Halloween has come early! Actually I see that the stores have been stocking not only Halloween items, but Christmas items as well! I bought my Christmas cards a few weeks ago at Sams Club. But we decided to start our Halloween celebration early at Busch Gardens. Every year they have Howl O Scream. An added bonus at the end of the day with Halloween shows and Haunted mazes. The park also does a very nice job decorating. However, Anheuser Busch doesn't own Busch Gardens anymore, so we were interested in how the new group would perform. I must say not as great as the program in the past, but still fun.

They put on the Howl O Scream events every weekend, Fri-Sun. from 6-10pm only in Sept through Oct. Sat and Sun is usually packed. You can spend the whole day at the park and then enjoy the Halloween Haunts in the evening. The shows however run during the day as well. We tried to go last year in Tampa, but they charge extra for their Halloween program. So on Friday the 13th, opening night, we decided to head down to Williamsburg. I wanted to wait and go next weekend, when Scott is off on Friday. But Tom is off to Salt Lake City, and Allison wanted to come too. However, she is going to be busy with Field Hockey games starting next weekend, so this seemed to be the best time for everyone. We pulled SCott out of school on Friday since he had finished all his tests for the week, and drove to Salisbury to pick up Allison. Tom needed to update her security program on her computer, so he was glad we stopped in. She also needed some cold medicine(everyone is getting sick now that they are back at school), and I dropped off a Halloween tshirt and a fall wreath for their door. Plus she needed her water jug for Field Hockey. We were going to drop off her car, but decided to wait until we visit in October on family weekend.

We ended up in Busch Gardens just as the Howl O Scream events got started. They had a few glitches with the opening night, but we still enjoyed all the events. Just not as much as the previous group. We managed to get to two shows and two Haunted Mazes. This is the first year SCott would go through the mazes! Since most of the rides were closed, we decided to head back in the next morning and catch the last show and enjoy the rides and decorations in the day when you can see them better. We only stayed until the early afternoon and then headed back to drop Allison off to school along with a ghost pillow she won in a shooting game and a photo with Scott and the Clydesdales. We stopped into dinner at a local campus brewery before dropping off Allison and heading back to Baltimore.

Tom had to head out to Salt Lake City on Sunday morning, and Scott and I had homework and yardwork to do. At least the weather improved. It was incredibly hot the beginning of the week(almost in the 100s), then we had a tstorm that actually knocked out the power at our airport when lightning hit the tower. They had to shut down the airport for several hours on Thursday(what a mess). Even Allison lost power in her dorm for 30 minutes.  The weather at Busch gardens was hot and muggy too. I was trying to wear my new Halloween

medusa snake hat but I had to take it off because I was sweating so badly! But everyone liked it when I did wear it! It will be great for when the kids come trick or treating. Here are some Busch Garden's Howl O Scream photos. We also enjoy visiting with the Clydesdales. Scott made some new friends. And Allison and Scott compete for a ghost stuffie! The Demon DJ on the huge skull was quite a special effect, along with Allison's favorite, dragons!

We were also busy with Scout stuff this past week. Scott was able to complete his review for another Eagle required badge on WEds, Citizenship in the World. I had to drop off his scout shirt at the laundromat for some new patches to be sewn. I also had to drop off some more paperwork for Allison's Gold Award final review. The board is meeting next Weds, so she needed a few more pieces of info and computer photos. I had to pick up more paperwork from her this weekend, and will drop it off before going to work on Monday. She should hear back on Thursday if her project was worthy enough for a Gold Award. I certainly hope so! I also just received some more photos from the Nature Center that I will have to pass on to the board. Boy I can't wait for the Eagle project! At least we will know Scott will be prepared for all the paperwork!

Speaking of paperwork, we had one more page to sign for our refinancing for our mortgage. The notary had to run over to have us sign it before we were official. This is a strange mortgage company. First they sent us a bag of popcorn for a thank you for filing, and now we got a box of Carolina Oatmeal cookies as a thank you for refinancing. Those Southerners.

I also spent one of my evenings at Back to SChool night for Scott. Tom spent his evening with the neighbors watching Monday night football. Figures. The only issue I (and all the other parents)have with the school is their new website(that doesn't work). We parents and the kids can't access the teacher homework website or class grades. I wish they would work out the bugs before school started. We are already into 3 weeks into school and the end of the term will come soon. I hope it is worth all the fuss.

