So Tom was off to Chicago this week for work. I had my whole week planned out while he was gone. It included having Allison pick up Scott for the first time after he finished camp. I wasn't able to get him on Tuesday evening because I am on the Dragon Boat team for Catholic Charities and we practice our paddling on Tuesday nights right after work. Allison was going to pick him up after he got back from the lake with the YMCA camp. Then she was going to get them both dinner, and take him to his Boy SCout meeting. Sounded simple enough. But when I called from the docks to see if she had picked him up, she let me know that he was in pain after falling while running up the stairs at the Y. I never got a phone call from the facility. Scott said they gave him ice for his left arm, but it was really hurting. And he had banged his head. But I was climbing into a boat, so I told Allison to get him some dinner and Advil, put ice on his arm and send him to scouts. I was going to pick up a wrist splint for him after my practice.

We finished  around 730 that night and I stopped into the pharmacy to pick up a splint for Scott. I was actually surprised we got our practice in since it was a stormy night. The rain hit as I was driving home and I swung by to pick up Scott from his meeting. He was waiting at the front door and was anxious to go home. I took one look at his arm and decided he would definitely need an xray since it was quite swollen and he had a hard time moving. He couldn't even tolerate wearing the splint. Last summer Allison fell on her right arm and sprained her wrist badly, but this looked worse than a sprain.

So I took Weds off work so I could take Scott to the doctor. Sure enough he had a fracture, but fortunately it was not at his growth plate and not bad enough to require surgery. The doctor said it was a buckle fracture in the radius, and he could get away with a splint. But boys being what they are, they usually recommend a cast to make sure it heals properly. So on Friday we headed back to the the orthopedic office to get a bright red cast. We even got a water proof cast so if Scott ends up in any water parks or swimming pools he won't have to be extremely careful.

I was rather disappointed in the timing since I had just signed up SCott for a swim test for the Y swim team on Friday afternoon. Scott has been talking about joining a swim team for the past year, and we had a chance to try out for the new season. Now we will just have to wait as the coach agreed to let him try out when the cast comes off. As it is they have a wait list since there are over 200 kids on their swim team!

And wouldn't you know Scott was just starting to enjoy his time at the Y camp. There was a new batch of kids, and he had even made a friend. He was looking forward to the trip to the water park and the zip lines and low ropes course at the adventure park on Thursday. This coming week he was supposed to go back to a few of his favorite lakes, but I really don't want him tempted by the rope swings and floating logs. He is not supposed to be running or playing any sports per the ortho MD. She does not want him risking another fall and possibly a worse fracture. He even has a note that excuses him from gym class when he goes back to school. So he needs to become good friends with the cast for 5 weeks.

At least one good thing came out of my newly revised schedule. I was going to try and take off a few hours on Weds to run Allison and myself downtown for an awards luncheon. I ended up taking the whole day off so I didn't have to rush. Allison's girl scout mentor invited the two of us to a Business women's award luncheon for women that also provide service to the community or financially fund raise for charities. It turns out that one of the GS board members won the award for the year. So we had a chance to catch up with several of the GS administrators and board members, along with Allison's mentor from the chemical company who also helps fundraise for a local city school. We had a great time at the luncheon at the Four Seasons hotel on the harbor in downtown Baltimore. We also enjoyed our Rock Fish we had for lunch for the first time.

I also enjoyed driving downtown through the barriers as Baltimore gets ready to host the second Grand Prix through the city on Labor Day weekend. Mario Andretti will be hosting and will be joined by many other drivers from around the world.

Since I took off on Weds I ended up working a half day on Friday to catch up. And since it has been so busy at work I offered to come in on Sunday too for a half day. I can use the extra time to make up for my  lost vacation days when I traveled to Michigan to help out my parents.

And speaking of parents, my Dad has been recuperating from his surgery last week. He was sent home on Sunday after they pulled out his catheter and he was able to urinate again. He had a follow up appointment on Thursday(my mom is getting acclimated to the GPS unit as she is doing all the driving and keeps having to take my Dad back to the hospital for appointments).  Looks like he will need another follow up appointment as they are monitoring some residual urine in his bladder and keeping an eye on his kidneys. He also saw his regular doctor and she still does not recommend that he drive since he was still having trouble with his thinking. So Mom has been practicing with the GPS to get them where they need to go. They also signed up for a computer class at the library since my brother Dan got them a laptop and they are not sure what to do with it. Tom got them a computer system at Christmas but Dad took it to Charlevoix. And since they now have cable and internet service it would be nice to get them linked up at least to email. Now if we can only find someone to help them figure out how to operate the remotes to play the DVDs.

So Tom got home on Friday. Just in time to drop Allison off at work. I had been out all afternoon with Scott. After he got his cast, we stopped to cash in some free frozen yogurt coupons he got from camp. Then I took him to the boy scout store to restock his uniform. He has been quickly outgrowing his pants and shirt and it was tax free week on clothing in Maryland. I had to wait for the summer to get him a new scout shirt so he could have all his patches switched over. In the summer months the boys don't have to wear their uniforms to the meetings. But summer is almost over! We also picked up school supplies and finally a pizza for dinner! Long day.

Allison had a busy week with her field hockey tryouts and practices every morning. She made the varsity team again and the coach told her she was their most improved player! She even let her play a whole game by herself on Saturday morning during the pre season tournament sessions. And Allison was looking good. The girls had 3 games and won two and tied 0-0 in the third. Our neighbors daughter was not terribly happy this week as she was hoping to be brought up to the Varsity level as a sophomore. Two other girls made it, but she did not. And she spent most of her summer at Field Hockey camps. She also joined track in the spring to keep up with her running, but it seems it was not to be. We told her they needed good players to stay on the JV team as well.  Her family invited us over Saturday night for a bonfire and s'mores, but we opted to take the kids to our favorite MSU owned wine store.

Every Saturday night The Wine Bin shows movies outside on a big screen in their parking lot. They also have wine tastings and give out free popcorn. Since it was such a nice evening, I thought it would be fun to take the kids to see Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure(an oldie and a silly). We went to dinner first at our favorite mexican restaurant(we get to eat outside on the patio and the Mariachi band plays every weekend). After dinner I grabbed the chairs, Tom grabbed the wine and we sat down to enjoy the movie. I actually heard the kids giggling during the movie(they are a tough crowd to please these kids today).

On Sunday it was chore day. When I got home from work I decided I had better get the grass cut before it rained again. Of course, as soon as I started the mower it started to rain. I have never had to cut the grass in the rain before, but at least it got done. Along with some weeding and trimming. Tom was busy searching for synthetic oil for my van. He was going to change it himself since I ran out of my free two year or 25K oil changes(,y car is only a year old, but we put 5000 miles on the car driving across the country and I hit 30K). He found out though that if he changes the oil himself, it voids my extended warranty(very clever Toyota). So now I need to set up an appointment for my oil change, tire rotation, etc. He also found out that he could not locate any synthetic oil to buy anyway. Instead, while I cut the grass, he worked with the kids on their summer math packets and then made dinner. I worked with SCott on his summer book report. Allison spent the week typing and writing up her Gold Award proposal for the bird trail for a local nature center for Girl SCouts.  All this and school has not yet started!

Scott was also busy making himself a costume for Comic Con coming up in a few weeks.Here he is sporting his new cast.

So another memorable week for me while Tom was away.