Well, thank goodness last week was not quite so crazy while Tom was away. At least no one broke anything!

Tom had to fly out to LA last Sunday. Sounds like he had a very nice week. He got done a day early so he spent some time visiting Solvang for pastries and wine tasting. He even had some extra time to take my brother Mike out for a birthday dinner at Cheesecake factory and stopped into his condo to recaulk his bathtub. Tom returned home Friday night after catching the landing of the space shuttle in LA while he was sitting on the runway in his plane. He sent me a photo shot of the shuttle landing from out of his plane window.

Meanwhile, I was getting a yearly check up at the doctor's office on Friday. I was trying to hurry to catch Allison's field hockey game. She usually has two a week. They lost their first game that week, but won the game on Friday afternoon and I got to watch Allison play. I also had time on Friday to get back to my exercise classes. The YMCA finally opened up the swim classes for drop in rather than preregister, so now I can just attend the class when I want. So I loved getting back in the pool, but the chlorine did not do much for my breathing while I finish up my antibiotics for my sinus infection.  Scott was also off of school on Friday, so I kept him busy with homework. He would have preferred to travel to Busch Gardens with Tom, but sadly Tom got home too late. Allison was off of school on Monday(love those Jewish holidays), but she had to go into work. Good thing she can drive herself!

Instead of visiting Busch Gardens, we decided had to use our tickets to Hershey Park so off we went on Sunday and we all had a great time. SCott rode every coaster, including two new coaster rides. He completely wore himself out. We even took Cookie and she waited for us in the dog kennel during the day at the park. We had a great time eating chocolate(we are all set for Halloween). And a very nice addition-Allison and I heard a concert from Megan Hilty-the star of the tv show SMASH and she plays Glinda in Wicked on Broadway. She sang with her piano player who was excellent and he also sang a duet with her too. And we even caught a tap show and thought of Stacey! It was a wonderful way to spend the first full day of Fall.

I also was kept busy last week with Allison's Back to School Night. I got a chance to meet all her teachers-they are all very nice and involved. I also had to run off to pick up some items for Allison's Pasta Party and a work party for me. On Thursday we had a goodbye luncheon for one of our staff members that took another job. I picked up lunch for our out patient staff as well as a gift card(Starbucks of course to collect more city mugs). Allison just needed cookies for her Field Hockey team dinner. Thank goodness for Sam's club. I just got there with 15 mins. to spare. And the gas station was surrounded by cops. Don't know what happened, but I figured that was the safest time to get gas! I also took in a pan of Tom's ziti to work and the staff gobbled it down. And early in the week we had a staff team building meeting. Our boss bought us all chinese food and we spent a few hours getting to know a few new staff members and playing team building games like Taboo and Jenga. It turned out to be a lot of fun. And it was nice to spend time with the whole staff since our boss is stepping down next week.

I had plenty of time to work off all those goodies while doing lots of yardwork on Saturday when it was nice and sunny. I even got Tom to finally top my Rose of Sharon bush which has turned into a tree. He even got busy trimming our neighbors cherry tree too which turned into a neighborhood project while I was cutting the grass.   

Sending out a Big Happy Birthday to Mom Bozyk. She said she enjoyed a good, fried chicken dinner as a birthday treat.

Here is Allison in goal during last week's Field Hockey game. Also a few shots(from you guessed it)Hershey Park. The kids love the swing ride.  And we enjoyed Megan's(Glinda's) concert. 

Welcome back to Mark and Linda Seitz who enjoyed what looks like a fabulous trip to Hawaii(but I am sure I would not have been brave enough to get on that helicopter for a tour!).
 
 See you next week! Kathleen

Naturally I cannot have one relaxing week with Tom gone. I was still feeling sick-dizzy and nauseous so I finally decided to make a doctor appointment on Friday when I was off from work. I ended up having to make two appointments since Scott managed to break his cast while pushing up from a table and I needed to get him in for an xray and to determine if he needed the cast put back on or if it could be removed permanently.

So there we both were on Friday afternoon in our separate exam rooms. Turns out I had a sinus infection so I am on a nice, safe antibiotic(No Cipro!). Just Amoxicillin. And boy do I feel so much better. Scott turns out healed up in 4 weeks so they did not have to put his cast back on. But his arm has been pretty sore. He was just so excited to get the cast off!

I managed to survive through the week even though I wasn't feeling well. Scott actually did not feel well either and asked to stay home on Tuesday(after I had already dropped him off at school). I just turned around and took him home and called to let school know he wasn't going to make it. AT least he did not miss much since they had Back to School Night and no homework. He did miss laser tag with the boy scouts that night though which he was a bit disappointed about, but he ended up sleeping all day. Guess he needed a break.

