Anna Grows

Anna and the 5th Grade Girls Team If you go to Catholic school and are going to play a sport, then it must be basketball.  Anna decided this year was the time for her to try out her skills with the 5th grade team.  Anna and her parents learned a lot about basketball.....and the politics of Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) basketball this season. Lesson 1:  Developing Future Collegiate Recruits begins in Roughly 1st grade Anna, along with a couple of her friends, were late to the game of basketball even though it is only 5th grade.  After all, other girls in her class started in 1st grade.  This year, the coach was recruiting additional girls to play on the team.  While some parents (we will call them naive parents) thought it was nice they wanted to get more girls involved and teach them the sport, it soon became apparent that the real reason was so they could the divide the team into two separate teams.  All of the best players went to the ...

Lincoln's cottage Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday.  What better way to celebrate than a trip to Lincoln's summer cottage on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home.  Actually, Anna thought of several other things she would rather be doing.  Alas....her parents held the majority vote, so off to Northeast DC the family went. Lincoln's cottage was where his family spent the summer months.  It is about 3 miles north of the White House and was considered the country back in the day.  The cottage was renovated and opened to the public a few years ago.  It sits on the grounds of the soldiers home for retired veterans, which was also open at the time the Lincolns stayed there.  There are currently 500 veterans on the grounds.  It was a great tour and definitely a place worth visiting the next time you are in DC.  For more details, check it out at:  http://www.lincolncottage.org/ Statue of Lincoln & his horse  A visit to the co...

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...