Just sending along my backed up blogs! Can you guess we have been busy!
Happy Palm Sunday. It was a bit chilly this weekend, but sunny. I managed to talk Tom into going into DC for the annual kite flying festival on Saturday. We have gone quite a few times and almost always enjoy it. Although one year we took Mom and Dad Bozyk and the kids and it was so cold and windy we could not stand to be outside. We spent most of our time in the Smithsonian museums that year. But this Saturday it was sunny and breezy and we actually got our kites up in the air(for a few brief moments) next to the Washington monument. The wind just wasn't blowing consistently enough to keep all the kites up in the air and they'd all come crashing down to the ground with the strings getting tangled. Kinda took some of the fun out of it. But it was a beautiful day to go for a walk and look at all the blooming cherry trees-all 3000 around the tidal basin. We managed to stroll over to the Jefferson memorial, and then back to peek at the spring gardens behind the Smithsonian castle. Tom couldn't handle the building crowds, so we skipped a walk through the museums and just strolled into the Asian arts building. (Lot less crowds and better bathrooms!). I wanted to visit the National Geographic museum and see the Chinese clay soldiers(like Scott did on his school trip), but the event was already sold out until the end of March when the show was completed. Tom just couldn't bring himself to go anywhere near the extra crowds anyhow. As it is, it takes longer to get on and off the subway trains and longer lines to get into buildings after you go through the security check. We still had a great day and topped it off with dinner in china town.
We had a busy week scheduled since Allison had plenty of tests to study for, but Scott spent his week taking standardized tests. He was happy since he didn't have any homework. I did go into his class on Friday to help with a Social Studies project. The class was working on maps of Maryland with clay to demonstrate the different regions. A few of us mom's showed up to supervise the production. Allison did this project when she was in 4th grade. Scott's teacher is new to 4th grade so she asked all us parents to send in shirt cardboard to build the maps on, however, I mentioned that Allison's class made the project in small pizza boxes. I recommended she see if she can get pizza boxes donated. Turns out a new pizza restaurant, Vocellis, that provides the school's pizza for lunch was happy to donate the boxes for her. And the teacher was so excited to speak to the owner since they both discovered their teenage boys attend the same catholic high school. Glad to help. And it was fun to visit the kid's classroom. Looks like Tom will have a chance to help out too as Scott's teacher asked him to come in at the end of April to teach a science class. For the last 2 years Tom has run a voluntary Science Fair for the school and we have asked the school to take over the project. They still have not committed and Tom said he would prefer to teach the kids science class rather than run the Science Fair. Other public and private schools in the area have mandatory science fairs. Scott is disappointed. He loves working on the projects and experiments. Maybe one day the school will get its act together. They spent the last few years updating the math program which was very helpful for Allison since she is ahead of the game for high school. Scott recently received his report card and did very well. The school treated all the kids with good grades to a special breakfast this week. Last week Tom enjoyed Donuts with Dads at school with Scott. The school has an open house for Dads and treats them to donut holes(an early celebration for Father's Day too).
The following week after Palm Sunday we were busy getting ready to go away for our trip. We also celebrated Dad Seitzs birthday! Great excuse to eat cake.
Allison had a full week since they added make up snow days to the public school schedule. Scott had a short week and not much in the way of studying.
I was busy trying to pack and organize our trip. I also had to squeeze in Tom's birthday and Easter on top of traveling. I still had lots of shopping to do for all three events, along with housecleaning and laundry. Our neighbor's asked us over for dinner on Sunday night to celebrate Tom's birthday together. They even picked him up a great tool kit. I decided we should celebrate Tom's birthday on the Friday before we left for LA so he could open his remaining gifts and so that I didn't have to pack them. I decided to get him an invisible dog fence(family gift) so Cookie could spend more time with us in the bigger front yard without us having to worry about her running into the street. I also picked up one of his favorite cakes-German chocolate. And Allison decided we all needed to go see "How to Train Your Dragon". Tom was not too excited to see the movie, but admits he surprisingly enjoyed it. We also took the kids to see the remake of Clash of the Titans. It wasn't great but a simple way to keep exposing the kids to Greek mythology. It pops up in their books and cartoons so they are aware of some of the legends. Except now everyone keeps yelling "Release the Kracken!" One of Scott and Tom's favorite rides at Busch Gardens.
Besides trying to get all my activities done, I have been extra busy at work. A few of the therapists have been sick lately so we have all been trying to cover for them. Not just colds or flu, but crazy stuff. One young therapist in her early 20s had an episode of shingles(chicken pox for older people) along with Bell's Palsy(1/2 your face becomes paralyzed). I asked if the doctor knew the cause, and she said stress. Ha! She doesn't know the meaning of the word. Yes she is 20 something and engaged and planning a summer wedding, (but just wait til she's married with kids!). I wish her the best. And another therapist had an inner ear infection she was dizzy all the time and couldn't stand up without falling over. She still has symptoms, and they are not exactly sure of the cause. Not an easy life in the health field. But definitely busy. Work keeps asking me to come in extra hours, and I have a hard time saying no. I ended up working a few hours the Friday afternoon before we left for LA. It was a tight schedule since I still had to pack and we celebrated Tom's birthday that night. Tom had to take off some extra work time to hang with Scott since he was out of school several days before the Easter weekend.
Anyhow, we made it out to LA and had a fabulous time!