Allison however had to attend the BAck to School night for the Kindergarten class for her internship on Tuesday night. She has been traveling to Scott's school for 2 hours every day to work with the kids. She finds them very fascinating, but she drew the line when one of the boys asked her to wipe his bottom after going to the bathroom! Scott happened to be nearby that day and she tried bribing him, but he wasn't going to go there either! Allison keeps thinking she would prefer teaching high school students. Or perhaps the Business program is looking more promising. We spent some time together filling out college applications this weekend after I attended the College Night program at her high school. They encourage the parents to look over the admissions process and applications to see if the kids missed anything. It is getting quite difficult to get into schools these days. The University of Maryland takes in  around 20,000 applicants a year and only accepts around 10,000. They also have to delay start of school from the fall to the spring since there are so many students.  So right now Allison is working on her biography for her teachers as she has to have two recommendations from them and a letter from her counselor for each school she wants to apply to. She is also working on her college essay(as well as keeping up with her homework, working at the skating rink  and playing Field Hockey).  The team had two games last week. They won their Friday game but lost due to a penalty shot on their Tuesday game. She also enjoyed a Crab Dinner and Dance for the Seniors at the high school on Weds night. She had her fill of crabs, crab cakes, roast beef and corn on the cob. I don't think she will want to graduate!

Tom and I were sorry we missed her games. But I was at the doctor's office with Scott on Friday and Tom was off cooking for the Boy Scouts for their camping weekend. I did enjoy playing Field Hockey on Thursday night as the parents usually have a tailgate party and Parent vs Kids Field Hockey scrimmage at the start of each year. I had fun playing defense(just wish I had been feeling better). I also had to buy food for the tailgate party, and drinks for a luncheon we had at work in which we hosted our medical staff. Our doctors had never been to our out patient rehab clinic(in the past 25 years or so). We decided it was about time they showed up so we bribed them with food and it worked.

Scott and Tom had a Boy Scout camp out on Friday night and the troop hosted a few Cub Scout troops. On Saturday they ran a few stations for the cub scouts-teaching them some skills including fire starting and knot tying. Tom made way too much food on Friday and we both had to haul food and camping supplies to the campground Friday evening after the doctor appointments. Allison was busy working at the skating rink that night. So I ended up staying for dinner with the boy scouts and took all the leftovers home. I have 4 huge bags of ziti in the freezer and an extra pan in the fridge, plus lasagne, lots of veggies and salad. Should come in handy at work for pot lucks.

Tom had just returned from Dallas on Thursday night, so we kept him busy on Friday and Saturday. Besides the camping trip, Tom set up an orienteering course for Scott so he could finish one of his requirements for 1st class rank. (which he did). He also made a useful tool only using  lashing to hold it together which was another requirement.  When the boys got home, Tom was busy working on Allison's car. She needed new speakers since hers were damaged by her goalie bag in the trunk. And she needed new floor mats, windshield wipers and they had already replaced her tires. Then Tom discovered that his computer monitor is dead. That is another issue.  I also had him working with Scott on his math homework since Tom was flying out again on Sunday. This time to LA.

Sunday I kept both kids busy with homework. I also kept Allison busy selling Girl Scout Cookies! Our last year. Let me know if anyone feels the urge to buy a box or two. Or make a donation to our US troops. We went selling one last time down our street. I was surprised to see that no other girl scouts had come down the road yet on Saturday evening. On Sunday the little girls were out in full force, but I think we managed to get most of the neighbors. I am not very helpful when I go out with Allison since I usually spend all our time chatting with the neighbors. I even sat down and had a beer on the deck with a family whose son is heading off to work on ships in Alaska this Friday. They were celebrating him getting a real job. But Allison managed to get through a few more houses on Sunday. After I took her clothes shopping. She discovered that she cannot just wear jeans and tshirts to her internship, so we had to pick up a few more dress pants and shoes.

Now I hope to survive another week with Tom gone. 

I almost missed my brothers' birthdays this month. A very Happy Birthday wish to Dan and DAve who celebrated their 50 something birthday on September 2nd, and another Happy Birthday wish to Mike Bozyk who keeps getting closer to 50 on Sept 10th! 

Sorry, no photos this week. I was too busy to take pictures!

Kathleen

How we did Not Spend Labor Day Weekend:

     We did not go to Busch Gardens this year, even though we had a 4 day weekend(almost). Allison still had school on Friday, but Scott was off. And Allison did not have to work. Last year she had to help clean up the Sports Center over the Labor Day Weekend, but this year they had everything done ahead of time. Allison also did not have any Field Hockey games or practice, so we could have gone away without missing a thing.
  What was missing was Scott's ability to ride anything at Busch Gardens. And they did not schedule a big, end of the season concert like they have in the past.
    We tried to reschedule activities since everyone was free and available, but then the weather did not cooperate. We had remnants of Hurricane Isaac for the past week which included extremely hot temperatures, scattered rain and thunderstorms and 500% humidity. Not much fun.
   We wanted to go to Hershey Park on Sunday, but instead we had scattered tstorms. Sadly, they would have allowed SCott on their rides, even with the cast. We decided to try to attend the Renaissance Festival which sadly was not as enjoyable since the weather was so miserable. It was not terribly comfortable sitting outside watching shows in the drizzle and humidity with no breeze. But we did manage to enjoy eating a few items on sticks(everything tastes better on a stick). Including chocolate covered frozen cheesecake. And Allison shot a few arrows, Scott threw a few hatchets and I found a lovely tapestry to hang in the foyer. Tom managed to get himself into a comedy show without even trying.

