Happy Mother's Day! We started off our day with church-Allison served mass. Tom and the kids decided I needed a new bike. We went off after a great lunch to search for a new bike, but to me bike shopping is like looking for shoes. (I actually hate shoe shopping). You have to find the right fit, and most of the standard bikes in the sporting good stores and large box shops fit people over 5'2". I just happen to be a bit shorter than that. Needless to say, we didn't have much success. I may have to check in at the specialty shops. Guess for now I will keep my old bike(which I don't think ever fit well either, and I got that at a fancy bike store!). Allison had hoped we could spend the afternoon on a family bike ride, but it had turned quite cold and windy. I did manage to get outside late in the evening to clean up some leaves in my garden. I want to plant a few tomatoes, but I was still waiting until all possibilities of freeze warnings were over. It got so warm here earlier in the spring, everything popped up and open before I could rake out the beds. While I was busy trimming bushes and raking leaves, Tom invited the neighbors over for drinks since we had such a late lunch. We had to stay indoors since it was so chilly outside, but it was a nice break from yardwork. I had already cut the grass on Friday, and Tom finished up the back on Saturday morning. We were trying to beat the rain.
I actually spent most of Saturday outside with Scott on a nature hike with his environmental club. We were supposed to go on a guided canoe trip in the wetlands around the bay, but again, the winds were so strong and storms were passing through so the program coordinator axed our water trip. Instead, the storms all blew over and she took us on a hike through the forest and along the water's edge. We visited Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary about 1 hour south from our house. Scott and I had a lot of fun spotting lizards and snakes, Eagles and Osprey, cranes, beavers, turtles, fish and then scooping up all sorts of creatures out of the pond. I did not realize that salamanders are born in the water and then move to dry land. We caught a bunch of those, along with frogs and bugs. And in Maryland besides the usual turtles that live in the ponds, we have box turtles that live in the forest(like little tortoises). They had a lot of spots marked where the turtles have laid eggs. Scott had such a great time, he even stayed after the group left so he could catch more frogs in the stream. We really enjoyed our day and took a picnic lunch break before heading back home.
We met Tom and Allison at the pet store to finish up Cookie's last training lessons. We had some classes to make up since we were in LA. Tom and Allison came early to make up a class, and then stayed for graduation and testing. They played some games and the dogs had to follow all the commands. Of course, Cookie did the best. Afterwards, Scott and I stayed for one more make up class. We worked on Stay. The dogs are placed on mats in the back of the store and we tell them to "stay" while we walk around the store. Cookie is a bit farther along in her training than the other dogs, and all the other owners were totally amazed at how Cookie just stayed on her mat until we came back to get her while their dogs kept sneaking away. Of course we still have to keep working on these things. In the meantime, we are trying to get Cookie used to our electric fence in the front yard. She is now so scared of the fence, she doesn't even want to walk on the grass or go out the front door. If you take her out the front, she sneaks along the house with her tail between her legs and sits at the garage door until someone lets her back in. And to really make her crazy, Tom found a magnetic doggy door that only she can go through with her attachment on the collar. (The cat had figured out the other door, and she is an indoor cat). Cookie likes to let herself out, but the new magnetic door makes so much noise, it scares her every time she goes near it. She is slowly getting used to it though.
And on Saturday morning while Scott and I were off hiking, Allison was busy with an orientation course for the upcoming Fall Confirmation class. She enjoyed her confirmation retreat so much, she volunteered to help out with the following class, and wants to do it again this coming Fall. The kids start planning in the spring and work on and off all summer. She is looking forward to another fun year. She is also busy squeezing in her last semester of school work. We have been reading Shakespeare together-Midsummer Nights Dream. She also had to memorize a 20 line sonnet and present this week. I wasn't sure she could do it, but she worked at it all last week and was able to memorize all the lines, as well as explain its meaning. Not sure I could have done as well. Scott's school is busy cramming in a bunch of work as they wind down the school year at the end of the month.
I finished up my last Girl Scout Leadership meeting of the year. We are already filling out registration forms for next year-lucky me, the forms are usually preprinted and parents just sign them, but mine came back blank. Lovely, more work for me. I also went to a GS International Travel club meeting-the first of its kind. I was hoping to join up with other scout troops and work together on fund raising to make some money to travel overseas with the girls after HS graduation. I would love to take the girls to England and stay at our GS headquarters. They do a nice tour of London and a day in Paris too while you stay at the GS lodge. Unfortunately, this group is only looking for 2 parents to take about 18 girls. I really don't want to be responsible for someone else's daughter, and my coleader would prefer to travel with us as well. So we'll see. Last year we went to Williamsburg and had a great time. The London trip sounds wonderful, but we could end up somewhere else(or nowhere at all!).
Friday Tom took off a few hours from work around lunch time so we could go see Iron Man 2. We liked it since we had seen IM 1. I also had to run over to school to drop off a plate of brownies for their Vera Bradley Bingo fundraiser(we get volunteer hours for baking!)
The usual busy week. A Big Happy Birthday to Mark Seitz. And we hope Stacey Seitz hurries up and recovers from her arthroscopic knee surgery, especially since she has to walk down the aisle for her wedding on June 12th. Good Luck also with the Nursing Boards Stacey! You certainly have packed a lot of activities into the next few months as well! Congrats again on the new house and Graduating from Nursing School and your job offer! (Sounds like my schedule!).
Kathleen