Anna Grows

 It has been an eventful couple of weeks with lots of milestones.  The swim season came to an end with a championship.  Anna got her driver permit.  Theresa took her first work trip since the pandemic began .....and came back with COVID.  Sadly, we lost Joe's cousin, Yolanda, at the age of 101.  More on that in a moment. The big news for the neighborhood was winning the Northern Virginia Swimming League Division 7 title on July 16.  It was an exciting final meet and the toughest one of the season, but the team pulled it out with some strong performances.  Anna has been swimming breaststroke and fly all season and has consistently put points on the board each week in breaststroke.  This is her first year in the 15-18 age group and she had a great season.  The team celebrated with an awards ceremony on Saturday night.  One of the other big milestones of the season was the final Dyson on the Lakevale Swim Team.  The Dyson Dad grew...

The Tech Suits  This week started off with July 4th festivities.  We made it to the Fairfax City parade for the first time in 3 years on what was an absolutely gorgeous day with temperatures around 82 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.  The parade is always a good time and features numerous bands, politicians, community groups and of course the librarian drill cart team.  Later in the day, Theresa volunteered at the neighborhood festivities by helping with the deli.  Joe stopped down to see the action and quickly was roped into being the nacho guy at the deli after a run by customers and not enough help (the labor shortage extends to the volunteer deli staff as well).  Anna hung out with her friends for a barbecue and Joe and Theresa hosted Jackie from across the street for some barbecued chicken and corn. July 4th fireworks were actually on July 5 in Fairfax this year, so Tuesday night the family met some friends at a local soccer field to watch the show....

July 2 Swim Meet  July is here!  The last couple of weeks have been filled with work for Anna between babysitting and lifeguarding.  The combination of jobs has her working 30-35 hours a week, which is good for saving up for her school trip next summer to Japan (assuming all pandemic restrictions are lifted).  In between, she is busy with swim team with morning practices and weekend meets.  So far, the team is undefeated.  Each week you never know who is going to be out with COVID - swimmers or parent volunteers.  The pandemic is not over. This weekend is the July 4th holiday which means lots of festivities around Northern Virginia.  This year the festivities will go all week thanks to a shortage of workers that are licensed in pyrotechnics.  That's right - there are not enough professionals to shoot off fireworks.  As a result, you can see fireworks every night for a week at some place in the Greater DC area.  Vienna held their fir...