Happy end of the summer-for us that is! The kids both start back to school tomorrow. We celebrated (the end of summer that is)by visiting ComicCon on Saturday. This is a huge comic book convention which is held all over the US and involves a lot of people in costumes as well as tons of comic books! Tom and Allison were primarily interested in searching through comic books for great discounts. Tom enjoys the combined comic book collections(big books of a series of individual comic books). Tom usually reads Spiderman and Superman-the classics. Allison has been reading Spider girl and enjoys the Teen Titan series. ComicCon varies with the old classics like the Hulk, Superman and Batman, etc, but also involves Star Wars, the Xmen, Ninjas, Godzilla, KISS the Rock band, the old Archie series, McScrooge McDuck and anyone who has ever been turned into a comic book. Scott's favorite is the Nintendo series, especially Mario. So Scott and his buddy Sammy dressed up as Mario and Yoshi and were a big hit at the convention. I could not believe how many people wanted their picture taken with Mario and Yoshi. There were many adults dressed up at the convention, but not as many kids. And we only saw one other adult Yoshi(looks like a turtle) along with a baby Mario. Scott and Sammy enjoyed hunting through all the booths looking for Mario stuff and both bought stuffed Bowsers(bad guy). I was actually surprised there were not more vendors selling "stuff" like lunch boxes or other souvenirs(like boxer shorts), but I guess the emphasis really is on the comic books. We already have lots of tshirts and cups. There were also a lot of comic book writers but we did not feel like standing in long lines for autographs. My only regret is that I did not charge $5 bucks per photo of the kids like ex Illinois Governor Rob Blagovich(spelling?). I hear he charged $50 bucks per photo at the ComicCon he attended.(He has a lot of lawyers to pay off).
As if that wasn't enough activity for the day, we also were invited over to dinner at Sammy's new house. Our old neighbors(Sammy's parents) have been wanting to give us the tour of their new, incredibly large house(about the same size of my parent's lake house but maybe a bit bigger). They lived across the street from us for about 5 years. And now they have moved out towards the county fairgrounds with only about 6 houses on their street. Plenty of trees, corn fields and cows. We enjoyed our tour, especially the mini concert in their new conservatory with their baby grand and grand Steinway piano. We all had a wonderful meal of steak, salads, potatoes and boston creme and banana creme pies. Everyone left very stuffed and the kids were all worn out from their long day. The kids I think were especially tired since they all had sleepovers the night before(little emphasis on the sleep). We hosted the boys, and the Santiago family had the girls. We figured it would probably be a while before all the kids had a chance to visit again so we let them get in a lot of togetherness.
After a very busy Saturday, you would think our Sunday would be much calmer(but it wasn't). Tom left for California on an early morning flight. He arrived early enough to take my brother Mike out to dinner. Mike has been feeling a bit down since he recently interviewed for a full time librarian position at the same library where he is currently working part time. Alas he did not get the job. So he is back job hunting for a full time position. Tom will be in LA all week.
Scott had a swim birthday party to attend all afternoon, and Allison was busy once again working on her confirmation retreat presentation most of the day.
I was trying to squeeze in housework and yardwork in between drop off and pick ups. I also scrutinized Scott's book reports which are due the first week of school.
I also sent Allison out in the evening with Scott for a run since she got a scolding from her coach last week on the "need for speed". Once again our temperatures have been in the 90s making it very difficult to get out and exercise during the day, or even during the night.
Allison wrapped up her last week of morning and afternoon Field Hockey practices. On Thursday her team had a scrimmage, but Tom and I were too busy running around to get to the game. We also managed to squeeze in a few evening piano lessons. Weds night Tom went up to the school with Allison for an open house of the new renovations. Allison does not seem to have any of the new classrooms this year. They plan to be done with the remodeling by the time Allison is a senior. Monday night we were at school for the parent meeting for all athletes and to hear the low down from the Field Hockey coach. (We did a lot of eating out last week!).
Scott wrapped up his last week of summer at the Y. Not very organized and a lot less kids during the last week, but it was well worth the trip to the Baltimore National Aquarium. Scott really enjoyed the outing and can't wait to go back.