I also needed to drop off my van at the car dealership during the week. Besides a 50,000 mile oil change and check up, I needed the rubber lining replaced on my rear side windows. This summer when we traveled with the girl scouts, I opened up the windows but the rubber lining was falling off and getting caught in the track of the sliding doors. I was astonished when the service desk called to ask permission to fix them since they were not under warranty. The desk clerk said that rubber pieces like gaskets and windshield wipers were not covered under warranty. I told her this was poor manufacturing and I shouldn't have to pay the $400 to have it replaced when it was their fault for a crappy design and crappy parts/glue. Even the night manager said he had seen several vehicles come in with the same problem.  But alas, I guess it is my problem. Tom sent an email off to complain to Toyota, but I don't think they will change their minds. What a rip off.

A Big Happy Birthday goes out to Mike Bozyk. And Congratulations to Scott for earning his Eagle required badge. Next week he will have a Court of Honor and the boys will earn lots of praise for their accomplishments in the past 4 months. Scott will also be hanging up his Patrol Leader job and trying out for Historian or Librarian(must be Uncle Mike's influence).

So I wasn't home too much this weekend. This was a learning weekend for me. I spent all day Sunday in Western Maryland at a course on orthopedic joint taping. I had to get up early to make the 8am start time.  I am still wearing some of the tape on my foot and knees to try it out. The tape lasts up to 5 days. Not sure if my old people would be crazy about having all the tape on their skin, but some of our patients may like it. I have been wanting to try it out for quite a while. And the best part is, work not only paid for the class for my license renewal, but I also got paid for work too!

 On Saturday I was also up early, but this time with Scott. I dragged him off  for a Boy Scout event to the Army Base in Aberdeen-The Aberdeen Proving Grounds where they test out all sorts of new weaponry for the US Troops. It was about an hour and a half drive to the base. They were hosting a STEM day-Science/Technology/Engineering and Math program(the new buzz word in education). 450 Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts showed up to earn various science badges from Veterinary Medicine to Aviation. Scott signed up for the Chemistry badge. He had a few prerequisites to complete ahead of time, but spent most of the day trying out different types of experiments. It was a very popular badge. The boys were not allowed in the military labs(too much liability) so they set the lab up outside in a park on the grounds. The badges were run by naval midshipmen who were officers and previous Eagle scouts. Also by Venturing Scouts in the Army. They did a very nice job, and Scott seemed to enjoy his day outside trying out different experiments. While he was completing his badge work, I was busy renewing my CPR certification. That was very convenient. I was also busy with boy scouts on Monday night at the Parents meeting. I am coordinating an upcoming camping trip in November(that Tom volunteered me for). I spent most of Friday making phone calls and mailing out checks to set up the campsite and rappelling and zipline trip for the scouts.  Scott did not attend this trip before. Should be interesting. And Tom is cooking for the parents that weekend. I also had to drop off all the Boy Scout camping equipment that has been collecting in our garage during the meeting Weds night. Plenty of scout activities for all of us!

While Scott and I were off with the Boy Scouts this weekend, Tom was busy doing yardwork. He spent Saturday cutting the grass and thatching and seeding the yard. On Sunday, he took Scott to his golf lesson and spent the rest of the day helping him study for his upcoming tests in Science, Social Studies, Math and Spanish. Busy week ahead! Scott also has started choir and Lego Club before and after school. His schedule stays busy. He had a bit of a break this week with a half day and a class outing to a nearby monastery right here in Howard County run by Franciscan Monks. The Shrine of St Anthony has been around since 1832 and is an exact replica of a monastery in Assisi, Italy. The class spent the whole day with the monks including lunch and mass. Scott was surprised at how good a time he had and wants to go back at Christmas! I know one of the monks is well known for his Christmas Train Garden display each year.

So does Tom's schedule. He had just returned from Salt Lake City last week and this past week he was in Chicago. He even managed to bring home a few slices of deep dish pizza.

Allison is keeping busy with college classes as well as her Field Hockey. Her team won both games this past Sunday.
 

A Huge Congratulations goes out to Allison Seitz this week for successfully earning her Girl Scout Gold Award!!!!!!!!(equal to the Boy Scout Eagle Award). The GS ceremony won't be held until May. I hope she can come home for the event. I am always amazed at how many girls actually earn their Gold Award. Allison however was the only one in my troop that put in the hard work. Way to go Allison!

