Wow what a busy week this turned out to be! Allison returned home and got busy with Field Hockey try outs. We weren't getting our hopes up too high since they had 60 girls try out for about 40 positions between the JV and Varsity teams. There would have to be some cuts, and Allison just picked up the sport. There were girls that had been playing for many years, but Allison seemed to enjoy the sport and was working hard. And it seems her hard work paid off! Allison is the new JV Field Hockey goalie! She shares the position with one other girl. We are so proud of her for taking a chance and joining the high school team. This should be a fun start to the 9th grade!
Scott was busy finishing up his summer at the YMCA camp. He participated in a Mad Science camp and made lots of great concoctions. He also had a field trip to the bowling alley and enjoyed the day duck pin bowling(was very popular here in MD-small bowling balls about the size of big softballs that the kids roll 3 times and then knock down smaller pins). He really enjoys that activity!
Allison was wrapping up her summer with a swim birthday party with a Twilight theme. She had a great time, but was getting a bit worn out! I also had to drag her off to the doctor for her yearly physical and have her pack for a weekend Girl Scout camping trip.
On top of all this, Tom had to head out to California for the week, return home for one night and then head back out to LA. I took off on Friday night with my Girl Scouts for an end of summer weekend camping trip. I had 3 of my girls for the older girl camping weekend. Tom sent Scotty off to stay with our neighbors and Scott had to babysit Cookie on Saturday morning.
Our camping weekend turned out well except I could have done without the tornado warning on Friday night! We huddled in the bathrooms in our cabins(thank goodness for cabins!) Usually we would be tenting, but this trip has several indoor buildings that we use to run the badge work, so they are able to run the camp rain or shine. The girls did a great job earning a Fitness to Fashion badge and a Games for Life badge. They also enjoyed an aerobics class, swimming and watching "The Devil Wears Prada" while I made tye dye shirts all weekend. I even made Allison a few gold and black tye dye shirts for school spirit wear. We managed to have a pretty nice weekend even thought it rained most of Friday and Saturday. My weekend got a bit more hectic when I discovered my car battery had died over the weekend. Fortunately the girl scouts were well prepared and gave me a jump start but I ended up spending the rest of Sunday afternoon waiting to get a new battery at the Sears auto repair. And my Buick Terrazza is not too simple to maintain-the battery is all the way to the bottom of the engine and the mechanic had to pull most of the engine out to get to it and then replace it and put everything back where it belonged. A 2 1/2hr job! At least we had a chance to get some shopping in while the car was repaired.
And so the following week Scott will start school on Thursday. I still have some school supplies to pick up and new clothes for Allison since she is switching from a uniform in private Catholic school to public school. She is a bit excited and a bit scared all at the same time. She is also busy with her piano lessons and finishing up the summer reading program at the library.
And also finishing up her presentation for the Confirmation Retreat that she is helping to run for the 8th graders in mid September. Wish us luck!

I am just sitting down with a glass of wine after enjoying some great steak and corn on the cob that Tom cooked for us tonite. And as an added bonus I had a few slices of one of my tomatoes ripe off the vine in my flower garden. We are waiting to enjoy some dessert with our neighbors out on the patio, but it is still pretty hot out there at 830 pm. This has definitely been the dog days of summer. Speaking of dogs, looks like Cookie is ready for another day at the spa-she is starting to resemble a polar bear again. She goes in for a hair cut on Friday. And our Allison has returned from Grandma and Grandpa Bozyk's. Sounds like she really enjoyed spending a big part of her summer there(4wks total). Last week she was busy sailing. She spent most of her last week swimming and enjoying some fireworks with a campfire on the beach. She also got in her last book reports for the summer library reading club. When she returned home she was able to bid on a Twilight package complete with a Twilight poster and music CD. book and sweetheart candies. She tried for a Twilight purse made out of the bookcover, but lost by 3 points! For those not aware, Twilight was the big vampire hit with the teeny boppers. The first movie came out last Thanksgiving-look for the sequel this holiday season. Anyhow, Allison really enjoyed the whole series. She managed to get in quite a bit of reading this summer and Grandma Bozyk made sure to add some culture to her repetoire(in the form of videos). No cable in the Michigan beach house.
