Anna Grows

Enjoying a hike at Claude Moore Park September 25 marked Joe & Theresa's 16th wedding anniversary.  It was a quiet affair at home with pizza from the local Italian restaurant, cards and flowers (well Joe got flowers for Theresa....Theresa opted not  get flowers for Joe).   The real gift for Theresa this year was upgrading her home office space.  After 6 months of working at home with no end in sight, it seemed time to make some adjustments beyond hunching over a laptop with a 12 inch screen.  Joe built a stand-up desk top for her and purchased a 25 inch monitor along with a keyboard and mouse.  This will be life altering, not to mention a sign of true love (Theresa is quite excited to try out her new set-up tomorrow).  The next step will likely be a trip to the eye doctor (6 months on a small screen has taken its toll). In other news, the Suburu received a terminal diagnosis from the car mechanic. After unusual noise when accelerating  and vibration, it was discovered that the

An afternoon on the WO& D Trail   It was the second week of school and the first week returning to the new normal of activities.  For Anna, that meant a return to Vienna Jammers and swimming. Monday night was the first practice for Anna's Vienna Jammer's group.  Thanks to an extensive effort by the director, Mr. Reynolds, along with several other parents, they figured out a way to do in-person practice while maintaining social distance protocols.  Parents need to sign a health form the day of each practice.  Everyone gets their temperature taken before entering.  Masks are required.  You bring your own mallets and no sharing of equipment.  Marimbas are spaced out. Anna was so excited to be back at practice with her friends (everyone was)!  Practice is once a week.  Fingers crossed they can keep it up! Anna started swimming with the York Swim Club on Tuesdays - Thursday evening.  Her friend Julianna is also attending.  The team dramatically reduced the number of kids who cou

 At long last, Anna began her freshman year at James Madison High School (you can check out the school website here .  It may have been virtual, but she was very happy to get started.   1st day of High School The school is following a regular class schedule Tuesday - Friday (Monday is a teacher work day).  She will log in at the time her class would normally begin.  The hope is the kids will be back in person at some point and will be able to roll right into the regular schedule.  Her classes include:  choir, English, algebra, Spanish 2, World History/Geography, biology, and studio art.   Anna is in a "cohort" for English, history, and biology, which means she has the same people each class and the courses coordinate topics and projects (more project-based than tests).  So far, she is most excited about the art class (no surprise).  After school, she has been hanging out with her friend Julianna.  There has been a lot of skateboarding this week. Much of the week was learning

Happy Birthday Anna!  Anna celebrated her 14th birthday on September 3.  Since it was the last week of summer vacation thanks to a delayed start to the school year, it was also the first time she celebrated her birthday BEFORE school started (although she did spend a couple hours in the morning checking in with all of her teachers in preparation for virtual school).  The celebration was a little more subtle this year, but Anna was able to do one of her favorite activities:  ziplining at Sandy Spring Adventure Park. After some research on safety protocols, it appeared that Sandy Springs had made significant adjustments to their business to accommodate guests (not to mention that Theresa saw on a Facebook post that a local pediatrician friend had taken her family a few weeks ago, so that seemed like a good endorsement).  Anna's friend Julianna was able to join in the fun.  The biggest surprise of the day was getting Joe to agree to participate (he has spent years avoiding this activi