Well we survived another disaster. We knew the hurricane was coming last weekend, so we had time to put away all items from our yard that could go flying, fill up the gas tanks in the cars, stock up on water, buy more propane and most importantly, do all the dishes and laundry before the power went out! Not to mention buying toilet paper and milk(a Baltimoron thing).

I kept Scott home from camp on his last day, Friday, since he was not feeling well. It gave us some time to finish reading his last summer assigned reading book. I opted to read Dr Ben Carson's book, Gifted Hands to Scott since it was on the 7th grade summer reading list and I figured he would not get the surgery discussions or finish reading it in time. I was very happy we both heard the story-the black boy from Detroit who grew up poor with his mom and brother and became a world famous pediatric neurosurgeon still practicing right here in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins. It was fun reading about all the places he'd been in Detroit, the different companies he worked for while going to Uof M for his undergrad. He ended up here in BAltimore at Johns Hopkins University for Medicine and still practices here today. Scott and I spent Saturday morning of the hurricane weekend typing and editing his book reports. He also made a diorama of his first book (the scene in the shoebox). Fortunately I had plenty of supplies left over from his last diorama.

Last Friday evening Allison was invited to a swim birthday party at a local pool club. Scott and I were invited too, so after eating dinner at the girl's house here in the neighborhood, we all headed over to the pool. Scott is friends with the girl's younger brother, so Scott came along to visit and play video games until we went swimming. The water was a bit cold since it was 8pm and not a heated pool. It didn't slow Scott down though-he had a great time on the slide and the diving board. I splashed around a bit, but by 9pm I was frozen. The club house staff was also busy putting away all the pool chairs since they were getting ready for the storm too. I drove a van full of girls back to the party house for a bonfire and s'mores. Then I had to try and stay awake to pick up Allison after the party was over at midnite. She was just disappointed that she missed the Field Hockey swim party at lunch. After her morning practice, she had to work. So only one party for her!

By Saturday night our power was out. We didn't get a good night's sleep with the wind howling and the power going on and off. Cookie wasn't too thrilled either and couldn't settle down to sleep, even in the basement where it was very dark and very quiet. At dawn the wind seemed to slow down a bit. Tom went out looking for any place that was selling coffee. Power was pretty much out everywhere, including the traffic lights. Starbucks got power and opened at 10am. We decided it was a good quest for a hike so we grabbed Cookie and the family went out on a coffee mission. We then had to stand in a long line for coffee after the police helped us cross the street. After we got our coffee, I asked if the family didn't mind walking to the library to return SCott's book. It wasn't like we could do a whole lot at home, and we were pretty much trapped all weekend. Church was still going on, just without power. That afternoon, the sun finally came out. Tom went looking for a place to get Scott's hair cut and buy an extra pair of tennis shoes for school, but the power was out all around Maryland. Trees were down and it made driving difficult. We had free tickets for the State Fair that day, but it had shut down too.

We had also planned on a weekend trip to Busch Gardens in Virginia. Tom and I were so looking forward to seeing Pat Benatar there in concert. Naturally it was cancelled and Busch Gardens was shut down for the weekend. Looks like the Seitz family has not had much luck with concerts this summer. Mark and Linda Seitz ran into weather problems with their Sugarland concert at the Indiana State Fair a few weeks ago. You all probably saw the news, how the stage blew over. Mark and Linda had been attending that concert but left before the storm hit. They were heading to their car, walking through a tunnel to the parking lot when the wind kicked up. Linda saw the stage blow over when they came up out of the tunnel. They were able to get out of the fairgrounds before everything was closed and the emergency trucks were arriving. Not a good year for outdoor concerts!

I also spent most of the weekend doing spring cleaning since we were really stuck at home. I had the kids getting rid of clothes that didn't fit anymore and old school papers(just to make room for more!). I even decided to take advantage of the nice sunny afternoon on Sunday after the storm passed and taught Allison how to cut the lawn with the push mower. She took a 4-H safety class back when she was 13, but I never pushed the issue since she has such a hard time breathing with her hay fever. I figured the hurricane had probably blown everything away and just had her cut our backyard. She did very well but discovered that the tough part is starting the mower!

Monday was the first day of school-but not in Baltimore. Neither was Tuesday(for Scott). His school was out of power, and half of our county was still out of power, but they decided to start sending some of the kids off to school anyhow. Guess the other kids don't have to make it up since we were under a State of Emergency.

Allison was a bit overwhelmed by her class load. I was most concerned about her fulfilling her internship requirements. She brought home a syllabus that explained the kids need to get in 30 hours of placement by Nov 3rd. Since Allison is now playing Field Hockey, she has to be at practice by 230. She doesn't get out of class until 115 and she would have to walk all the way to Scott's school for her internship and then back again by 230 for field hockey practice. She would probably be spending all her time walking, if not biking back and forth, so we decided it would be better to do the internship next year when she can drive and have more class time. She was also the only Junior in the program. She talked to her instructor and they agreed to look at completing the program next year. Instead she is taking Piano 2 in its place. I am sure she will keep busy with Pre Calc, World History, American Lit, Chemistry and Spanish along with her Child Development class for the teaching program. Not to mention Field Hockey, Piano lessons, and work(and oh yes, driving practice).

Allison's first week of school consisted of classes, Field Hockey practice and work every night. Her sports clubhouse shuts down at the end of the summer for a massive cleaning, and Allison had to go in every night to help scrub yoga mats and throw away trash. And their cleaning schedule was behind schedule since they were without power for a few days too.

Scott on the other hand just had two days of school and loves his teachers and is looking forward to an interesting year including mummifying a chicken!

Next blog-How I Spent my Labor Day Weekend. Enjoy more photos from Hilton Head. I sent some outdoor shots-kayaking, biking on the beach and of course, our favorite-beer and food out on the restaurant decks. I would also like to thank Matt D for catching the mackerel. Allison and I enjoyed it for dinner when we got back to Baltimore. We threw it on the grill with lots of butter and onions. Very tasty and no annoying fish bones!

Kathleen