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Meeting Location: Mark's Apartment
February 7, 2007

Members Present: Mark, Nathalie, Jill

Meeting Times - Start: 7:20 pm - End: 9.00 pm

1. Past Activities
   
   Mark mentioned how the group still went to Washington, D.C. to Union Station for dinner, even though it was snowing and eventually freezing rain fell. The group ate at Johnny Rocket’s restaurant. The second past activity ended up being canceled. That was the trip to go snowtubing at Whitetail ski resort in Pennsylvania. The trip was canceled due to Mark not being able to go due to her sister’s recent diagnosis of breast cancer and low funds. Once Mark declined to go on the trip, it was the domino effect and not many people wanted to go on the trip at that point.
   
   Due to the low turnout of tonight’s meeting, Mark did not ask, but wanted to, if the group wanted to try and reschedule the trip for another date OR wait until next year.



2. Future Activities
   
   There was a discussion on what types of trips we should think about doing over the next few months. Here is a list of some of the thoughts for trips:
   
   A trip to Tennessee
   
   Virginia - Take a beach trip to Virginia Beach; go to Williamsburg, Virginia for both Colonial Williamsburg and also to Jamestown, and also to WaterCountry, USA; go see the cave (Luray Caverns)
   
   Delaware - Take a beach trip to a Delaware beach-and while at the beach take a ferry ride over to New Jersey



3. Saint Patrick’s Day
   
   Discussed what we wanted to do for Saint Patrick’s Day this year since it falls on a Saturday. We first looked through the Southern Montgomery County, Maryland Yellow pages, and then Mark looked online for some Irish pubs and/or restaurants that we could possibly go to on Saint Patrick’s Day; this list was three pages long.
   
   The list of places that we found in the Southern Montgomery County, Maryland yellow pages include:
   
   Bailey’s Pub & Grille, 20021 Century Boulevard
   
   Germantown, Maryland; (301) 515-8880
   
   Bennigan’s, 12276 Rockville Pike
   
   Rockville, Maryland, (301) 770-2594
   
   Tower Oaks Lodge, 2 Preserve Parkway
   
   Rockville, Maryland , (301) 294-0200
   
   Flaps, Inc., 10134 River Road
   
   Potomac, Maryland
   
   Mrs. O’Leary’s, 555 Quince Orchard Road
   
   Gaithersburg, Maryland, (301) 947-1993
   
   O’Donnell’s Sea Grill, 311 Kentlands Boulevard
   
   Gaithersburg, Maryland, (301) 519-1650
   
   Riva Irish Pub, 4931 Elm Street
   
   Bethesda, Maryland, (301) 657-1122
   
   The rest of the Irish pubs/restaurants I will hand out a Xerox sheet, at the time of the next meeting, of all of the rest of the places that I found on the internet. These locations include places in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland. We can discuss which place will be the final choice for the Saint Patrick’s Day event at the meeting on March 14th.



4. Fun Bunch Write-Up
   
   Mark mentioned how he was about to create a write-up for the Fun Bunch to appear in the March issue of the Montgomery County Learning Disabilities Association newsletter. Mark also double checked on how people felt about the issue of allowing 18-20 year-olds into the group.
   
   At tonight’s meeting, the members present seemed to be ok with the idea of allowing 18-20 year-olds into the group. It was stated that we were looking for individuals that were responsible, and are serious about joining a support group. It was also stated that we did not want individuals who were have common sense and will not tarnish the image of the Fun Bunch



5. National and State Learning Disabilities Conferences
   
   Mentioned how this was one of the group’s goals. Discussed what conferences we wanted to attend. It was brought to the meeting’s attention that this had been John W.’s idea at last month’s meeting, so we really could not get into the “gist” of what John W. had in mind. Although we did discuss what all of us that was the best course of action in pursuing this goal. The first step was to start with small steps. The best idea was for first attending a future Montgomery County Learning Disability Association meeting.
   
   The next logical step would be attend a state of Maryland Learning Disabilities Association Conference. Then we would be ready to attend a National Learning Disabilities Association Convention. From, here, it was mentioned that depending how much money members could afford combined with any amount of money LDAMC could give attend maybe next year’s National LDA convention and set up a table to advertise the Fun Bunch along with some brochures and/or some business cards. Another idea if the group should actually attend a National LDA Convention is to find out if there are any other support groups identical to that of the Fun Bunch, and maybe have a “meet and greet” session, as well as trade ideas and share success stories with each support group.



6. FUTURE MEETING SCHEDULE
   
   The next meeting will be held at the Davis Library, which is opposite the Walter Johnson High School football field, on Wednesday, March 14th.