I had one of my last Dragon Boat paddle practices. I was excited to find a dragon toy at the yard sale at our YMCA on Saturday morning. It may come in handy on top of a Team Hat some day. (and all for a quarter). This dragon actually moves. And I added a gold dragon from Target for a buck. We only have one more practice left this coming week. I hope we find someone to drum for us! I also got to my aerobics class on Friday since I can use all the conditioning I can get. The race is still scheduled for Sept 11th.
So next week I will be on my own getting the kids back to school. Again, wish me luck! As if I wasn't stressed out enough. The week before at work a pipe burst during construction on the 4th floor above our out patient dept and all the water came crashing down into our waiting room along with a hot water heater. We have all been working in cramped conditions for the past week and the end does not appear in sight. Meanwhile, our full time Physical Therapist quit to move the family to Alabama with her husband(so my boss is a bit freaked out right now). Such is life in the rehab world. And another PT left to go work in the school system. I am so glad I am in high demand. But then again, it is hard to get everything done that I would like to do. At least I hung out the "Back to School" flag!
Happy New School Year!

So we started our day with a lot of rain, which wasn't too bad since Scott had his second book report to finish. This one had to be in a letter form, so he managed to do most of the writing/typing on the computer himself. Allison helped with the graphics(he needed to add a border) and I helped with the grammar. We also managed to pick up a few more pieces of his school uniform this weekend, so he should be all set when school starts next Monday.
Scott wasn't feeling too well this week so he stayed home with Tom one day. That gave Tom time to stain our French doors that he had installed between our family room and the old garage space that Dad Seitz helped us remodel and turn into living space. Tom was able to put in the larger door opening in the winter when we had a leak in the ceiling since he had lots of drywalling and painting to do after repairing the leaky tub upstairs. We still never got anyone to come out again and look at our skylight. We thought it might be leaking. Tom also spent the week cleaning out the gutters again and finished installing a non clogging foam in each gutter. Last weekend it looked like Niagara Falls out my kitchen window with all the rain and water pouring over the top of the gutters. Since we have had so much rain and heat, my flowers have been exploding(nice to look at but not nice for allergy sufferers). Anyhow, I was happy to sit in the kitchen and watch the butterflies and hummingbirds flying around for a snack.
I just can't believe the summer has come and gone. Scott has one more week of Y camp. He finishes off this week with a trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore(he should really enjoy that!). He was not too excited about last weeks camp at our nearby YMCA. The theme was State Fair, and the day they scheduled "the Fair" turned out to be an all day rainstorm. They moved the games inside and managed to rent one large inflatable slide which the kids earned rides on by winning tickets after they played the games. Scott was disappointed in the game selection since they mentioned several in the newsletter that did not appear that day. Scott would have just been happy going down the slide all day. It also sounds like the counselors are getting a bit burned out as Scott mentioned they don't really stick to a schedule and it sounds like they let the kids try to entertain themselves. He actually prefers the other Y camp, and I usually try to fill his day with the extra's that you can sign up for like extra swim lessons or science classes, but alot of that stuff fills up fast(back in February when I started this whole process!). He is actually looking forward to going back to school-primarily to see all his friends. I am sure the thrill will not last.
I also signed him up for another year of gymnastics at the same place he took summer camp. I did stop in and let them know he survived his flip a few weeks ago(I also owed them money for the before and after care). And I was glad I signed him up for the coming school year since last year we had to wait until the end of October for an opening.
Scott also spent the week dog sitting for our neighbors. He is saving up for a few motorized lego sets and lego computer games and decided to advertise a pet sitting service. Before he knew it, he had his first customer. He shared some of the work(and profit) with Allison since the dog was supposed to go out 3 times a day. Scott took the dog out before camp in the morning, Allison had the lunch shift and we all went for a walk in the evening, Cookie included. Scott is off to a good start saving for his Lego sets.
