Anna Grows

1st day on the job  It is Memorial Day weekend, which means the swimming pools are open!  This year the Lakevale pool was completely refurbished, including a new baby pool and the entire pool is handicap accessible.  The neighborhood celebrated with a grand opening on Saturday, including two neighborhood bands and a food truck. For Anna, Memorial Day weekend means that swim team begins along with her lifeguard job. Sunday was her first official day on duty.  She was thrilled to have her dad stop by to snap a picture of this big event.  She has two more weeks of school and then will be spending her summer babysitting, lifeguarding, and doing a little bit of junior coaching for the swim team along with swimming herself.  She is very much looking forward to being done with school and NO summer classes. In other news of the week, the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas prompted many conversations at home and school as we try to understand what is happening ...

Lori, Anna & Lori's brother at the Big Jam  After a 2-year hiatus, the Vienna Jammers returned to a live performance!  Not only was it a live performance, but it was at the new Capital One Hall  with special guest Bakithi Kumalo, a Grammy winning bass player.  Anna had a great experience at the venue, including practicing with Bakithi and enjoying the green room for performers.  Theresa even got a moment on the big stage with the adult group, Jammers Gold.  The group only practices once a month and really can only play one song (and that is a struggle), BUT they still had fun playing for the crowd and with Bakithi.  The Vienna Jammers continues to be Anna's favorite activity (with school choir a close second). In other news of the week: Anna had her year-end choir concert on Thursday evening.  The year-end event featured several solos, including by most of the seniors.  Mrs. Latimer joined us for the show.  We didn't realize the fina...

 Theresa celebrated Mother's Day on May 8 in Ohio with her mom for the first time in many years.  Joe and Anna stayed behind, which meant no required Mother's Day planning for them (Anna remembered to send her mom a text about 3:30 on Sunday).  The weather turned out nice, resulting in a lot of quality time in the yard over the long weekend.  Grandma is stuck in a boot thanks to a torn Achilles tendon and Grandpa is dealing with fractured vertebrae, so there was some variety in activity.  One of the neighbors lent Theresa & Grandma his golf cart for an evening drive around town.  Theresa went with Grandpa in the 1965 dodge truck (aka Maudine) on Sunday morning to pick up a load of mulch.  Rather than dinner out, they opted to spend Sunday cooking out on the grill and decided to go out for breakfast on Monday morning followed by a trip to a local greenhouse to pick up flowers.  Grandma's friend, Mary Lou, also joined in the festivities. Grandma...

As the U.S. moves to living with COVID, it seems our own family updates have changed.  After all, we seem to have mostly moved on.  Oh sure, we get daily COVID case updates from the school with higher numbers than we've ever seen (proof that masks are effective) and there is the fact that both Joe and his sister Mary are suffering from long haul COVID cases, so really it is just a different phase.  We are living with the impacts of COVID. In the meantime, we continue to live our lives.  Highlights from the week included the following: We took advantage of the beautiful Saturday weather for some yardwork, including mowing and mulching.  Anna is mastering the lawn mower. Theresa completed the second week of the "new work schedule" with folks returning to the office for at least one day a week.  It was nice to meet many new co-workers in person.  Like school, there has also been an uptick of COVID cases at the office.  Hmmm... Anna and Theresa enjoye...