We all stayed busy with scouts this week. Scott and I attended his Court of Honor where he was recognized(along with the other scouts) for the 6 badges he earned over the summer as well as his rank advancement to Star Scout. He gave up his Patrol Leadership position and took on a less stressful job of Troop Librarian. He needs to keep track of the Badge books belonging to the troop. Although the boys did try to talk him into taking on several other jobs! And we were busy selling Boy Scout Popcorn too! On Friday night we headed over to our local Lowes for a few hours in the evening to sell popcorn. He and one other scout did a great job and we had a beautiful evening. We missed the Saturday afternoon/evening rainstorm. So just popcorn sales this year. No more Girl SCout cookie sales(although I discovered that Allison had to sell cookies in order to participate in her Gold Award project). Good thing we kept it up. Plus our cookie sale profits helped pay for our trip to Cedar Point and to Mackinac this past summer. That is what it is for!  I also stayed busy with scouts on Saturday by helping out our Girl Scout choir. The choir was asked to sing at our Big Event held at the local fairgrounds. We have not held this GS season kick off in many years. It was fun to see the council bring it back. Basically it consists of lots of tables of vendors advertising activities to scouts like Medieval Times, Six Flags, and lots of Adventure activities, craft activities and even Ms Maryland was hanging out. Our choir had a table set up, as well as a table for a GS Travel Group. Several troops were also selling items like jewelry as fund raisers for upcoming trips overseas and to Savannah GA(Birthplace of Girl Scouts). I got some great ideas for activities for the boy scouts as well, including the Six Flags Amusement park Boy Scout day complete with Halloween events. We are hoping Scott's friend who broke his arm this summer is healed up enough to join Scott for a day at the park in Oct.

So I had my fill of scouts this week. Tom was out in Salt Lake City all week working. He left on a Sunday and returned Friday night as SCott and I were headed out the door to sell popcorn. I spent Saturday afternoon running errands, including taking Scott to the uniform store to pick up some more shirts for school(he won't stop growing!). On Sunday Scott served the 9am mass, but his golf lesson was cancelled in the afternoon due to a very wet course from all the rain we had on Saturday.

We really needed it though since most everyone has a burnt out lawn. I cut the grass last weekend, but it did not need it today.

Scott also kept busy with altar server training last week on Thursday evening, but at least he got Friday off from school.  I kept him busy though with a few assignments including his science lab report and some prerequisites for an upcoming Boy Scout chemistry badge(this poor kid can't get a break!). Next weekend I am taking him to our Navy Ammunitions base in northern Maryland to complete a boy scout badge run by the service men who have earned their Eagle rank. I certainly don't plan on having the same experience as our poor neighbors at the Naval Yard this past week near DC. I was very surprised at that situation since it seems security is always very strict at the bases. Just try getting into Fort Mead to sing the National Anthem with the GS choir! Or visit Walter Reed hospital and deliver GS cookies(you can't). Anyway, while Scott is working on his badge, I will be getting my recertification in CPR and First Aid. Very convenient.

Another Congratulations goes out to Allison on playing her first Club level Field Hockey game as goalie at Salisbury. Her game ended in a tie. Way to go Allison! And a Big Happy Birthday to Mom Bozyk! Mom and Dad Bozyk will be visited by my brother Mike for the next two weeks. They are looking forward to a visit to Charlevoix.

Here are a few photos of Allison completing her Gold Award presentation at the Nature Center sent to us by her mentor.

 Here are a few shots from this past week. Scott starts school as an 8th grader! A quick visit to Salisbury University and some upgrades to Allison's dorm room. Busch Gardens weekend as they get ready to kick of Howl O Scream!

Happy Labor Day Weekend! Or what's left of it anyway. We celebrated early by heading to Williamsburg VA with a visit to Busch Gardens and WAter Country USA. It was certainly a great weekend to be at the water park since it was extremely hot-in the 90s and humid and no breeze! We loved every minute of floating around Hubba Hubba Highway. And we managed to get to the amusement park early enough on Sunday to beat most of the crowds and take in our favorite rides before it really got packed. We left on Friday morning after I dropped Cookie off at the kennel. Scott had the day off from school, and Allison was free all weekend as well.

By the way, both kids started classes this past Monday. Scott is very excited to have finally made it to 8th grade. He is looking forward to a busy and fun year. Allison also started her college classes. She had a little issue locating her new math class, but now things are settling in for her. She is taking 5 classes, and one meets right in a classroom in her dorm in the morning. Roll out of bed and right into class! All her meals are in the main dining hall. She loves the food! She has tried out the exercise equipment at the gym and now plans on playing Field Hockey with the Club team. They start practice next week. Two practices a week and games on the weekend through October. She has been enjoying all the opening activities including meeting the author of a required reading book for the incoming freshman class. She managed to get her autograph. She also enjoyed the hypnotist show and received a free DVD for being in the show last weekend! And then there are plenty of free outdoor and indoor movies. She finally was able to see The Great Gatsby as well as some favorite repeats. But she has also been very busy this first week with assignments and quizzes and reading, reading, reading! She does seem to enjoy the whole experience though. And she has some built in friends that she went to high school with to go places and do things together. She is also enjoying the company of all of her suite mates as well(all 10 of them!). And her roommate, Melania.

