighborhood swim team is the hub of neighborhood social activity in the summer.  There are events throughout the season, including Friday night pep rallies, and Sunday night fund events that include such things as the neighborhood scavenger hunt, laser tag night, bingo night, and even a team night at the Washington Nationals game.  In between the fun is the seriousness of the swimming, and there are definitely some top notch swimmers on the team. Anna with her lollipop for getting a "personal best" time Kids are motivated by different things. Some kids love to race.  Other kids try to beat
Read more

Camp Coles Trip & June Birthdays

Image
Anna at Girl Scout Camp Anna just returned from a fun-filled week at Girl Scout camp.  This year she was old enough to go to Camp Coles Trip, which is on a bay area off of the Potomac River.  This is a water camp, so she spent her days on the bay learning to paddle board and sail along with kayaking. Girl Scout Camp is definitely roughing it.  The camp is in the woods and girls stay in platform cabins with screens.  Anna shared a cabin with 4 other girls.  Mosquito netting is very important at night.  The only electricity is at the dining hall, health center, and activity building.  The girls are also responsible each day for doing "kapers" or chores.  They take turns helping serve meals, cleaning the bathrooms, and general clean-up.  They are also responsible for keeping track of their own things and carrying their bags. Anna had a fantastic time, despite the lack of modern conveniences, and is already planning her return next year.  She made new friends and her favo
Read more

Thanksgiving in New Jersey

Image
The Fagella family (or part of the Fagellas) celebrated Thanksgiving this year in Northern New Jersey thanks to James.  Since James was house sitting for his boss, they were very generous in letting us use their large home in their absence for a Thanksgiving celebration.  We joined Aunt Loren, Aunt Mary, James and Sundance for a Thanksgiving feast.  We could have easily fed another 20 people with all of the food, which meant lots of leftovers.  We also celebrated Aunt Mary's birthday (November 22) and Aunt Loren's (November 27) with a homemade coconut cake courtesy of James. Joe carving the turkey with his assistants. The festivities continued the next day when James hosted 22 of his high school friends for his annual Friendsgiving dinner.  Anna was kindly invited to attend the event.  Since she has attended previous dinners, she already knew many of James' friends.  Once again, the amount of food was staggering with everyone bringing a dish. Aunt Mary and Aunt Loren have c
Read more