Tom drove up to Mich on Thursday to pick up Allison. He had some videotaping to complete at Uof M so he stopped in on his way to the Bozyk house in West Bloomfield. They arrived a bit late since they stopped at the East Jordan Health Clinic picnic before driving home on Thursday night. Mom and Dad Bozyk will be in WB for about 2 weeks before heading back to Charlevoix. Tom and Allison headed back to Maryland on Friday after a stop over at the CVS pharmacy to get a sports physical for Allison. She would like to try out for the High School Field Hockey Team and they required her to have a sports physical before she even tried out. Thank goodness for minute clinics. She was done in a flash and they got home around 8pm.
Bright and early Saturday morning, I took Allison up to the High School for her first try out. They had the girls run around the school twice in 2 hrs. Apparently it is all about the running. Allison has some pretty good ball handling skills that she picked up at summer camp, but the running is pretty tough-2 miles without stopping. Tom went with her and they both ran around the school tonight-Tom had to stop a few more times than Allison. You go girl! Sadly, they had 27 girls sign up for Field Hockey, but they only take 18, so they have some cuts to make. Not quite as bad as our neighbors whose son is attending a catholic HS and he tried out for the soccer team with 63 other boys. They only need about 20! Keep your fingers crossed for Allison. She has two practices per day all week and then they will decide. We do have a back up plan if she doesn't make this team. Howard County has a team for high school girls as well, so she can always play for them. Mainly she just wants to play.
Tom took a test bike ride up to the school with Allison since she will have to ride herself up to practice this week while we are at work. Tom had to pick up a new bike this morning since it looks like his old bike is out of commission. He had a bent rim on his back tire and 8 broken spokes, and the bike repairman told Tom his bike was too old to fix! They no longer have the tools to repair the bike tire, and they can't get the parts either! Boy do we feel old! It is about 20 yrs old. Tom is going to keep checking bike shops, but for now he opted to buy a replacement. We headed to Costco and got a nice replacement for about $300. The bike repairman said it would cost him around $600 at the most to fix Tom's bike! So Tom had a shiny new bike to ride up to the high school with Allison today. And I am hoping we get a few trips in this Fall(when the weather is a bit cooler!).

Another week of summer flew by and it is getting HOT!!!! Thank goodness Scott spent his week at the Y camp in the pool. He finished a week of aquatics and couldn't get enough swimming.
We spent last weekend away from home in Williamsburg and Virginia Beach, so it was tough getting started back to our busy schedule on Monday. Especially for Tom. He had a 6am flight to Detroit Monday morning. He spent most of his week at Uof M(sadly) working on his Black Belt Management Training Video. At least he made it back home by Weds. And his car battery finally decided it needed replaced. Glad we bought a new one. He had Friday off which gave him time to clean out his car, change the battery and give the car a bath. He also fixed one of my recliner seats in my minivan. Closing in on 100,000 miles and everything is starting to wear out, including my cup holder drawer. Sadly, we are thinking of purchasing a Toyota or Honda minivan since GM and Ford have decided to stop building cars people need or want. I really don't see me squeezing all my Girl Scouts into a mini coup! And we can't afford to fill up the gas tank in an SUV(sorry but crossovers aren't the answer either). Anyhow for now we are trying to keep my minivan in one piece.
