Anna Grows

Anna & Officer Valesquez Anna returned to school this week after spring break to several activities. The highlights this week:  DARE graduation and her annual piano recital. The 5th grade students at St. Mark get to participate in the Drug and Abuse Resistance Education (DARE).  This is an 8-week program that is taught by a local police officer.    This year Officer Valesquez from the Vienna police department taught the St. Mark 5th graders - his very first class.  The class focuses on teaching strategies for kids to make good choices in dealing with drugs, alcohol, and bullying.  As Officer Valesquez stated at the graduation ceremony, he will always remember this class.  The kids were asked to put together either skits or posters for the ceremony.  One day, Anna came home from school quite incensed with her teacher about the preparation.  Apparently he told them they could use whatever props they wanted for their presentation....

Luke, Andres, James, Anna & Bonnie on Easter Sunday Spring Break this year offered a familiar tradition for Anna and family.......that it is always different.  This year was no exception.  Well, there are some things that are traditional.  First, Anna's spring break is always the week of Easter.  Second, we have Easter bread (if we are lucky, it is Aunt Mary's Easter bread).  Third, Mom makes lamb cake.  This year we had all of these traditions, along with a trip to New York, a performance at the George Mason University Center for the Arts (that would be a performance by Anna) and a trip to the mountains of Virginia to stay in a cabin built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936. Coloring eggs with Loren, Terri, Lucy & James Easter weekend kicked off with a trip to New York to visit Aunt Mary and James for Easter.  This ensured we would have delicious Easter bread and Anna would get to color eggs again with James.  The added ...

Ready for the Father-Daughter dance! Today marked one of Anna's favorite events of the school year:  the Father-Daughter dance.  Each year one of the girl scout troops sponsors the annual dance.  This year's theme was Hawaiian, which worked out great for both Joe and Anna.  Joe got to break out his Hawaiian shirt (we are not sure, but this shirt may easily be 25+ years old) and Anna got to wear a new dress and flip flops. The 7th grade girls were running the dance, including serving as DJ.  Anna reported that her Dad did dance a bit, but apparently he was not as hip as Coach Tom, who knew how to dab, whip, and nay-nay.  Anna will do a bit more training with her Dad next year. Joe reported there were lots of girls running around and plenty of opportunities for sugary treats.  Anna confirmed that all the dads were hanging out on the side talking.  She was a bit disappointed that they did not play the macarena, but still managed to get her da...

The Kohler's Celebrate Grandpa's Birthday What better way to celebrate Grandpa's birthday than with a trip to Ohio and a family dinner!  It was a milestone birthday for Grandpa (we won't say which one), which warrants a family celebration.  Fortunately Anna had a three day weekend, thanks to a teacher workday, so the family headed to the Buckeye state for what they thought would be an early spring weekend.  Mother nature had other plans. The 70 degree weather of earlier in the week turned to sub zero weather by the time of the trip.  After a windy departure, Anna and family made it to Columbus in time to enjoy lows in the teens.  After spending the night with Uncle Tim, they hopped in the car with Cousin Aidyn and headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Anna and Aidyn had a great time hanging out and playing with remote control cars. In the meantime, Theresa began watching the weather as a storm began to form along the East coast. Sunday, the Kohler...

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 ...