So we headed out on Friday to Salisbury to pick up Allison and drop some items off at school. We had to drop off her computer printer that we forgot last weekend. But I also found her a picture of the beach to hang up on the big, empty wall(since the campus is only 30 mins from Ocean City, it seemed appropriate). And a few other knick knacks like a stool to climb up onto her bed, an alarm clock,  a window valance, paper towel holder and some more photos and frames. I also had her sign off on her Gold Award project evaluation. I had stopped by the nature center last week to pick up her advisor's evaluation to add to her final project summary as well as some photos we had developed at Walgreens. I will try to drop off Allison's notebook to the GS council this week. She has until Sept 30th to get all the paperwork turned in. She even located a GS council at a Volunteer Fair she attended last week that was looking for help with local projects. Allison signed up for their newsletter and promised to keep them in mind if any free time or service projects came up in her classes.We also had to register her car for a parking permit.  She will probably be driving back to school after a weekend home in the near future and needed the car registered from the campus police. We tried to take care of that during move in, but the line at the office was out the door all day.

After dropping off her stuff and setting everything up, we headed to lunch and then the long drive down the eastern shore to Williamsburg, VA. We did not get to Busch Gardens until 6pm and discovered that they decided to close the park early that night at 7pm. It was very hot and very crowded, so the kids were happy to jump on a few rides and go to dinner. We met  up with our neighbors who were also visiting Busch Gardens that weekend and had dinner at an all you can eat Chinese restaurant and called it a day. On Saturday we headed to the Water Park all day. It was very hot and humid, so the Water Park was a great choice for the day. It also gave Allison some time to relax under an umbrella and read her schoolbooks. And we had a great time on the rides too! Even though the park was busy, we did not have to wait too long to get on the rides. We even enjoyed the diving and acrobatic show while munching on shrimp. That evening we discovered a great new Mexican restaurant and caught a movie. Although I was not pleased with my husband's movie choice for the kids(much too much everything!). A British comedy called The World's End where a town is taken over by robots. Unfortunately the humor was very adult and I would have preferred the kids see an abridged version. We survived the movie and called it a night. On Sunday morning we were off to Busch Gardens. We hit all the big rides before the park got very  crowded and left around 3pm. Sadly the new owners did away with the year end fun concerts each night. Instead, they had a Gospel Concert on Sunday night only with a group called The Casting Crowns. Not sure how many people were attending, but you needed to pick up a "free" ticket before the show. We did not plan on attending. Instead we thought we'd stop into the outlet mall and pick up some new tennis shoes for SCott(he won't stop growing). We could not believe how crowded the outlet mall was-parking was limited. We managed to find a parking spot and pick up some shoes for Scott before calling it quits. We stopped in for a late lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and then headed back to the EAstern shore to drop Allison off at school. When we got back to her University, we stopped for dinner at Sonic burger(the drive in restaurant). They had milk shakes half off. We all enjoyed chili and Chicago hot dogs and milk shakes before saying goodbye to Allison. Before we left the parking lot of the restaurant however, a group of college kids asked Tom to give them a jump with my van. Tom had to show them how to hook up the cables. We did not get home until late, but traffic was pretty light the whole way there and back. Not so today with the 9 mile back up at the Bay Bridge. Speaking of the bridge, Tom spent most of the weekend trying to navigate the MVA website to reregister our EZPass to my current van since it did not work traveling across the bridge. He is trying to avoid getting a ticket!

On Labor Day, Scott and Tom were at home but I headed to work(double pay!). Scott was busy cutting the lawn and doing dishes to pay off a new video game. He also had to study for an upcoming math test and social studies test this week. Here we go again! Tom was busy trying to put his car antenna back together again after it got ripped off in the local gas station car wash!

Scott was also busy last week earning the next rank in Boy Scouts. He is now an official Star Scout. Just one more rank to go before he can work on his Eagle project. Plus the Eagle required badges. He recently signed up for a Chemistry badge that he will be working on at the end of the month at a military base in the area although it is not a required badge(it just looks cool!). He did finish one of the Eagle badges but needs to review with the badge counselor for Citizenship in the World. And I keep after him to read his book on turtles so he can finish up the Pet Care badge(while we still have some pets!).