Allison will also start school next week, but she has been busy with Field Hockey tryouts all this past week. We are happy to report she once again made the team as goalie! The other goalie from last year did not return however, a new transfer student, also in the 10th grade made the team and she has experience playing the goalie position in Lacrosse and Soccer. She tried out for the team and made it as well. (She looks really good). So we are not sure how much Allison will get to play, but we are all very excited that she is part of a high school team once again. The girls worked very hard last week with two practices per day-two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon. It has been unbelievably hot and humid all week. Allison actually had a hard time breathing out on the field, especially on the day they decided to cut the grass 15 minutes before practice. And she has to wear all the hot goalie clothes. She is definitely getting a work out! She has added allergy medicine to her morning breakfast.
On Friday they took team photos and all the girls went out to eat lunch together after practice at Pizza Hut to celebrate making the team. Tom and I decided to tag along. Got to love the Pizza Hut promise-20 minutes or 1/2 off the price of your order. Tom and I ordered a whole pizza and two sodas and needless to say, because of the large number of orders from the girls, they could not get our pizza done it time. Our whole lunch with tip was about 10 bucks! Bet that never happened to you Eric!
After our lunch I had to get Allison up to church to practice one of her confirmation presentations. She still has one more to go. Her scheduled retreat isn't until October, but they like to have everything ready ahead of time.
Friday evening we decided to visit the Wine Bin in Olde Ellicott City for Yappy Hour(where you take your dog to the wine tasting event). This time we decided to take the kids so we could all eat dinner out afterwards. Tom and I were busy sampling wine while Scott was socializing with Cookie and all the other dog owners. Allison just wanted dinner. We were able to let Cookie curl up on a blanket in the car while we ate out on the patio at the mexican restaurant across the street.
Saturday morning we were busy all day with Field Hockey preseason tournaments. We missed the games last year since I took Allison and the girl scouts camping. I did not sign my troop up this year, but I still ended up being recruited to teach the scouts about OT and the use of arts and crafts in therapy at the camp this weekend for an Artistic badge. I managed to see one of Allison's Field Hockey games in the morning(they won) before dropping off Tom and Scott at the house and heading out to the campground about an hour's drive. Turns out I had to teach 3 classes, each one different, but I got a free dinner out of the deal. I didn't get home until after 8pm. Allison's JV team lost the second game 1-0 but they certainly look good this year. We hope Allison has a good season.
Our neighbor's son tried out for his HS soccer team again this year and again did not make it. He goes to a catholic all boys school and he said each year they have to cut about 30 boys. How sad. He will once again play for the county recreational teams instead.
We had to paddle practice in the rain this past week for the Dragon Boat races coming up on Sept 11th. At least it didn't rain too hard and it wasn't too hot. There was a big fuss when the mayor of Baltimore showed up to paddle practice for the city sponsored boat. She showed up in a big black SUV with a whole bunch of followers and photographers. It was quite the Kodak moment. She is actually the replacement for the last mayor, Shelia Dixon that was convicted of accepting monetary favors while holding the office after the last mayor, Martin O'Malley took the governor position. Not sure how long this stand in will last. But not much practice time left for the races. Should be another exciting year. I just hope we have good weather. One year they had a hurricane! With all the rain we have been having, I'm a little concerned.
Tom managed to get out and cut the grass in between rain storms this past weekend. And I finally finished most of my edging. Only one more curb to go! I actually took a break from paperwork on Sunday to get out and do some yardwork. It was supposed to rain all day so we did not make any outdoor plans. But the sun came out in the late afternoon so the kids did a little rollerblading while I walked Cookie, and then Allison and I rode our bikes up to the grocery store to get dinner. Tom was busy shooting zombies on the Wii.
