Anna turns 6!

What a sweet, silly, confident, and kind little girl Anna is! For this blog post, we thought we would give Anna the chance to put things in her own words, so I asked for her response to these questions:

Favorite book: The Wizard of Oz
Favorite color: Pink
Favorite food: Spaghetti carbanora
What Anna wants to be when she grows up: Artist
What she is most looking forward to in kindergarten: Her teacher playing guitar
What she most likes to play with her brother: Family
Favorite song to dance to: Uptown Funk
Favorite movie: Muppets' Christmas Carol
Favorite sport: Field hockey



Anna continues to be a voracious reader, who occasionally needs reminding put down her book to go run around outside. When she does venture outside she's a quick leader on the playground, coordinating pretend games such as "Family," "Ice Cream Stand," "Garbage Dump," and the latest, "Cat Lady." (Which contrary to my initial expectations is simply pretending to be ladies with cat powers, not a old women with many cats.) She seems drawn toward performance and music. You'll see pictures from her dance recital in this month's pictures, and we were lucky enough to have Grandpa and Grandma Barb in town for that performance. Anna is excited to continue dancing and start ukelele lessons in the fall.

Here are some casual performances at dance camp this summer:





Anna is so excited to begin kindergarten next week, and truth be told we could all use a return to a routine schedule! There's a gap this year between Karen's return to work and the kids' return to school, so we were lucky enough to get a visit from Pop-Pop on Anna's birthday today, who will watch the kids for a week. Anna's requested spaghetti carbonara, tomato salad, and a chocolate cake with chocolate icing for her birthday dinner.

Anna's thrilled that Colin will be joining her at Sacred Heart this year, and revels in explaining all the routines and procedures of her old classroom. He seems very excited to join the community and got the chance to meet some classmates early. He's working on his reading to be more like his big sister, and he's gotten pretty good at sounding out 3 and 4 letter words. He is in love with all things baseball, and he roots proudly for the Giants. Here he is giving his sister her birthday present:

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Anna is 6

Summer Travel 2015

What a great trip to the east coast we had this summer!

First stop, Philadelphia!  The kids had a ball with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop. Our big outing was a trip to Hershey Park. We had so much fun! The kids loved going on rides, especially Anna, our daredevil. She worked her way up the roller coaster thrill level and ended up going on an upside down coaster - twice! (Good thing Brian is a willing companion - because Karen was not!) The kids also loved the water park and had tons of fun going down water slides. The kids loved Chocolate World, especially the chocolate tasting and "4-D" movie. In addition to that trip, we went bowling, sailing, and swimming in the backyard.  Colin got to take Pop-Pop out for his Father's Day gift - a trip to the Phillies game! Colin even got to run the bases after the game. Anna took Mom-Mom to see the movie Inside Out, which she loved.

Next we boarded a train to make our way towards North Carolina! Grandma picked us up in Virginia and brought us to her house in Kitty Hawk. We immediately put the jet skis in the water and had a blast riding around in the sound. (Truth be told, Colin was a bit iffy in regards to the jet skis. He preferred kayaking with Grandma!) We went kite flying at Jockey's Ridge and sightseeing at the Wright Brother's Memorial. When I told Anna I'd been to the Wright Brother's Memorial as a child with my family, she asked, "Had the planes flown there yet?"Yeesh! We enjoyed several lovely mornings at the beach and Brian and Karen especially enjoyed the warm Atlantic Ocean. The kids seemed more impressed by the soft sand and its dribble castle possibilities. Probably the highlight of the trip for the kids was going to a nearby restaurant to shell and eat crabs - they loved it!



Our kids are lucky to have such great grandparents. We all had a blast! Click below to see the rest of our adventures!

Summer trip back east