This past weekend was fairly quiet until Scott decided to invite the neighborhood kids over for a water fight. Sadly, his best buddy across the street got sick and couldn't play, so we were stuck with a bunch of toddlers at the house afraid of squirt guns. And with the toddlers came all the parents. So instead of cutting the grass and planting my new flowering bushes, I was stuck entertaining the neighborhood kids with the sprinkler and chit chatting to all the parents. Not to mention passing out juice boxes and popsicles. By the time I went to cut the grass it was 7pm and my mower ran out of oil. Tom came to my rescue and bought more oil so he could finish up the lawn(while I made dinner-oh what fun). Tom did have enough time to grill my bratwursts though. Scott and Tom got smart during the day and hid in the house with the computer systems while the toddlers took over our yard. Tom was busy putting my parent's computer back together. Fortunately they will be back on line in West Bloomfield. Tom will be traveling to Mich this Thursday to pick up Allison from Camp Grandma and Grandpa. She needs to be back in town by Saturday for Field Hockey try outs. She has been busy running since they want the kids to run 2 miles for try outs. Not an easy feat here especially since the weather has been in the 90s. At least try outs start early on Saturday and Allison has been running up and down Bracey Rd. the past few weeks trying to get ready. She wasn't alone. I actually had time to visit the Y and get in a couple of aerobics classes! Although I also volunteered to go into work for a few hours on Friday afternoon right after I went to my doctor appt. I did manage to have lunch with Tom on our day off together-I actually tried FatBurger for the first time! This hamburger chain was in LA and out west when we lived there and I absolutely refused to eat at anyplace with the name FAT in the title. But I figured since I was going to aerobics class, I could give it a chance! This is the only chain in the east coast area and it is owned by one of our ex Ravens football players. I was pleasantly surprised to see they had veggie burgers and salad wedges(although I couldn't pass up trying the onion rings). Tom thought their hamburgers and onion rings were good, but I wasn' t terribly impressed. At least I can say I tried it. They claim to have the best burgers on the West Coast, but I always enjoyed Jack in the Box and Carl's Burgers or In N Out Burger when we lived in LA. So much for our fine dining. Tom and Scott and I did go out to dinner at the Mexican restaurant Friday night in olde Ellicott City(I gave up cooking for the day). After our Mariachi serenade we stopped into a new wine store across the street just to scope it out. Turns out the owners are from Ludington/Muskegon Michigan. And they went to Michigan State! Tom was wearing a MSU tshirt which tipped them off. The husband studied horticulture and decided to open the wine store after working as head chef at a local historic restaurant, The Elkridge Inn. After they found out we were MSU folk the wine tasting got more extensive! Tom bought a few bottles(nothing over $20) and I read that the owner donates 5% of each sale to charity. He also likes dogs and every third Friday of the month is Yappy Hour. Sample wine and socialize with your dog! His dog usually hangs out there at the store-(they even sell dog bones)- so we will have to introduce them to Cookie. And at the end of the month they have an outdoor movie night scheduled(serving wine of course). This outing motivated us to invite our neighbors over that night to sip wine out on our deck. Sadly they are moving to a mansion in western Howard county after it is built next spring. Scott will be very sad since this is his best buddy. I am sure there will have to be some commuting for play dates.
On Sunday, Tom had to drive up to Lancaster PA to oversee some lab work for his Salt Lake City project. Unfortunately he missed our visit with Matt and Di and Diana's sister Hillary and family visiting from Caton Michigan for the week. Scott and I were pretty happy to use their pool(plenty hot these days) and of course Matt cooked up a BBQ bonanza. Our evening was cut short however when their son, Nick had to take a trip to the Emergency Room. He had some minor surgery the week before and the incision opened up while he was swimming. They needed to get him back in shape since they were planning a white water rafting trip this week and a visit to Ocean City.
Allison meanwhile really enjoyed her sailing lessons this past week on Lake Charlevoix. Mom and Dad Bozyk took her every afternoon into Charlevoix where Allison learned all about wind and the weather, how to tie knots and most of all how to sail. However, I think her favorite part was learning how to fall out of the boat and how to capsize the boat so they can flip it back over. I told her I paid for sailing lessons, not swimming lessons! I saw some great photos of her too on Flicker. There is a photograher that takes pictures of all the kids at each session all summer long and sends them out on the internet. She definitely looked like she was enjoying herself. And on Friday they had a picnic dinner for all the sailors and their families. Mom Bozyk even won a raffle prize-2lbs of Michigan fudge! I am expecting my cut.
3 weeks and counting until school starts-we have already started purchasing Scott's back to school supplies. He is actually looking forward to school starting-I am not. Already I am swamped just in filling out Girl Scout forms! Back to my forms. Kathleen and Family

I can't believe another week went by already. Scott and I spent it together as Tom was out in Salt Lake City working on the eternal project. He left Monday morning and did not get back home until 4am Saturday morning. His flight was delayed on Friday afternoon due to some storms across the US and he had a connecting, delayed flight out of Denver where the worst weather was occurring. We have had a few good storms go through MD with some small tornadoes scattered here and there across the state. No damage in our neighborhood thank goodness. And we can use the rain since everything has been drying out.