Happy last week of summer! Kathleen and family

I can't believe it rained all day. But that was not so bad. I had a lot of homework to do today. I was recruited to teach an OT class to the Girl Scouts at their summer camp next weekend. The girls are earning a Fine Arts badge, and I am going to talk to them about how OT's use arts and crafts for therapy. Allison helped me make a power point presentation today on the computer and I wrote out an outline. I also ordered some small plastic baskets for the girls to weave with yarn and beads(an old favorite at the hospital). We actually don't do as much arts and crafts anymore since hospitals have cut down on our spending budgets. The crafts usually end up with the Activity Therapists. But I am a traditionalist and I still love to do the crafts when I can. I even pulled out all my old craft projects that I made while I was in OT school, including the wooden box that I built and carved in my woodworking class. We also did ceramics and sewing, needle work and metal work, along with a weaving project on our own mini looms. Remember Laura? I also spent some time with Scott on his last book report. We finished his first book report last week when Tom was out of town. We had to make up baseball cards. This book report is going to be a letter, so we are busy getting the book read! Only two more weeks left of summer!
I was hoping Allison would be able to join me as my personal assistant next weekend at the Girl Scout camp, but she is probably going to be busy playing preseason Field Hockey games all day next Saturday. We missed the Pre Season tournament hockey games last year since I had already signed up my Girl Scout troop to attend the camping trip that weekend. This year I didn't sign up since Allison was busy with her Field Hockey and the girls actually earned all the badges they were presenting this year. So figures this year they asked me to help them out with one of the requirements. I wouldn't mind so much except it is about an hour drive to the camp in the late afternoon, early evening. I was looking forward to spending the day watching Allison's hockey games, helping out with the concession stand and then enjoying a pool party at Matt and Di's. Oh well. It's for the good of my profession and the GS organization. And I also found Tom's Eagle Scout medallion which was in the wooden box I made him! I have been meaning to place it in a case on display but Tom didn't remember where it went. Now we know.
So Allison started Field Hockey practice this Saturday morning. I went to an organization meeting for her on Friday afternoon and finished turning in all her paperwork, including her medical paperwork. I had to rush her over to her doctor appointment on Tuesday afternoon. We had several forms to fill out beforehand, and she was way overdue for a Meningitis vaccination. She is not terribly fond of shots, and while the nurse was busy giving Allison tips on how to deal with getting a shot(like singing a song or pinching her nose), she was already done! We also had to rush up to school Monday night to turn in Field Hockey registration paperwork-they need copies of the kids report card(need good grades to play sports), proof you live in the neighborhood to attend the school, emergency forms, mandatory concussion testing paperwork and the medical forms along with their yearly physical signed by the doctor.
Allison would have gone to the meeting on Friday, but I had her busy this past week in a prep class at the Community College for the PSAT which she is taking in October. It was a full week of math and english. She wasn't too excited about it on Monday morning, but as the week went by she actually began to enjoy the class and all the kids too. The math teacher gave homework every night, so it was a nice way to transition back into school which starts in two weeks for us. She also received a big workbook which will come in handy for review.
Scott was back at the YMCA camp-this past week's theme was pirates. I also signed him up for aquatics so he gets to swim twice a day, which he loves. Then on Friday, the whole camp set off for Cascade Lake-one of Scott's favorite outings. He loves it so much, he asked me to take him there in June when our air conditioner was out. His favorite activity is jumping off the platform tower. Even though the weather wasn't terrific, he spent the whole day swimming and jumping and sinking the rafts. Not to mention eating ice cream.
And I was back to my paddle practice this week for the Dragon Boat races in Sept. I didn't get to go last week since Tom was out of town and I had to pick up Scott from camp after work. We started practicing our race pace and starts and paddling the length of the race for endurance training. We only have a few more weeks left of practice. I was just happy that I wasn't too sore the next day and I don't get short of breath during the practice like my partner next to me. Guess those aerobics classes and my evening walk with Cookie helps out too. We had a full boat this past week so we had a better idea of how we all paddle together too.
We were also expecting visitors from Boston on Monday night, however, turns out they couldn't quite fit us into their schedule. They were traveling from Philly to DC and the timing just didn't work for them since we couldn't visit until after work. All that housework last weekend for naught.
