Anna Grows

Anna the 4th Grader Today was Anna's first day of 4th grade.  She was looking forward to this for weeks and is quite excited for the school year to begin.  She got the teacher she wanted, Mrs. Wykoff.  She has most of her closest friends in her class (Sofia is in the other class).  Her only complaint was that the other Anna is also in her class, thus she is now back to being "Anna F" rather than just Anna (we are certain that Anna R has a similar complaint).  She is also excited NOT to go to after school care this year, or at least not on the days when Dad is home. Her first homework assignment was to bring in a paper bag tomorrow with three things that tell something about her.  First, Anna decided not to bring a paper bag but rather a popcorn tin from Chicago (the decision to forgo the paper bag says a lot about Anna's personality right there - always a bit outside the box).  She also chose a small soccer ball (because she is sometimes "sporty"...

Luke, Anna & Andrew After a busy few weeks, vacation time finally arrived!  This year's trip was to the beach in Rhode Island.  The added adventure this year was vacationing  up there at the same time as Aunt Lucy and Terri along with Luke and Andrew.  Aunt Loren arrived for a few days at the end of the week, making it a Fagella (or 50% of the Fagellas) family vacation. The run-up getting to the beach definitely warranted a vacation.  Anna completed two weeks of music and arts camp at Harmonia.  This year, Anna had a part in The Sound of Music (she was the 2nd half Marta).  For those of you familiar with the musical, you may recall that it is rather long, which leads one to wonder how you could master it in a two week camp.  The teachers addressed this problem by cutting out most of the dialogue and limiting it to the music.  In addition to the musical, Anna enjoyed lots of different art projects as well as learning to play African...

Grandma, Grandpa, Anna & Aidyn on the train The last week of July marked Anna's favorite vacation of the year:  a week in Ohio at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  As always, Grandma and Grandpa had a bunch of fun activities planned.  The fun for the week included: A trip to JoAnn Fabrics with Grandma and making some bags for Anna's friends Learning to drive great grandpa's riding lawn mower (otherwise known as the club cadet) Driving the kids John Deer tractor around (despite the fact that she barely fits on it) Picking green beans with Grandpa Riding in the 1965 Dodge truck with Grandpa (no seatbelts....or air conditioning) Bike riding Lots of ice cream treats The highlight of the week was the Friday visit to Cedar Point amusement park on Lake Erie, better known as "the Rollercoaster Capital of the World."  Mom and Dad flew in and picked up cousin Aidyn to join in the festivities.  It should be noted that the roller coaster lover in the group ...

Anna finishing a race The 2015 summer swim season has come to an end at is was a memorable one for Anna.  She surprised a lot of people, including herself, by being one of the top team swimmers for 8 and under girls this year.  What was particularly surprising were the strokes she led - breaststroke and butterfly (her parents didn't even know she knew how to do butterfly).  She was also a member of the 8 and under girls relay team for the first time.  While these were all great things, there were some challenges for the swim season. The first challenge was the weather.  Apparently this was the rainiest summer swim season that anyone could remember with all but one meet conducted in some form of rain.  The first meet of the season was beautiful with Anna clocking some great times on her swims.  The next weekend is better known as monsoon Saturday in which the meet continued to be held in a chilly driving rain (learning experience for The...

Sofia & Anna at camp Anna returned July 3 after a week at Camp Potomac Woods for girl scouts.  This year she went with her good friend Sofia for a week of horseback riding camp.  She declared this year even better than last year and is already planning a return trip next year with Sofia. There were 23 girls in her program with 6 girls in a cabin.  She and Sofia knew some of the girls from last year.  A few highlights from Anna: The food is good and Anna "likes helping" with the chores.  The girls have different tasks to do each day, including serving meals, cleaning the bathrooms, etc.... (Mom LOVES this camp) Anna got to ride a new horse this week - Fancy.  She learned to canter this year and learned to jump over small fences (very exciting) A "trajerous" event took place one night when one of the girls in another cabin woke up to find a mouse by her bag.  Screaming ensued. The girls got to try archery.  Anna and Sofia both want t...

Enjoying seafood on the Chesapeake Bay Sunday was Father's Day, which meant a day of letting Dad decide what he wanted to do.  For Joe, this meant the following: Sleeping in until 9 Reading the Sunday newspaper in a leisurely manner while drinking coffee Spontaneously deciding around 11 AM to explore the Virginia side of the Chesapeake A chicken dinner Anna and Theresa rode in the car for a few hours before begging to be let out.  We did find a delicious seafood restaurant  and treated Dad to a father's day lunch.  After driving around for a few more hours, we made it home, where Dad was showered with loving gifts - things like a pizza stone and a new coffee cup (we know what is important to Dad).  Anna made a "Dad manual" book at school.  Included in her descriptions were the following: 3 words to describe my dad:  awesome, funny, crazy (even though he says he's not) To keep my dad happy:  I tease him If he does get sad, just:...

Last day of school The end of school finally came for Anna on June 16.  She is officially a rising 4th grader!  The last couple of weeks were full of end of year activities and parties. The first end was the final soccer game of the season.  The weather was lovely, but the competition was stiff and the White Hawks ended the season with a 5-3 loss.  Anna was a bit disappointed that the end of season  pool party was replaced with a cupcake party after the game.  It was an interesting season and Anna is looking forward to returning to Coach Tom and Coach Dad's team in the fall. White Hawks Soccer Team The soccer game was immediately followed by the end of year girl scout camp out at a local park.  This was the first camp out for Anna's troop.  The troop is probably 50-50 in terms of those interested in camping versus those that prefer a Marriott.  The girls had a picnic first, complete with smore making, before heading over to the ca...