Scott was busy attending kids classes at our local Community College. He took his first morning class with our neighbor's son and good buddy Sammy. They boys were enrolled in an Engineering and Robotics class and they loved it. The whole week revolved around legos and the different kits they have for making motorized cars, etc that hook up to the computer for their instructions. Both boys are asking the kits(only several hundred dollars says Tom). Scott will have to be awful good to ask Santa for that present at Christmas! Their are actually several different kits:Lego Education, and many others that I cannot remember the names. One of Scott's classmates mother is in charge of the Howard County Lego Robotics club. Scott may have a new hobby. He has already decided he is going to be an engineer. Heaven help us! And in the afternoon, Scott was busy at a Science class entitled: Ooey, Gooey and Stinky too where they made quite a few interesting concoctions and tried some fun and fuzzy experiments. He had a blast last week. Who knew schoolwork could be so fun! And in the evenings, the two boys spent their time making Lego creations when they weren't busy playing the Wii games.
Next week he will be back to the YMCA and back to lots of physical activity(swimming primarily).
Allison has also had a busy week with Grandma and Grandpa. The neighbors took her under their wing and had her out on their boat for some rides around the lake on the tube. They also went swimming off the side of the boat which Allison found exciting since they were out in the deep water and you could dive off with no restrictions and then climb back on the boat on the little side ladder. She also managed to get invited for dinner(fried chicken, fried pickles, fried whatever!). And she had a to go plate for Gma and Gpa. So Gma and Allison repaid the neighbors in the form of a cake. Allison even managed to get them all invited to a pig roast this past weekend and Allison got to drive Gma and Gpa home on the neighbor's golf cart. Sunday was the Portside Art Fair so I will have to get an update. Allison has also been working long distance from the library on her Confirmation retreat presentation with her partner here in Baltimore. Their presentation is due this coming week, so she has had to send all of her ideas via email so her partner can turn it in. What a pain. She has a nice, understanding and experienced partner however so I think they will be alright. They are presenting a section on Love and loving God and Man, so Allison is putting together a Jeopardy game as part of their presentation. It includes famous couples in love, love songs, love quotes from the bible, and some other info she got off the internet. She did take time out to make herself a graffitti, tie dye shirt during the teen class at the library. And she has been running to get into shape for field hockey try outs in two weeks. And she has been doing a lot of reading and staying up late and getting up even later. That won't last-especially when school starts! Next week her afternoons will be filled up with her 4H Sailing class-she is looking forward to it. And next weekend is the Polish Festival in Boyne and the antique auto show and fleamarket. A plethora of activities!
And not to be undone; after Tom awoke from his 5 hour nap we loaded the van and drove down to Williamsburg to visit Busch Gardens and see Foreigner in concert there at the park. We really enjoyed the show. They have an outdoor stage and we sit on the grass enjoying Busch beer and BBQ. We were surprised how much we enjoyed that old music like-Juke Box Hero, Cold as Ice and they even have a new album to release this Sept. The new music sounds pretty good too! Tom even got a touring shirt. Williamsburg was their 3rd stop, but they are planning on going all over the country. They only have one original member of the start up band from 1977, but the replacement band was excellent, including their new lead singer. We did manage to get in a few rides at Busch Gardens also. On Sunday, we had planned to visit the water park, but since Tom could only get us a hotel in Newport News VA, I asked him to drive me down to Virginia Beach(I had never been there before). Tom has taken quite a few trips to Newport News to work at the naval base for Northrop so he was familiar with the area. Once we arrived at the Atlantic Ocean, Scott did not want to leave. So I grabbed him a boogey board and laid out our blankets and beach chairs and we caught some waves and burned our toes on the sand. It got more crowded as the day went by and it seems that the day at the beach was a better choice since it looked like a big rain storm hit the water park early that afternoon. I was just happy to get out in the waves with Scott. The beach is lined with hotels and no place for changing into your suit though! Some time we will have to stay longer in the area since there is so much to do over there-bike riding and rollerblading on the bike path along the beachfront(it reminded me of California beaches), museums, zoos, gardens, state parks(hiking and kayaking), aquariums, the naval base and tours of warships, boat tours, parasailing, deep sea fishing-a whole lot to choose from. But the water was chilly! We got back Sunday night with enough time for Tom to repack his suitcase and head out to Ann Arbor Mich Monday morning to work on a presentation. He will be there all week. So back to Scott and myself.
I was just busy working and trying to get ready to go away this past weekend(which meant cutting the grass and washing the clothes). I also sent Allison a care package complete with Mt Hebron High School tshirt and pj pants. She was excited to get her box!
So when Tom hangs around for a little while I will get him to download some photos for me.
Two more weeks for Allison and then Tom drives up to Mich to pick her up. And School is just around the corner! Yuck! Seitz Family