Anna Grows

Happy Birthday Joe! What better place to celebrate a January birthday than the sunny beaches of Cancun, Mexico?  Thanks to a holiday (Martin Luther King Day), a teacher work day, and inauguration day, it was a perfect week to head south of the border to soak up some sun and warm weather.  This trip was postponed from last year, so making it to Mexico was extra special. We have done trips to Mexico before, but this trip was very different in a good way thanks to the Kid's Club.  As luck would have it, we decided to shoot some hoops at the basketball court on the first day after breakfast.  There was a group at the nearby archery range, so Anna went over to check it out.  As it turns out, there was a group of kids from the Kid's Club, including another 10 year old girl from New Jersey named Lisa.  Anna and Lisa hit it off, resulting in Anna asking to join the group.  The group leader agreed, and off Anna went for the rest of the day.  When we ...

Normally a holiday letter goes out to some family and friends each year with an overview of what the Fagella family has been up to.  The letter did not quite make it out to many folks this year, so here is the electronic version. What can we say about 2016?   The general consensus is that we are happy to close the book on it – like so many others.   I considered not preparing the overview this year, but that really was not the best way to handle it.   After all, there were some good things in 2016.   In the spirit of being thankful…..and trying to recall some of the good things….I asked our family members to list their top two things that happened in 2016.   Without further ado, here is the list. Anna’s Top 2 Anna did not hesitate on her first item:   a dog.   After years of lobbying, pleading, and negotiating Anna is at last a dog owner.   Storm joined the family at the end of May after a family friend was trying to find ...

Family Christmas at Last Christmas 2016 was definitely a memorable one, largely because of the stomach bug that seemed to be plaguing the Fagella house.  Actually, the bug seemed to be spreading up and down the East Coast, the Midwest, and even some West Coast reports from other friends, making it more of a nationwide epidemic.  This might make a person wonder why they are not illness reports, just like weather reports, announcing what is happening.  "Rampant 36-hour stomach bug that is highly contagious - stay inside and drink lots of fluids. DO NOT go to family or social gatherings."  Anna and her parents went to a neighbor's house a couple of days before Christmas for a Chinese Winter Solstice dinner.  The highlight was 4 year old Zoe throwing up at dinner.  Thus the saga began.  By Friday morning, Joe was sick.  By Friday afternoon, Anna was sick.  Theresa had a light touch, but fared much better.  Cousin James also had it....

Christmas at the Capitol Every year in the Fagella household the family takes a Sunday morning to visit the holiday sights in downtown DC.  The stops usually include the train display at the U.S. Botanical Garden, the Capitol Christmas tree, and the White House Christmas tree.  This year Pauletta, Wil and the boys decided to join in the festivities on December 11.  Apparently everyone else in the Greater Washington area caught on to this tradition as the crowds descended. The first stop was the botanical gardens....along with hundreds of other people.  The group quickly discovered a line wrapped half way around the building to see the train display....at least a 45 minute wait.  Given that a 2-year old and a 7-year old were involved, we decided to forgo the trains and check out the rest of the gardens, which were also busy.  Theresa has the luxury of working across the streets from the gardens and noted that the train display was nice, but not necessa...

Courtney, Rod, Tim, Grandpa, Theresa, Anna, Aidyn & Grandma This was the year for the bi-annual Kohler Thanksgiving tradition:  a family trip to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland.  The Kohler clan converged at the holiday house the day before Thanksgiving  to give thanks, enjoy being together (or at least realize why  it would be a bad idea to live together for more than 3 days) and most importantly...watch the Ohio State versus Michigan game (this proved to be more exciting than imagined).  New to the trip this year was Storm, who made his debut with the Kohlers.  It is quite possible that he had the best time of anyone after a long weekend of non-stop attention and secret treats from Grandma and Grandpa (Storm tasted a lot of sausage and bacon).  He was also excited that Aunt Courtney brought her chihuahua, Bitsy.  Bitsy, however, was not nearly as excited about Storm, who proceeded to follow her around most of the weekend.  Storm also go...

Vienna Jammers in Atlantic City Atlantic City here we come!  Anna's first trip to Atlantic City was a memorable one as she got to perform with the Vienna Jammers at the Atlantic City convention center for a national music teacher conference.  This was the Jammers' first performance outside of the greater Vienna area and they were a big hit. Taking over 60 kids on a four-hour bus ride along with LOTS of music equipment is no easy feat.  There is a small army of parents that coordinate this, which involves an enterprise rental truck (to load steal drums) and packing numerous marimbas, two drum sets, speakers, cabling, sound system, etc.....under the two buses.  Getting to the conference was one thing, but the director, Mr. Reynolds, added a fun side trip to Philadelphia on the way home for cheesesteak and a ghost tour of Philly historic sites.  It was a full day. The buses departed at 7 AM on Saturday morning.  Theresa decided to join i...

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...