Anna Grows

Thanksgiving 2022 marked the first time the Kohler family gathering for the holiday since 2018.  The Kohler's gathered in the mountains of Deep Creek Lake Maryland, not Disney (as the title may suggest).  We were excited to get together and rented a lovely mountain top house with a distant view of the lake.  We arrived just after dark on Wednesday night and did not realize all the house had to offer until daylight the next day. We rejoiced in the gas fireplaces on both the main and lower levels.  Uncle Tim, Theresa, Joe, Anna and Aidyn decided to take the bedrooms in the lower level (Uncle Rod and Aunt Courtney were arriving the next day) while Grandma and Grandpa had the master suite on the main level.  Wednesday night, Theresa was up late and decided to turn on the lower-level fireplace to enjoy while reading a book. This resulted in the carbon monoxide detectors going off throughout the house at 11:30 at night.  That was the end of the gas fireplace....

Joe & High School Friends  Joe made it to New York the weekend of November 12 to attend his first ever high school class reunion.  It wasn't the first time his class held a reunion, but rather the first time he attended (you can guess how many years).  After some last-minute travel scrambling thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Nicole making its way up the coast, he caught a flight to Long Island, where Aunt Mary picked him up.  He had a great time catching up with old friend as did Aunt Mary, who noted most of his friends had a sibling in her class.  Name tags were one of the most important features of the event.  It was a great time catching up with friends and seeing Mary and Loren. Anna at JMU While Joe was in New York, Anna and Theresa went on the first college visit to James Madison University (JMU).  JMU was having an open house on November 12.  After touring the campus (it is beautiful and located in the Shenandoah valley) along with o...

VYS Soccer Fall 2022  The end of October and first week of November held beautiful weather and an exciting end to the soccer season.  Anna's team were undefeated going into the tournament and had already won their division.  They dominated most of their games.  No undefeated team had ever gone on to win the tournament and the team sought to change that.   The first game was Saturday, November 5 on a beautiful fall day.  Coach Tom came to watch the game since half of the team had been on his teams at one time or another during his 9 years of coaching.  At halftime, the team was down 0-3 (they had never been down at halftime before).  The second half was a big co Coach Tom & his former Players meback resulting in a 4-3 win.  The final game on Sunday was one of those unforgettable games.  They were playing the other team from Vienna, so most of the girls on both sides knew each other for a friendly rivalry.  The game was ...