Anna Grows

So there you are....riding down the road, staring out the window while sucking your thumb and holding your kitty pillow, when you see it. There is your name on top of a water tower for everyone to see while driving down I-75! It may not be the same as seeing your name in lights in Las Vegas, but it is pretty exciting for an almost 3-year old to see her name on a water tower. Thus began a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa in Ohio. After the water tower sighting, Anna and her parents stopped to have some lunch with Great-Grandpa (who also has a birthday coming up on September 12 - he will be 97). After lunch, the group arrived at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Joe and Anna served as migrant workers in Grandpa's garden where they harvested a bumper crop of tom atoes. Grandma is still not sure what to do with them all. Saturday was spent at the Franke Park Children's Zoo in Fort Wayne, IN (which by the way is a fantastic zoo). Anna had a great time reading the map, riding t...

The summer is flying by and would not be complete without a visit to Long Island to visit Joe's family. For Anna, this means some quality time with her aunts who are happy to entertain her (or in many cases Anna entertains them). The purpose for the trip was to attend a Fagella extended family picnic on Staten Island. We were able to take a few extra days to enjoy some quality New York time, which usually translates into several good meals. We began the trip early Saturday morning with the threat of rain hanging over us. We expected traffic to be o.k.; however we hit a major snag in Maryland. Apparently the American Motorcycle Association was having a motorcycle rally in Maryland and one of the rallying points happened to be the one rest area we stopped at. Fortunately, we had some good luck on our side and managed to be the last car that made it out of the rest area before thousands of motorcycles hit I-95 (incidently, is a rest stop really a good place for a rallying point, expec...

It was another beautiful, unusually cool weekend in the Greater Washington weekend, so we packed up a picnic lunch and headed for the mountains to McIntosh fruit farm. It seems the cool, wet spring slowed down the fruits and vegetables, thus we were a few weeks early for the blackberries and tomatoes. We still had a great time as we loaded up the little red wagon with buckets and proceeded to pick peaches, some not quite ripe blackberries (Anna was having a good time - it must be the inate gathering gene), a few tomatoes, and some squash along with some beautiful flowers. The big treat was the homemade frozen blackberry yogurt that we had before we left. We rounded out the day with some quality time at the local pool followed by pizza on the Vienna Town Green where we watched a concert. A great end to a nice weekend!

Forget the tricycle! Anna has already upgraded her wheels. Thanks to her local surrogate grandparents - Anna & Charley -- Anna is now the proud owner of a Disney Princess bike. Charley & Anna brought it over Thursday night and little Anna has been riding all weekend. Mom and Dad are tired as our neighborhood is hilly and Anna will only pedal on the downhill portions of the sidewalk. Note that Anna & Charley brought it over Thursday NIGHT. In keeping with the unwritten rule of grandparenting, it is important that presents be given to the grandchild right before bedtime. The grandparents than leave at the key moment that bedtime is declared so as not to have to deal with the aftermath of separating the child from the present to go to bed (and Anna did want to take her new bike to bed with her). A big thanks to Anna and Charley for a generous gift! The next time little Anna goes to their house for a visit, we are bringing the bike along. It is only fair that they share in the ...

It is important to take a moment before this story and recall that this blog has two purposes. First, it serves as a way to keep family and friends -particularly those that live far away - updated on Anna. Second, it serves as baby book of sorts for Anna and her parents so that some key events in her early years are not forgotten. This entry is especially important for the second purpose. The Scene: It is Wednesday morning. Dad is making coffee and Mom is packing up for the day. Anna: Did you hear that? Mom/Dad: Here what? Anna: I think it was a duck. Dad: A duck. Where is the duck coming from? Anna: From my butt. There is a duck in my butt. Dad (laughing hysterically): A duck in your butt? Are you sure? Anna: Ooo...there it is again. Daddy - do you want to see my butt? Mom (also laughing hysterically): Umm...no and you shouldn't show your butt to other people. Mom and Dad have no idea where she came up with them and are only hopeful that the next time we are in a ...

Every time Anna, Theresa, and Joe visit Ohio, they can count on Uncle Rod to say the same thing: "I'm going to come out your way for a visit soon." Theresa is always quick to remind Uncle Rod that in the 11 years since she left Ohio, he has only come to visit twice: for Theresa and Joe's wedding and after Anna was born (both trips involved coming with Grandma and Grandpa). You can imagine the shock and awe that Theresa was in when Uncle Rod called and announced that he and his girlfriend Courtney were coming out for July 4th weekend. Uncle Rod at an art museum While this event in itself was unprecedented, there was more. Rod called two weeks in advance AND took a day off work (Rod usually only plans hours in advance at best and is only known to take days off work to attend the Mopar Nationals). The entire family is stunned by this development, which can only be attributable to the good influence of Courtney. Theresa remained disbelieving until July 2 when Rod showe...

It is wild here in Northern Virginia. In addition to chipmunks viciously attacking Mom's flowers, we found another plant predator: the deer. Actually, it was four deer (bucks to be precise). We are not sure what constitutes gang status in Northern Virginia, but we are pretty sure these bucks were part of a neighborhood gang responsible for the recent destruction of flowers and trampled lawns. We awoke on Saturday morning to find these gang members frolicking in our back yard. Just as Mom was ready to bolt out the backdoor in her pajamas to save her flowers, (there is some truth to the adage about girls turning into their mothers), the bucks jumped the fence and decided to take a stroll through the neighborhood to remind the neighbors of who really owns the land, despite the name on the property deeds. Anna informed Mom and Dad that "the deers are going home," to which Dad replied, "I think they are home." In addition to deer, the weekend included dinosaurs - si...