Baltimore blog

So here I am again. (I had a little trouble with the password so it took me awhile to get back in). Anyhow, the past two weeks have been a whirlwind. Week 1: Grandma and Grandpa Bozyk are still visiting in anticipation for Allison's Confirmation. Back to school after a two week Christmas break was a little overwhelming. The teachers really loaded the kids down with homework, projects and tests. It has been a great help having extra tutoring services from retired school teacher Grandma Bozyk(not to mention someone else to help cook dinner and clean the kitchen). And of course it was back to karate lessons for Allison and Scott, back to piano lessons, back to Cub Scout meetings and Girl Scout meetings too. Grandma and Grandpa B. spent the first week after the holidays basically hibernating. They both caught bad colds and spent their days sleeping down in our basement turned guest room. Grandpa also spent time browsing all the millions of channels on Tom's new flat screen tv-don't ask me what size or make. We basically swapped out our old tv to send it to the lake house in Mich with Grandma and Grandpa. And the two of them have been helping to wrap up all my Christmas decorations, including taking out the tree to the curb for pick up. I still have to haul all the decorations back up into the attic in the garage. Not my favorite part of the job. And in anticipation for Allison's confirmation, Grandma, Allison and I attended a potluck at the church while the kids played a game titled "Are you smarter than Fr. Mike?" (Allison is almost as smart as Fr Mike.) I also have been driving around in a rental car all week since for the past two months I have been trying to get my heating system fixed on my Buick Terraza mini van. I even had someone look at it in Indy when we were visiting over Thanksgiving. Just when I thought it was back to normal, after waiting a whole week for them to basically replace the whole system, it seems to be just kicking out heat or having trouble with adjusting hot and cold. Not to mention that they returned it to me with a filthy floor covered in oil and the front panel still open at the seems and scratches in my steering wheel. I guess it is back to the car dealer for me.

Week 2 Getting through all the tests and projects but more is on the way, because of course we have a holiday coming up-MLK day and I will be off with the kids. Looks like I will be visiting the car dealer again. I wanted to take the kids to see the movie, Hotel for Dogs. Tom and I wanted to see the Valkyrie movie with Tom Hanks, but most of our evenings have been filled with activities. And forget trying to get in to the movies at night on the weekends around here. The movie theatres and restaurants are usually packed-no recession in Howard County that you can notice. The malls and stores are stilled packed with shoppers(spending money). Last week we were busy as usual with karate lessons and lots of schoolwork. And I got a last minute notice of a parent orientation at our local high school in the evening. I ran over in time to feel overwhelmed with the thought that Allison will be in 9th grade this Fall. Our catholic school kids are getting their own tour of the high school this coming week during the day and we will be handed registration packets to sign up for classes in the fall. Tom is in shock. Looks like Allison will be taking the usual-Science, English, Spanish, Math-Geometry, Am History and some elective I guess. I am also looking at the calendar to schedule the kids for summer camp already. Not to mention figuring out when we will be going on vacation this summer. So last week we spent the weekends cheering on the Ravens as we struggle our way to the Super Bowl. There has been a alot of purple lighting all around the city. A tough game is scheduled for tonite(Sunday) with the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh-Brrrrr! We have been pretty chilly, but no real snow-a few flakes one day last week that all blew away. Not like Mich or Indy I hear. Grandma and Grandpa will make their way back to Mich when the weather clears(July?).
This past weekend, most of our activities have revolved around Allison's confirmation. On Friday we enjoyed a party at our neighbor's house whose son is also making his confirtmation with their Ohio relatives. And of course Saturday morning was the big event. It was a very nice ceremony. Mark and Linda, thanks for the wonderful little statue of Allison's Saint, St. Agnes. Allison asked the Bishop to bless it for her. He thought it was terrific! St Agnes is the patron saint of Girl Scouts and young girls. She was martyred at 12 or 13years of age. Allison likes that her symbol is a lamb, and the statue had a little lamb in her hands. The bishop thought that was great(Allison had thought it might be a puppy!). The kids have puppies on their brains ever since Tom mentioned the thought of getting one and started visiting the pounds. Anyhow, her ceremony was very nice with a quick cookie reception afterwards. Mom did a great job as her sponsor. Afterwards, Allison and I headed to downtown Baltimore to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-it was wonderful. (Part of my Christmas present from Tom) They actually made the car fly on stage! I think the whole family would have enjoyed it. Tom took Scott and Grandpa to see Marley and Me which they enjoyed. Grandma got caught up on her sleep. When we all got home, we celebrated by going out to dinner at a local restaurant which is always packed. Mostly it is known for their crab cakes, but we can't seem to turn Grandma and Grandpa into crab eating fans. They enjoyed the salmon and perch anyhow, and Allison had her first filet mignon-which disappeared quickly. Afterwards we ejoyed big chocolate cake at home while watching Wall-E(which I think was the best cartoom movie of the year, Mark) We still can't decide which commercial was the best. Mostly we can't remember all the commercials.

So of course the whole DC area and Baltimore area have been crazy with the Inauguration(Tom says more like Coronation). Our roads in the cities have been shut down-I was not sure if I was going to make it into Baltimore on Saturday for the musical since Obama was in town making a speech on his railway tour. Fortunately we were on the opposite side of town and missed all the chaos. They were expecting around 200,000 people. It also made it difficult to find a good restaurant to visit on Saturday night with the crowds. And today(Sunday) there are a bunch of outdoor and indoor concerts going on around the DC area-lots of celebs in town I guess. They reported most of the hotels are fully booked-we probably could have made some money renting out part of our house for the event. And of course the parade and inaugaration is scheduled for Tuesday. Most of the school systems are closed for the event, but our kids have school(and tests). I guess all the roads are going to be chaos or closed around the area, including I 95. We do not have any plans to attend and maybe even skip the televison event.