Or at least I thought so. Until I mentioned to Tom that we should invite the neighbors over for an Outdoor Family Movie Night on Saturday night. Tom has been talking about inviting everyone over to catch a movie on his new projector. We decided on showing "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and invited most of the families on our street. We ended up with 30 people in all(kids and adults!). It turned out to be an overcast day, but just perfect for watching a movie outdoors. Not too cold or hot, and Tom sprayed the yard ahead of time to cut down on the mosquitoes. We spent all day Saturday doing yardwork and more housework. I spent most of the afternoon edging the curbs and sidewalks around our house(it is not easy living on such a big corner) and I am still not completely done(especially since I do it the old fashioned way with a manual edger). But the ground was nice and soft since we have had so much rain this summer. Tom got the grass cut so I could set up chairs and tiki torches. Scott set up our Tiki bar and served snow cones and ice cream cones to the kids. He and Allison were busy making tons of popcorn on my air popper all day and cutting up veggies. I even sent them up to the grocery store on their bikes so Allison could test drive the new bike. Of course she loved it. Scott and I went riding a few times last week so I could test it out but sadly my hands still fall asleep. Even with the new specially designed hand grips. Allison may have just gotten a new bike. I may end up with her old bike that we got from Matt and Di.
So our movie night was a great success. We had way too many snacks and the kids actually sat quietly and watched the movie, along with some parents. And then some of us parents spent the time chatting. Our old neighbors were able to come, and they left their son Sammy at our house for a sleepover. We exchanged him for Allison who spent the night with their daughter at their new house. Neither kid got much sleep.
We also were visited by our new neighbors across the street who had just returned from a sailing cruise in Annapolis as they celebrated their parents 60th birthday(young ones!). They were busy all day constructing a new basketball hoop-they already had to borrow one of our hoses to fill up the base with water. It was quite the project as the neighbor brought in a contractor to help him assemble the contraption! Looks like the Dad is very sports minded-he was out in the driveway playing catch with his 7 yr old son at 7 am Saturday morning. I don't think Scott is going to be spending a lot of time over there. Organized sports is not his thing.
Anyhow, we had a wonderful evening and had to kick people out of our house around midnite. Then I foolishly stayed up to watch a movie afterwards. Late night for all of us.
Tom was also busy with a few extra projects this weekend-he changed out the brakes on his
Toyota Echo and installed a new radio. His old radio had shorted out and when he pulled it out he actually burned his hands. Guess he figured out why he was having trouble starting the car as it seemed to be drawing from the battery. He replaced the old radio, but now he needs to replace one of the speakers too. He also reassembled the handlebars on my old bike-he is trying a new style to see if it alleviates the numbness in my hands. And he had to replace a few light fixtures that seemed to have blown during one of our many power outages this summer. Fortunately we have missed most of the damaging storms in the area lately, but last Thursday we were under a tornado warning on my way over to pick up Allison from the community college. At least she had a place to go inside. Scott's group usually gets stuck under a pavilion. Tom was able to pick him up though before the storm rolled in.
We also took advantage of the tax free week for clothing and shoes and bought all of Scott's school uniform on Friday. I took him over to the uniform store after camp and had him fitted. I couldn't believe that he jumped from a 10-12 to a size 14 this year! I had to get him all new pants, dress shirts, polo shirts and gym clothes. At least it was tax free! And Tom took him out shoe shopping but we are still looking for an all leather slip on dress shoe. No time in the morning for pesky shoelaces! Allison tried to talk some of her girlfriends into going mall shopping with her on Saturday, the last day for tax free deals, but sadly noone was available. Probably better though since she was worn out from a morning of Field Hockey(lots of running). And she had an organizational meeting at church on Friday night for the Confirmation retreat. Surprisingly, we just couldn't squeeze in a piano lesson! And this is our summer schedule!
Scott decided he wanted to earn some money since there are a few new video games coming out in the fall, so he was busy making up fliers for pet sitting this weekend. Sure enough he got his first phone call and a job this week watching our neighbor's dog while they are in Williamsburg. Allison helped him out by taking their dog for a walk while I walked Cookie in between rain showers today. She had planned on going for a run, but it was just too wet today.
