Monday night as I mentioned we had our neighbors over for dinner. The temperature outside was so hot we opted to eat in.
Tuesday I took off to accompany Scott to DC with his class and the 7th graders for a quick visit to the Smithsonian museums-Natural History and Air and Space. We spent about an hour in each museum(that was about all the time we had) and stopped for lunch of course. I only had to watch Scott and one other boy. I also hung out with one of the Dad's and his son. So three boys, two adults. We flew through the Natural History museum-of course we had to show them the Titanaboia. They were impressed with the prehistoric snake. And we had some fun at the bug zoo. 3 little grey haired ladies were pulling bugs out of containers and letting the kids handle them including hissing cockroaches and enormous grass hoppers. Scott had no interest in touching bugs. ONe of the ladies said they use the hissing cockroaches in movies because they don't fly away and move slower than regular cockroaches. Good to know.
After our quick run through the Natural History museum, we stopped outside at a McDonald's booth for lunch. It is just outside the Air and Space museum in the shade. Besides the usual birds, pigeons and squirrels begging for french fries, I noticed some other wildlife running under the shrubs-turned out to be rats! Yuck! I knew DC had rats, especially the two legged kinds, but I did not expect to see the four legged kind running around in the daytime! Another interesting DC fact. AFter convincing the boys not to chase after the rats, we headed inside to the Air and Space museum. They boys most favorite exhibit involved the simulator rides-they get to experience the thrill of flying a fighter jet and shooting down planes-including rollovers and dives(no thanks). I was the official bag holder. And of course we had to stop into the gift shop before getting back on the bus. I took a picture of the Dragon head from the Chinese Zodiac Calendar in DC. (Allison likes Dragons). EAch animal's head is represented in a circle in front of the Asian art museum. We had a fun day in DC, but turns out Scott and I came down with terrible colds.
So terrible we ended up staying home on Weds with fevers. He missed his boy scout meeting Tuesday night which was an award ceremony. But he had not turned in his geology merit badge card, so he would not have received any awards that night in recognition. I was just hoping he could have spent some time getting more info checked off his book. He even missed swimming on Thursday since we both were pretty wiped out. I did get more time to study with him on Weds when we stayed home for his last science test on Thursday at school. He really did not have any more homework since it was the last full week of school. And on Thursday back at school he participated in the Greek games. Scott had thumb wrestling which he did not enjoy(too many ways to cheat). He would have been better off throwing a javelin! He did get a free pizza lunch as his class won some type of contest for something which involved a free pizza lunch(don't know if I participated or not).
ON Friday I had to work since I had taken off Memorial Day. We all hurried home after school and work since our weather turned quite nasty at the end of the day. Turns out we spent most of the evening in the basement as 10 tornadoes rolled through Maryland, one after another. 10,000 homes were without power over the weekend and 3 people were killed. Fortunately our neighborhood missed out on the worst weather(thank goodness). And we still had our power. OUr neighbor had to borrow our small chain saw though to cut up a tree that came down on his deck.
Saturday I had to drop Allison off to work, so I ran some errands. Saturday night Tom had our LA friend John Dutton over for dinner on the deck and to watch the Stanley Cup Hockey playoffs with the LA Kings and NJ Devils(Yeah Kings won!). They are up by two games.
On Sunday I had Scott working on some Boy Scout badge work and he spent the afternoon with his Dad doing yardwork. Finally they put down most of the mulch and I did quite a bit of shrub trimming on the side of the house(the nasty prickly stuff like rosebushes). Tom got the grass cut and is looking into ordering larger gutters for our house. Unfortunately you can't buy larger gutters commercially-they have to be professionally installed. We really need the larger gutters. OUr front door looked like Niagra Falls with all the rain coming down during the last two big storms. All the water was overflowing the gutter, even with the downspouts cleaned out.
Allison spent Sunday afternoon setting up the archery range at the GS camp for this summer's session(just around the corner). I would have loved to have attended the CApital Jazz Fest this past weekend-2 full days and 1 night of non stop Jazz at our outdoor concert theater. However, they certainly seemed to have raised the prices-the lawn seats are now $70.00! I think Tom and I used to pay around $25 or $30 a person and the kids were free. We used to pitch tents out in the wooded area and watch on the big screens if it was raining, and if it was hot and sunny we put up our beach umbrella, packed up a picnic basket and laid out on a blanket all day listening to music on the lawn. We took a few breaks to get our posters autographed by the musicians(but not for $70!). I also would have loved to have attended a Wine Festival on Sunday, but I as on the phone most of the day with my mom and just too worn out from my cold to worry about attending. There is always next year.
I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with my mom during the week checking up on my Dad. He spent last week in the hospital(10 days total). It looks like he is stabilizing medically, but was still quite confused and not eating, very weak and not sleeping. I asked Mom to have them assess his medication since I thought he may have been oversedated. They stopped or cut back on a few meds. He cleared up a bit, and started eating again, but still was not functioning well enough for mom to take him home. The hospital was ready to discharge him, but he still needs a biopsy and probably surgery for his prostate. The hospital finally helped mom look into some rehab units to have him transferred this week. So I haven't heard if he is definitely scheduled for the biopsy this coming week or not. It sounds like he did have a Urology consult though which is what he needed. I will keep you all informed.
Meanwhile I am coughing my head off. I need to clear up soon as Allison and I have a big GS concert coming up on SAturday(back in DC). I will have to watch out for those rats! The concert is supposed to be broadcast online all day-Rock the Mall-GS Concert if anyone wants to try and catch us. It looks like we will be singing between 9 and 11 am on stage. Should be fun.
Please keep my Dad in your prayers! Thanks to their friend Mr Dugan for stopping by and trying to cut the grass and reset the answering machine. Thanks to Uncle Joe for actually getting the tractor to run and cutting the grass!
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