We decided we needed to have some fun over the weekend since I went to work on Saturday. In the morning we took the kids to the library to get them passports. Finally.

On Monday Tom wanted me to visit the one and only Sony store in nearby Virginia to pick out a replacement television for the one we gave my parents. With football season here he wanted to have every opportunity to keep up with the games. He tried a Samsung but we did not like the picture. Instead we settled for a Sony the same size as our current tv. He needed me to pick out the set with the best color. So far everyone that has seen the new tv loves the picture. Including Tom.

The Sony store was in the Tysons Corner Mall which is gigantic. We had to drive around in the parking structure to pick up our tv, but they brought it out to us so it was easier than it looked. I am just glad we did not have to carry the big box around while we shopped and had dinner out!  Tom really wanted to take advantage of the tv specials through Northrop so we saved some money on the set and got a free Play Station to boot. Like we need another gaming system. Anyway, now we can enjoy that bright Purple Raven color. And that is how we spent Labor DAy Weekend(besides cutting the grass in between storms and rain showers, cleaning out gutters and trimming tree branches).

We are also enjoying watching the bright Orange Orioles color as our baseball team is just under one game from the NY Yankees in the Eastern division.  Boy were there a lot of New Yorkers in town this weekend for a 3 day game fest.

Baltimore has been crazy lately with the sports legends. Ravens are off to a pretty good start. Orioles are ending their season on a high note. Michael Phelps and a few other Marylander Olympians were visiting Baltimore today(monday). I wondered if Michael was up to the challenge of swimming across our bay or harbor. SAdly they had a also had a viewing at our Football stadium this past Saturday for Art Modell who gave Baltimore a football team when he moved the Cleveland Browns here and renamed the team the Ravens. They had Art's casket out under a tent on the football field so everyone who wanted to could come by and say bye. Crazy.  And it was deathly hot out on Saturday.

I should know since I spent the entire day, from 6am until a giant storm rolled in around 4pm paddling a Dragon Boat across the harbor(8 times in 4 different races). We have to paddle down across the harbor and then race back. Our team did pretty well this year. We made it through 4 races out of 6. The best we have every done. And this was my 5th race held every two years. I started back in 1998 with St Agnes. I missed a few years in between with our move to Boston and before I started working for Erickson. We did not win a Division, but we did take 3rd place for the Hat Decorating Contest.
Hey, it was something. I can't wait until 2104! I just hope I can survive that long.  On Saturday I was burnt to a crisp and my foot was killing me. We were invited to our neighbors for dinner. I made it through appetizers and dinner and then took myself home and went to bed with a cold cloth on my head and a hot pack on my foot. Plus I think now Scott and I have the same flu/allergy symptoms that we just can't seem to shake.

My family was not able to join me on Saturday for the races since Allison had a field hockey tournament instead. And it was terrific that they won the entire tournament(and the games count towards their season). And they were tough teams to beat. Tom and SCott stayed during the day to help out with the concession stand.

And on Sunday we headed out to the Comic Convention in downtown Baltimore. SCott made himself a costume from a character in his computer game. It looks like a big, green PEZ dispenser. He did an awesome job but was sad he did not win the costume contest which we stood around for several hours waiting for him to strut his stuff. He entered the contest with his friend Sammy who was also dressed very much like a robot. All the kids loved their costumes and asked for photos. Just like last year with his Zombie Mario. I think Scott would have had a better chance at winning if he had entered by himself instead of in a group with his friend SAmmy as they only had two winners for that category. But the boys wanted to stay together. Oh well, everyone enjoyed the amazing costumes and picking out comic books.

So the kids were back to school and a busy schedule. I enjoyed Scott's Back to School Night last week and chatting with all the moms. Scott has an incredibly busy schedule. He also managed to work on another requirement with Tom at his Boy SCout meeting(demonstrating  lashes). Once again, we missed the camping weekend to Assateague Island. One day I will get there and see the ponies on the beach. I hope the boys survived the big storms on Saturday night. Looks like DC was hit worse.

I also had my first Girl SCout Leader meeting this past week. It's Cookie Time! 

So we will keep on packing our schedule with lots of activities and schoolwork.

Tom is off to Dallas TX this week(I hope I make it without collapsing or breaking someone again!).

And much thanks to the angels that are now working on some repairs at my parent's house. They got started on assessing the damage to their sunroom this past weekend.

Enjoy the photos of the RenCen festival-snacking on turkey legs and crab cake pretzels, archery and axe throwing. Down at the Harbor for the Dragon Boat races and our winning hat(Michale Phelps against the Dragon)! Scott and Sammy as MineCraft characters. Scott's eyes lit up and he made a hissing noise. Plus he walked around the whole hall with his arms tucked inside. He was pretty worn out.