So two weeks and counting for us and it will be back to school! I am not ready to say goodbye to summer! Kathleen and Family

Well, it was just Scott and myself last week. Tom was off working in California all last week. Sorry he didn't have time to stop in and visit Mike. He flew there on Monday and came home Thursday.
He needed to get home so he could drive to Michigan to pick up Allison. She had been enjoying her last week in Northern Michigan with my parents, baking with Grandma and swimming and fishing with Grandpa. She enjoyed watching all the wildlife in and around the water too. She also spent a lot of time catching up on her reading. She needed some R and R since she is back home now and back to her hectic schedule. Mom and Dad Bozyk drove her back to Detroit last Thursday and Tom drove up to Michigan last Friday. The two drove back to Baltimore on Saturday with a stop over at the outlet mall.
Scott spent his week at Gymnastics camp. He has been taking gymnastics during the school year, and the same facility offers 1 week camps through the Parks and Rec. program. Scott had a great time and enjoyed the added water gun fights and trip to play Laser tag. However, we received a phone call Friday morning from the staff saying that Scott was having chest pains. Both Tom and I missed the phone call and it turned out that my neighbor picked him up. I was off to my aerobics class and Tom was attempting to get his car in working order for the long drive to Michigan. He needed new belts and was trying to figure out why the car was having such a hard time starting. New belts certainly helped. When he stopped back at the house to grab his suitcase, there was our neighbor and Scott. Tom was on the phone with our medical group by the time I walked in the door. I also had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon so I took Scott with me. The advice nurse didn't think it sounded too drastic and made us an appointment. Unfortunately, Scott's appointment was not at the same place that I had my appointment. So I ran to pick up my medicine and stop into the lab for my appointment, ran Scott down near Annapolis for his appointment(turned out to be a pulled muscle from a forward flip into the foam pit off a small trampolene)Whew! And then I drove back for my doctor appointment. In between I was running out of gas and had to stop for a fill up! So much for a nice relaxing day to myself! I did manage to stop in at Michaels Arts and Crafts and buy a poster frame and mat for Scott's Nintendo poster to hang on his bedroom wall. He spent the weekend getting his room reorganized, redecorated and ready for school. We picked up all his school supplies-now we have shoe and uniform shopping to do. All during the upcoming Maryland tax free week for clothes and shoes. I was wishing it was for everything! Mainly Scott needs new clothes and shoes-he won't stop growing!
To celebrate Scott being alive after his chest pain incident, I took him to Cheeburger Cheeburger. They have over 75 different milk shakes and great burgers and onion rings. I guess the waitress did not speak english very well-I asked for two orders of onion rings to go and when Scott opened the bag he discovered just two onion rings! At least I didn't get charged for them! And they were tasty, just limited. Guess it was better for us anyhow. We shared the milkshake though-chocolate oreo cookie. Too much chocolate for Scott.
I spent the rest of the weekend doing yard work and house work. We were expecting visitors to stop in the following week from Boston. I was trying to clean up after my moth infestation. I still have some stragglers in the laundry room that got in the cat food, and some in the canned food pantry, but overall I cleaned most of them out. So I decided to do some heavy duty cabinet and light fixture cleaning as well. I also had to chop down an enormous shrub by the side of our house that tipped over in the snow storm. While I was cutting it down(chain saw mind you), I discovered that it had also split several of its trunks. Tom declined this job since he believed the bush was getting better. I am not sure how much better a bush can get growing sideways across the ground and covering the walkway. Anyhow, this thing is a monster and I am sure it will sprout back quickly now that I reshaped it and took off the heavy top section. I also cut the grass and added a few more flowers to my pots since the hot summer killed a few off when we were on vacation.
This has been an incredibly hot summer and big storms too. Matt and Di invited us over for dinner and a swim on Sunday night. We haven't seen them in a few weeks. We had a big storm on Thursday night with lots of lightning. Once again, the big trees near Matt and Di's swimming pool was hit by lightning which traveled down to the base of the tree and blew the bark off the bottom. Then the lightning traveled underground and hit a shovel stuck in the ground. It actually shattered the fiberglass handle and then traveled along their underground watering system, sending a fountain of water up into the air until it blew out the control box in their garage! The last time they were hit by lightning, it took out their phone system and outdoor lighting system. They get all the exciting storms.
