Anna Grows

VCU Visit  The college tours continue with a February 11 visit to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).  Anna signed up for the open house and the family headed south to Richmond, Virginia bright and early on Saturday morning for the tour.  It turns out this was their largest open house since before the pandemic with large crowds of prospective students.  VCU is a state school located just outside downtown Richmond.  They are noted for the art and music programs as well as their healthcare program, so it really has everything Anna is interested in. It was a busy day with tours and information sessions.  Anna focused on the art program and talked with some faculty from nursing, radiology and laboratory sciences.  The most important visit was the dining hall (the open house included a free lunch).   In addition to the dining hall, another important factor in a school is whether they have a football team (no team = a higher rating on Anna's li...

Fairfax Chocolate Festival  In yet another sign that the pandemic is receding, the annual Fairfax City Chocolate Festival was back on after a 3-year hiatus!  Anna and Theresa stood in the freezing temperatures to get in for some chocolate sampling (it was worth it).  There were also events outside, including a cake walk and a chocolate fountain.  There was even a visit by the Presidents (that would be the Washington Nationals presidential mascots).  Anna and Theresa were a bit startled to have a giant George Washington behind them in line.  It was a fun afternoon out.  In other news of the past couple of weeks: George at the Festival Anna and Theresa also got to enjoy a cabaret performance at George Mason University along with some friends.  Anna did a campus tour of GMU a couple of weeks ago and it was fun to see the work of some of the theater students.  Girl Scout cookies arrived this week.  We have no pictures as the order is conside...

 The year 2023 got off to quite a start when Grandma fell on New Year's Eve while taking down Christmas decorations, resulting in a broken hip.  She got the first hip surgery of the year with a repair surgery at 7:30 AM on New Year's Day.  She spent a week in the hospital followed by another 4 days at the local hospital doing rehab before going home.  She is making progress, albeit not as fast as she would like.  Theresa spent 10 days in Ohio to help out when her mom came home.  Today's photo is what Grandma aspires to do when she completes her physical therapy. While Theresa was in Ohio, both Anna and Joe ended up sick with whatever bug is going around.  Anna was home sick from school and Joe was sick on his birthday.  In addition, the garage door spring broke, and the garbage disposal died.  It was definitely a rough week.  Hopefully this week will be better....or maybe next month.    

Christmas Morning  The holiday season is winding down and it is time to say goodbye to 2022.  We spent a quiet Christmas at home, which is becoming our regular tradition since the pandemic.  Anna sang in the choir for Christmas Eve mass.  We had our traditional Christmas Eve seafood dinner (for those of you who are wondering, we had cod wrapped in prosciutto with a lemon butter sauce - delicious along with shrimp cocktail).  There was no snow, but the weather was frigid - one of the coldest Christmas Eves on record.  Here were some of the holiday happenings from Virginia: Anna is enjoying two weeks off for holiday break and has spent lots of time hanging out with friends, reading, crocheting, and watching movies. We enjoyed Christmas morning with lots of gifts.  As always, we are reminded that Grandma and Grandpa are the real Santa Claus.  Anna got lots of makeup items and her traditional lego set, which she immediately put together.  Everyon...

Grandma & Mary Lou The Madison High School holiday choir concert was held on December 17.  There was some question about whether the concert would be held thanks to a potential ice storm and subsequent school day.  Fortunately, it was a false alarm that school (and the concert) went on as planned.  Mrs. Latimer joined us for the evening show.  Anna is part of the Madison Select Singers, an all- female choir.  Here are some of the selections from their group (with apologies for the amateur video): I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus Jingle Bells There are a total of 4 choirs and all combined for the grand finale of  Auld Lang Syne  via (electric) candlelight.  It was a great concert! The other major event of the week was Theresa's quick trip to Ohio for her Dad's surgery.  He had an overnight hospital stay and is fortunately doing well.  While he was recovering, Theresa also had the opportunity to kick off the holiday baking Grandpa Assis...

 The 2022 holiday season is here, with all of its festivities....and germs.  Our goal for the holidays is to make it through without anyone getting sick with them many viruses going around (COVID, the flu, RSV, pneumonia).  This is an ambitious goal, especially given that Theresa just came off a week of holiday parties at work and is about to travel and Anna's friends are getting sick.  We are bringing back the masks!  The hospitals are nearing capacity in the greater DC area, especially for young children.   We made some changes to the holiday traditions this year to mix things up (or just save some work because let's face it, the year has been tough).  You won't be seeing holiday cards this year (we see most of you on social media anyway).  We changed up our tree and went with a red, white, and silver theme with WAY less ornaments (this may be the fastest decorating ever).  Theresa has pledged to scale back the baking, but with two wee...

Thanksgiving 2022 marked the first time the Kohler family gathering for the holiday since 2018.  The Kohler's gathered in the mountains of Deep Creek Lake Maryland, not Disney (as the title may suggest).  We were excited to get together and rented a lovely mountain top house with a distant view of the lake.  We arrived just after dark on Wednesday night and did not realize all the house had to offer until daylight the next day. We rejoiced in the gas fireplaces on both the main and lower levels.  Uncle Tim, Theresa, Joe, Anna and Aidyn decided to take the bedrooms in the lower level (Uncle Rod and Aunt Courtney were arriving the next day) while Grandma and Grandpa had the master suite on the main level.  Wednesday night, Theresa was up late and decided to turn on the lower-level fireplace to enjoy while reading a book. This resulted in the carbon monoxide detectors going off throughout the house at 11:30 at night.  That was the end of the gas fireplace....