Anna Grows

Halloween is here.  As always, Anna had plenty of opportunity to celebrate.  This year there were some changes from the recent past.  After all, Anna is now 10 so there were some new activities.....but still some traditions. Anna preparing for the Halloween Parade One of the new activities was performing in the Vienna Halloween parade on October 26.  The Vienna parade is the largest Halloween parade in the area and the biggest event of the year in Vienna.  This year, Anna got to perform with her percussion group, the Vienna Jammers.  She was very excited, to say the least.  The group gets to ride on a flatbed semi-truck to perform. (for those of you on Facebook, check out the video at https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.m.saunders.58/videos/10154249314013371/).  They are always a popular group in the parade and Anna had an awesome time hearing the crowd cheer for them and having her friends shouting at her along the parade route.  She had...

Anna and Aidyn collecting eggs What better way to celebrate Columbus Day weekend than a trip to Columbus, Ohio?  That is just what Anna and family did, leaving the outer rain bands of Hurricane Mathew behind to head for Buckeye country.  Of course Anna couldn't leave until she played her soccer game....in the pouring rain (the Red Comets tied 3-3).  After a hot shower and some warm clothes, she was ready to head to the airport. This trip to Ohio was a bit different.  Instead of going to Grandma and Grandpa's house, Anna and family stayed with Uncle Tim, who was kind enough to host.  Uncle Tim runs a great B&B, complete with delicious dinners, breakfast and lots of dessert options.  We will go back!  Grandma and Grandpa came down on Sunday for some family time (Grandma's meals on wheels service was running as she brought a large Sunday dinner). Anna enjoyed hanging out with cousin Aidyn, especially rollerblading and scootering in the basement....

Post-rafting The first girl scout trip of the season was a new adventure:  white water rafting.  Since the girls had a half day of school, the troop leader reserved an afternoon of white water rafting on the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia - about an hour from school.  Theresa was one of the brave parents that agreed to chaperone this adventure.  As luck would have, it was a picture perfect day for rafting:  sunny and 85 degrees! Pre-rafting girls scouts Several of the girls (and the troop leader for that matter) were a bit nervous about this adventure.  There was lots of safety gear involved including life jackets and helmets.  Fortunately  the lack of rain meant that the river was low and the rapids were small - perfect for beginner rafters.  There were 3 boats with a guide in each boat, which meant that the girls also needed to paddle.  Thanks to the calm water, there was plenty of opportunity to jump into the river...

Anna, Ellie & Anna preparing for cake Anna officially turned double digits on September 3!  After much deliberation, she decided to mark her 10th birthday with a karaoke sleepover with five of her friends.  We were also joined by former neighbor Anna who was recruited to help with the evening festivities.  It is safe to say that little sleep occurred, but a good time was had by all. It just so happened that Anna's birthday present this year was a karaoke machine (this took care of the entertainment for the party).  An additional piece of the gift was a series of "tween hits" cds to sing with.  Imagine six 10-year old girls belting out various Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and Megan Trainer songs (among others).  That was a large portion of the evening.  The singing stopped when someone got the idea to climb the tree in the front yard.  At one point, five of six girls were at various locations in the tree.  They were willing to come down...

Anna officially began 5th grade on August 29th!  She is off to a great start and described her first day as "amazing."  There are lots of big changes for Anna this school year. First, Anna is officially "upstairs," which is where grades 5-8 have classes.  This means that she has her very own locker.  This was a major topic of discussion over the summer as she planned her locker decorations and was very concerned about whether she would get a top or bottom locker (she got a top locker).  She also practiced with her combination lock. Second, Anna has a slightly different uniform skirt this year.  While this is not a big deal to Anna, it was a big deal to her mom who quickly realized the smallest skirt was way too long and would require mom to alter it (if only we had planned ahead to get it to grandma).  Nothing strikes terror into Theresa like opening a sewing box, but the threat of sending her daughter to school in skirts that are way too long was ...

Grandma, Grandpa, Aidyn & Anna Anna headed to Ohio for her favorite vacation of the year:  Camp Grandma and Grandpa.  This year was an olympic event - mainly because Grandma and Anna watched a lot of the Olympics.  The first part of the vacation was actually making it to Grandma and Grandpa's.  This year we tried something different. This year's scheduling challenges meant that Anna's parents would need to drive her half way to Ohio for a handoff to her grandparents.  After studying the map, Theresa determined that Pittsburgh was the halfway point and a good weekend road trip.  Grandpa, who was determined not to get lost, programmed two GPS, had one set of printed google map directions as well as a print-out of directions to the hotel.  They made it.  It was a beautiful weekend for a visit and we enjoyed a picnic dinner of delicious Polish pierogies a local park followed by some ice cream.  The next day Anna and the grandparents hea...

Anna & Megan Another swim season has come to an end and with impressive results for Anna's neighborhood swim team, the Lakevale Dolphins.  This year's team went 5-0 to win the division title in an undefeated season (including one thrilling meet that came down to the last two events to decide the winner).  There were lots of changes for Anna this year, including: Anna competing in butterfly Moving up to the 9-10 age group.  This meant that instead of swimming 25 meters (one length of the pool), she now had to do 50 meters (two lengths of the pool , including a flip turn).  Let's just say that Anna was in VERY good swim shape by the end of the season. A new head coach (Sam) and assistant coach(Ally).  Anna loved coach Ally. Practice time at 9:15 AM (Anna was not thrilled with the earlier time) A drop from Division II (where they lost every meet last year) to Division V (it is much more fun to be undefeated) No rainy meets (last year all but one ...