Anna Grows

Today Anna was very excited to officially begin 1st grade. She seemed disappointed that today was only a half day and is already looking forward to a full day tomorrow.  Apparently the half day was exhausting as she collapsed in bed when she got home. Dad, Mom, & Grandma took her to school this morning where they were greeted by the principal and several enthusiastic teachers (neither Mom nor Dad remember this sort of festive atmosphere when they started school).  Anna has her own desk this year.  Her teacher is Miss Dawson and the assistant is Mrs. Baker. Among the many things she is excited about this year is her school planner where she writes her daily homework assignments "just like the big kids."  Apparently they spent the first day going over all the rules.  Let's face it - that is a key part of school, along with schedules. After school, Mom, Anna & Grandma celebrated by going out to lunch.  After a little bit of a nap, Anna went to th...

Anna & Aidyn Anna spent her last week of summer vacation visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Ohio.  Mom & Dad drove her out on a Saturday, where she got to spend the night in Columbus and hang out with her cousin Aidyn.  Grandma & Grandpa picked her up on Sunday and spent the afternoon with her and Aidyn at the COSI museum in Columbus (check it out at www.cosi.org).  The museum was fantastic for kids and kept them occupied for hours. Anna had a week packed with entertainment, that included a tour of a gourmet chocolate factory, shopping with Grandma (including new clothes and twinkle toe shoes), a county fair, and more shopping.  She also spent lots of time riding the kid John Deere tractor around.  This became even more fun after Grandpa showed her how to put it in second gear!  It was a great vacation for Anna. Mom & Dad had many long dinners during a very quiet week in which they tried to recall what they use to discuss prior to Anna....

Anna's & the Mini-Ds It is hard to believe the summer is almost over.  Anna had a good one that included some big events. The biggest milestone of the summer was learning to swim.  Anna was part of the neighborhood swim team, the Lakevale Dolphins.  Since this was her first year, she was on the mini-dolphins (aka, "mini-Ds").    Swim practice was three mornings a week.  It was not long before Anna was jumping off the diving board by herself.  Soon she was doing cannon balls (actually, her definition of a cannon ball was yelling "cannon ball" as you jump off the board.....she can now do a full-fledged cannon ball).  The grand finale was the mini-D swim meet in which team members jump in and swim the length of the pool in front of a crowd of older swim team members and cheering parents.  This is where we quickly concluded that Anna will likely not be training for the Olympics any time soon.  As soon as anyone mentioned ...

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! ...