Anna Grows

Anna, Aunt Mary, Cousin James & Bonnie Anna was able to spend the weekend of July 7 catching up with her family in New York.  As always, the trip was marked by lots of good food, including a barbecue at Uncle John & Aunt Yvonne's on Saturday, along with Aunt Loren, Cousin Rachel & Cousin Deborah, and a barbecue at Aunt Mary & Uncle Joe's on Sunday, along with Aunt Loren and Cousins Margaret & Ed.  (Unfortunately, the photographer must have been asleep as there does not appear to be any photos from these events). Anna was able to enjoy the nice weather on the water Sunday by kayaking with Aunt Mary & Cousin James followed by a swim at the beach.  It is really too bad there are no photos of the kayaking, particularly of Aunt Mary & Anna's Dad trying to paddle a 2-person kayak, which became a 3-person kayak when you added Anna. No member of this group will be seen in any Olympic kayaking event any time soon. In between, Anna enjoyed givin...

July 4th was an extra special event this year.  In addition to celebrating our nation's independence, we also celebrated something even greater:  our inalienable right to electricity.  While electricity is not mentioned any where in either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution , somewhere along the (power) line, we came to accept that fact that there would always be electricity.  On June 29, Mother Nature reminded Washington residents that is not the case. Thanks to a storm known as a derecho (straight-line winds as opposed to the clockwise winds of a tornado), the greater DC area was knocked out of power for several days.  The storm started in Ohio, where Grandma and Grandpa got hit first and were without power for 5 days. In the greater DC area, 1.4 million were without power as the mercury soared into the upper 90s.  It was definitely a reminder as to why everyone use to leave DC in the summer. Somehow, we escaped any storm damage and ...

Anna & Ms. Rosa Anna performed in her very first piano recital on June 17.  She was the youngest student, thus the first to perform.  She played My Bonnie and Vacation Time .  She said she was a little bit nervous, but she played her pieces with no problem. Unfortunately her very first recital was also her piano teacher's very last.  Ms. Rosa is retiring after 62 years of teaching.  At the end of the recital, Ms. Rosa's daughter organized a surprise parade of former student, each bearing flowers.  One of the students is currently studying to be a music teacher and performed a beautiful Beethoven piece.  Another student, who is also a piano teacher, sang Because I knew you to Ms. Rosa.  It was a great surprise and a fitting retirement celebration. Owen (neighbor & first year piano student), Ms. Rosa & Anna Ms. Rosa & her students Although Anna will need to find another piano teacher, she will still see Ms. Ros...

Anna kicked off her summer vacation with a week in the lovely Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We made our way to the beautiful beaches of Duck, NC where we rented a condo for the week.  Theresa watched the weather forecast for the entire week before the trip and it showed sunny skies with temperatures around 80 degrees.  Like most trips, things do not always work out exactly as planned. Upon arriving at the condo, it became readily apparent that the air conditioning was not working.  Joe, having flashbacks to the trip two years ago when the air conditioning was not working for 5 of our 7 day trip (the rental company brought us a window air conditioner after they moved us to another unit and that ac was not working either), was ready to take hostages at the rental office until the AC was fixed.  Fortunately, the problem was fixed within a few hours rather than days.  According to the repairman, AC units in the Outer Banks only last 4-5 years.  Yikes! ...

Today was kindergarten graduation day!  Anna is officially a "rising 1st grader."  For those of you keeping track, this is Anna's third graduation ceremony (pre-school, Ms. Be's, and now kindergarten).  It has been an exciting last week of school.  Yesterday Anna went on the class field trip to the National Zoo (along with several brave chaperones).  Joe and Theresa were in awe of how field trip transportation has changed.  Rather than the big, un-airconditioned yellow school bus, Anna got to go in the nice motor coach complete with a movie.  Ironically, the highlight of the trip for her was not the animals, but the playground at the zoo.  She was so exhausted that she fell asleep when she got home. Anna was equally excited for graduation day, which included a full ceremony and certificate presentation.  The certificate even has signatures of everyone in her kindergarten class.  Mr. Phancy surprised Anna with a graduation balloon and...

End of Season Pool Party It is the end of the season for many things right now for Anna, including soccer and daisy scouts. Anna's social calendar was full this weekend with parties for both. After a very successful season, the Big Purple Balls ended on a rather anti-climatic note with a rain-out.  Thanks to severe storms on Friday night, practice was canceled.  Unfortunately the deluge of rain left the girls' field a swamp, thus no game on Saturday (miraculously the boys' field, which is adjacent to the girl's field, was o.k.  Hmmmm...).  Fortunately, the weather was nice enough for the end of season team party to go on. Anna's1st trophy Anna's friend Molly hosted a pool party at her house.  This was very brave of Molly's parents on several fronts, not the least of which was having 13 5-6 years olds plus siblings all of differing swimming ability in a pool at one time.  Rather than lounging in the numerous chairs around the yard, parents hovere...

Anna with the new tent It was a hot and humid Memorial Day weekend in Northern Virginia - perfect weather to kick off the unofficial start of summer.  Anna asked numerous times when we could go camping again, so we decided this was the perfect weekend to do it.  It should come as no surprise that it was a memorable trip. First, we decided to get a bigger tent since the 2-person tent was a bit to crowded for the three of us.  A quick visit to Wal-Mart, and we are now the owners of a 5-person tent (Anna was very excited about that).  The plan was to head to one of the local Fairfax County parks for an overnight camping adventure.  Apparently others had the same idea, including the thousands of motorcycle riders that descend on DC for the annual Rolling Thunder ride, thus the campgrounds were booked up.  Not wanting to disappoint Anna, we found a campground in the mountains on the Shenandoah River that fit are requirements (1 hour from home and with bath...