Anna Grows

After a two consecutive rainy sundays, we finally made it to McIntosh Fruit Farm in the Shenandoah valley for some fresh peaches (along with tomatoes, flowers, and assorted other fresh fruits and vegetables that we could not pass up). In addition to enjoying the lovely scenery and fresh country air, it is also educational to see just how much the mark-up price is for fresh produce at the DC farmers markets vs. the pick it yourself markets in the mountains (it is substantial). Anna was very excited - for the first 10 minutes. She quickly discovered that the lovely sunny day and 90+degree temperatures made her sweat. Then she discovered that there are A LOT of bugs on the farm...something she is not particularly fond of. In short, Anna is a city/suburban girl and prefers to pick her produce from the AC, bug-free displays at a grocery store. Mom and Dad are considering taking her camping soon in an effort to develop a greater appreciation for the outdoors. In the meantime, everyone enjoye...

August 21, 2010 marked the a major milestone for Anna: her ballet stage debut. Well, it wasn't really a stage but rather a bunch of small chairs lined up in a small studio with dozens of adoring parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles with cameras. The performers: 10 ballerinas, ages 3-4 (you have to give a lot of credit to the ballet instructor who is able to get 3 & 4 year olds to do anything that remotely resembles ballet). Aunt Loren and Aunt Mary had driven all the way down from New York for Anna's ballet debut. Unfortunately, Anna had other ideas. After arriving at the studio, Anna took one look at the crowd and ran to her Mom. Mom walked her in to get her costume, but Anna wanted nothing to do with it and ran back to her Mom crying. The teacher managed to coax Anna back in for the beginning of the performance...briefly. While the rest of the dancers were doing pilates, Anna dashed out of the room and back to her Mom. Of course part of the reason for this quick depa...

Anthony (left), Anna, & Thomas began at Ms. Be's together as babies. Last Thursday was Anna's friend Anthony's last day at Ms. Be's daycare. Anna and Anthony have been at Ms. Be's together for 3 years. Anthony, otherwise known as "Thomas"- his train ultra-ego, is moving to San Diego where his Dad will be stationed with the Navy. Anna and Anthony are good buddies and have spent their formative pre -school years together learning such things as eating with utensils, potty training, riding tricycles, reading, and counting. They were also the train leaders at Ms. Be's, assigning train names to the other kids. One of the things Anna is already learning is that Washington is a very transient area. With the departure of Anthony for California and Caitlyn for kindergarten , Anna is officially the "big kid" at Ms. Be's. Caitlyn attempted to provide some leadership training for Anna before she departed, but Anna has some additional lessons t...

July 4th weekend was an extra-long one, thanks to the bonus day of July 5 to "observe" the holiday weekend. There were many potential plans for the long weekend, including visits from out of town guests. On the visitor roster were Grandma and Grandpa, who were going to come babysitt for Anna the week prior to the holiday while Ms. Be was on vacation. As always, plans change. The first change was with Grandma and Grandpa's travel plans thanks to a torn ligament in the knee (Grandma) and a partially torn rotator cuff (Grandpa). Grandma's subsequent surgery and Grandpa's therapy grounded both of them (although they somehow managed to trim 20 bushes and haul several bags of mulch while still down a limb). Fortunately Kelly, the teenager next door, was able to babysit for the week. Joe and Theresa quickly discovered that Kelly was better qualified to take care of Anna than her parents after she provided a list of credentials t hat included babysitting certifications,...

Let the ballet begin! Today Anna started her first ballet class. To say she was excited would be an understatement. Since Mom didn't know exactly what attire was required of a 3 year old ballerina (and because she did not want to spend any more money than necessary on something Anna will outgrow in 3 months), Anna wore a dress to class. Anna kept telling her parents that she needed to go to the store to get a "beautiful tutu." Fortunately for this class, the instructor lent her a beautiful purple tutu. Anna had a great time with her instructor. She now knows how to do first position, the rainbow stretch and assorted other stretching moves which she will be happy to show anyone. She is already looking forward to the next class. Theresa resolved the tutu issue and picked up the purple attire and requisite ballet shoes later in the afternoon. Anna was so excited that she wore it the rest of the day and practiced her ballet moves. She is now referring to herself as "the ...

Happy Father's Day to Joe! What a day it was. First, Joe got to sleep in late (9 AM as opposed to the usual 6:30 AM Anna wake-up time). After a leisurely breakfast on the back patio, he opened his father's day gift -- a cordless leaf blower (as requested and available at the local Home Depot). The rest of the day was spent picnicking at Great Falls National Park, reading the Sunday paper, watching golf on TV, a visit to the swimming pool, and a roasted chicken dinner. Unfortunately Joe was required to grill the chicken for his dinner, but Theresa decided it was better for all involved (including the chicken) if Joe was the chef. Happy Father's Day!

June 13 is a big weekend if your name is Anthony. It was the weekend for the St. Anthony's festival and Joe, Theresa, and Anna received an invitation to join Robin and her family in Delaware to attend the St. Anthony Italian festival in Wilmington. Unfortunately, Robin's Dad was on jury duty the prior week for an attempted murder trial and was not particularly comfortable walking the streets of Wilmington, thus plans were changed. Fortunately St. Anthony is celebrated beyond Wilmington, so everyone was able to meet up for the St. Anthony festival in Baltimore's Little Italy. The first stop was the Baltimore Children's Museum where Robin and Anna had a great time playing. From there it was off to the St. Anthony festival where the main attraction was the food (Joe and Mike enjoyed the Italian sausages while the girls hit the cannoli stand). There was also a band singing Frank Sinatra music with dancers that could be seen wearing a significant amount of polyester. We mi...