Pandemic Week 65: School is Out & Anna is Vaccinated!

Anna & her 13-14 (vaccinated) teammates
 Anna if officially a rising sophomore!  She finished her freshman year on June 11.  It was a memorable one with a good finish thanks to a return to in-person school.  She met a lot of people and has a core group of friends.  She auditioned and made it into one of the competitive choirs.  She finished with decent grades. There is lots to celebrate.   Unfortunately the weather on Friday was rainy, so Anna and her friends could not do their regular trip to the town green.  Instead, they did what many teenage girls do - they went to the mall.  This was a big event as it wasn't that long ago that wasn't even an option.    A big thanks goes to some brave parents who drove about 8 girls to the mall.

It was a great first weekend of summer for several reasons.  In addition to the last day of school, Anna got her second vaccine on Saturday morning.  She was feeling tired and achy on Sunday (this could also have something to do with the fact that she did not want to go on a hike), but seems to have mostly recovered by the evening.    She got in early for the vaccine so that she could make time trials for the swim team.  This is the kick-off for the season in which the swimmers do all of the strokes to get a base time.  The most important part is the pancake breakfast afterwards.  Fortunately the weather cooperated for an outdoor breakfast (even though it was chilly) and the team worked out mask protocols for the 11 and under kids who cannot get vaccinated yet.  There was a lot of excitement by everyone just to get back to swimming and seeing all of the neighbors.  Anna is excited for the season and has lots of strong swimmers in her age group (she is the veteran thanks to her late birthday).

The other event for the weekend was the return of the monthly youth mass at church.  Anna participated in a fully masked choir and the results were fantastic.  The kids sounded great (not to mention everyone is better at projecting since they need to sing with a mask on).  There were lots of talented kids who Anna has sang with over the years.  It was fantastic to see them together, not to mention how happy they were to sing together.

This week marks the first official week of summer vacation.  Anna will start off her mornings with swim practice at 8 AM (the swimmers are an early crowd).  She will be coaching the Mini-Ds swimmers twice a week (these are the little kids that are learning to swim. She starts her summer babysitting job on Monday.  She also kicks off her summer on-line PE class on Tuesday.  Let the summer begin!

Anna ready for backstroke in the left lane


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