So we are not back back to school yet, but I spent last week helping Scott with his first summer book report. He had to make baseball cards for the book "Because of Winn Dixie"-about a dog. He had to draw pictures of characters on the front of the cards, and write info about the characters on the back. Now we are reading his second book, "Dear Mr Henshaw". We have to write a book report on this one. Allison meanwhile spent Sunday morning wrapping up her Confirmation presentations which were due on Friday. I thought she had finished before we left for Michigan, but she only got the outlines done. I spent all last week trying to coordinate all the girls in several different states. Allison is working with two different girls this year on two different presentations. She is happy about it though. She is helping with a Confirmation retreat in Oct.
So it was nice to chat with Matt and Di on Sunday, share our Michigan dinner of Koegel Vienna hot dogs, Mich. Blueberries in our fruit salad, Vernors ginger ale soda and Tony Packo chili(actually from ohio), and cool off in their pool.
Welcome to our newest bloggers-Neice Stacey and husband Matt! Kathleen

So we made it back to Baltimore-Scott, Tom and myself last Sunday. Allison stayed behind to enjoy several more weeks with Grandma and Grandpa Bozyk and the lake house.
When we got home, we immediately noticed that someone had "borrowed" the use of our house. Our back sliding door was unlocked with the patio chairs pulled out from the patio table, and food was left on the kitchen counter along with some pans, cheese stick wrappers next to the couch and someone was into the microwave popcorn. Someone had been playing video games and watching movies(we found a movie on the counter and bed pillows on the couch). Our water was turned on and off by a different valve, along with the ice maker, and the air conditioner had been reset. The strangest thing of all was finding the master bed remade along with throw pillows(Tom hates throw pillows). We thought our neighbors must have used our house-we have been having many power outages lately with two tornado warnings while we were gone, or perhaps we thought our neighbors air conditioner went out like ours did as well. But no note and no phone message. We had asked our neighbors, Dan and Gloria, to watch the cat and gerbils for us while we were gone, which they did. We checked in with them and after an entire week of discussions, finally determined that their 16 yr old daughter and her girlfriend had helped themselves to our house after being asked to check on the pets. Our biggest fear was that the girls had also entertained boys in our house. Both sets of the girl's parents assured us that the girls were accounted for at all times and there were no boys involved. Tom and I still don't believe it. Tom changed all the locks on our house. I also took no chances and dragged all of my oversized comforters off to the dry cleaners. We got a limited apology from Kelsey-their daughter-who did not admit to everything, and some things she actually blamed on her girlfriend which then made her friend mad. Kelsey was grounded for two weeks and she no longer is allowed back in our house unless she is supervised by an adult. And her girlfriend was pretty mad at her too. I understand there was lots of crying. Meanwhile, we can't trust her anymore, and we can't leave our key at our our neighbor's house for fear that their daughter will come over to our place again or let her friends come over to our house. Tom did install a keyless entry though so we could give our neighbors a code rather than a key to get in and then change it when we come back. It is just sad that Kelsey decided to lie to us and use us like she did after how good we have been to her and her family. I guess she figured we would not mind, and we probably would not have-at least if they had asked or even cleaned up after themselves. And the whole bed thing is still a mystery. The friend's mom said her daughter probably made up the bed after looking for our cat in our room. Pika tends to sleep on our bed and hide underneath it and Kelsey said her friend went upstairs looking for the cat. Anyhow, it was quite the week of ups and downs. We decided to wind down by all of us adults enjoying an evening out with no kids at a local winery on Saturday night. We packed a picnic dinner after I got back from work and enjoyed wine and live Motown music at a local winery. It was a fun and relaxing evening after a difficult week. Allison was still in Michigan, and Scott went off for an overnight swim/play date with the neighbor's that recently moved. Scott has really been missing his friend Sammy, and his parents invited Scott to spend the weekend at their new house. They had a great time.
Meanwhile, the new neighbors moved in. They have a 7 yr old boy and 5 yr old girl. A bit too young for Scott and Allison(although Allison sees potential babysitting). We tried to chat with the new couple, Steve and Kim, but did not get much info from them. I think they are overwhelmed with the move in. They had lots of family members over moving boxes over the weekend. I am sure once they get settled we'll have some interesting things to chat about since the wife works for Oceaneering on submarines and the husband is a computer software guy. I mostly see the husband watching the kids, so mom must be pretty busy with work.
I was pretty busy at work-I was asked to work on Friday too but I had Scott to watch and Tom was off to Chicago last week. Scott only had a 4 day camp last week, so he was home on Friday. Instead I offered to work on Saturday.
Scott loved his camp last week-sponsored by the Howard County Parks and Rec Dept-Adventures to Go. He spent the week bike riding, playing laser tag, canoeing and kayaking, hiking and his most favorite activity, tubing on the Antietam River all day. We had a big storm one afternoon, and I was glad to know that the kids had an indoor building to go to and play sports in during the storm. Usually the YMCA camp has the kids stand under a pavilion during the storms which is not much fun. I think I would have loved going to the Adventures to Go camp myself.
Allison was busy in Charlevoix at a sailing camp. She went last year and had a good time. The sailing camp is sponsored by the MSU 4H group. She had a fun week, and also enjoyed Mom and Dad Bozyk's house guest's, the Dugans. Pat and Gerry Dugan, their college friends, spent a few days visiting after we all left. They all enjoyed going out to dinner and a boat cruise around Lake Charlevoix. Allison also enjoyed beating all of the adults at board games each night!
I also managed to get in my water sports last week at paddle practice for the upcoming Dragon Boat races in Sept. It was a bit windy so we all got very wet paddling in the harbor and we only had 9 out of 20 paddlers show up for practice, so it was an intense workout.
I also had to stop into the Verizon store on the way home to figure out how to use my new phone. The screen went black after the battery drained and I was having a hard time getting it to turn on again. Guess I just wasn't aggressive enough turning it back on. Not to mention I couldn't figure out all the different buttons. I thought it had died like my computer screen.
On Sunday, Tom and I spent time getting projects done around the house. We both worked in the yard-I was busy trimming bushes and shrubs and Tom was laying down dirt in some bare spots and holes along with a bit of grass seed all around our yard. We'll probably put down quite a bit more seed in the fall. Tom is also attempting to kill some nasty Bermuda grass that is trying to take over our lawn. It is a viney grass that grows into all the flower beds and covers up all the good Fescue grass. Tom can't spray weed killer since it will kill our whole lawn, so he is trying out a new product just for Bermuda grass. It is a very slow process. I am also fighting a continuiing battle of the bugs. My kitchen cabinets were infested with moths brought into the house from the pet store in Cookie's dog food. I had emptied out my baking cabinet, and put all the boxed goods in the garage until I was sure the cabinets and the boxes were bug free. Tom got tired of the bags of food taking up his side of the garage, so he took all the food to the dump. Guess I won't be baking for awhile. I also have to fight off ants that keep finding a different route into our kitchen. The newest batch is hanging out in the kitchen sink. At least I can wash most of them down the drain, along with the ant traps all over the counters. I would like to be done with bugs now. This winter it was an infestation of stink bugs. What a fascinating year.
We also decided to take a break and shop for a kitchen table(still looking after 6 years). We are trying to find a long skinny table to fit our new(6 yr old) kitchen. We found a set at Sam's Club for a terrific price and we loved the chairs but hated the table. So instead Tom took me bike shopping(again). I finally picked out a bike, but it is still on trial since I test drove it twice this past week to the grocery store and my hands are still falling asleep. The bike shop guy said even the pro racer's hands fall asleep when they ride(it isn't much fun). I may be trading with Allison.
So Tom headed off to LA this week. I will let you know how Scott and I manage a week on our own(fighting bugs and washing sheets). Kathleen