I had a short work week last week as I spent one day at an OT class on Low Vision. I was hoping to get all my errands run afterwards in order to leave early for Williamsburg on Friday morning. However, Tom booked an appointment at the house with a notary to sign all the paperwork to refinance the house. We had to go through 140 pages with multiple signatures! And this was after Tom completed  extensive online computer signatures! We were at it for 1.5 hours Thursday night. It did not leave me with much energy to go shopping afterwards, and Cookie was begging to go for a walk. And I had plenty of laundry to do.  So I had to run my errands on Friday morning which set our schedule back some.

But overall it was a very good first week of school and a good holiday break!

A big shout out for a Happy Birthday Today for Dan and Dave Bozyk! And a huge Congratulations to cousin Eric and his fiance Sarah as he just proposed this past weekend and she said YES! How wonderful! The Baltimore Seitz clan may be heading out to Wisconsin next summer with a bypass to Indy for a wedding!

So I just sat down at home from a long weekend of camping with the boy scouts! We unpacked all the camping gear from my van, including our bikes and I have the washer and dryer going with all our camping clothes. I had to pick up Cookie from the kennel this evening too(she is always so happy to be home)and I took her for a walk around the neighborhood when we got back. At least I didn't have to cook dinner. We stopped into Sonic on the way home and filled up on Chicago hot dogs, burgers, onion rings and milkshakes. Sonic is an old fashioned car hop restaurant(no eating inside-just in your car). The waitstaff wear roller skates and you pull up and order off the menu at your parking spot. Just like a 50s restaurant. So far the Sonic by Allison's school is not too good. This one in western Maryland was better. So we were stuffed.

We headed out for the camping trip in Pennsylvania on Friday evening. Scott's Troop was trying out the caving trip at Laurel Caverns near Pittsburgh for the first time. Scott was the only one in the troop that had been there before. About 20 scouts did the 3 hour crawl around in the dirt through tiny passage ways. Scott did the tour last year and really enjoyed the experience so he recommended it to the troop. We also joined him last year and just did the walk through tour of the cave. We decided this year we would try bike riding while he was caving with the troop. So on Saturday morning we dropped boys off at the cave and took off to the town of Ohiopyle for a quick bike trip. There is a 100 mile bike path that used to be a railroad track that runs from Pittsburgh all the way to DC. It runs along the river, so there are great bridges to cross and woods to travel through. It also follows the C and O canal in Maryland where they pulled barges up and down the river with donkeys and horses to transport people and goods. It is a terrific bike path-very flat and wide and no bugs. We only biked for an hour before stopping for lunch and heading back to pick up the boys. The rest of the afternoon was free time. Tom and I read and napped while the boys played frisbee and paddle ball and entertained the camp owner's dog with games of fetch. A few boys worked on scout skills. I would have liked Scott to do the Forestry badge offered at the cave. Last year he completed the Geology badge.  But Scott's scoutmaster is very picky about who puts on the badges and did not give the boys permission to complete them. I did not push it since the scoutmaster said at times they have taken the badges away from the boys if they don't believe it was approved by the BSA! I did not want Scott to lose his geology badge! He spent 3 hours working on the badge and I believe the staff did an excellent job covering all the requirements(since I sat with him and had another tour of the cave last year!). So no badge this time.

But the troop was much more organized than his last troop. Everyone started dinner around 5pm and we sat down to eat around 6. The parents always eat well and this was no exception. Our cook made fish(tilapia), brown rice, cold bean salad, spinach salad, rolls and butternut squash soup. All very good. I shared a bag of marshmallows for s'mores for dessert around our evening campfire. The boys had spaghetti and chicken stir fry. They did a great job cooking, cleaning up and packing up on Sunday morning. Friday night set up was a little disorganized though as the Venture scouts rolled in around 11pm and started setting up their campsite. We understand when members of the troop arrive late, especially after getting off work and school, but this group was exceptionally noisy with their radio playing and lots of discussions(not necessarily about pitching tents or canopies). Anyway, around midnite I had to use my GS Leader and Mom voice and ask them to shut it. And lo and behold it worked and we all went to sleep!

Allison was not so lucky back at school. Her suite mates had a party on Friday night until 4am. She(and we) hope it does not become a habit. Allison wanted to get some sleep. She had a busy week of classes and has just made the Club Field Hockey Team after two practices. She will be  playing goalie on a traveling team in some games on the weekends that will bring her to the universities near our house. It will be fun to watch her play again! She also enjoyed her first college football game on Saturday night. Sadly her school lost(kinda like our sad Ravens against Denver). That was an agonizing game to watch Thursday night. It was on late and I was up putting Allison's GS Gold Award report together in a scrapbook for her to drop off to GS council for review on Friday.

On Friday I was also busy dropping Cookie off to the kennel and packing up our camping gear. I did not even have time to get the van into the dealership for an oil change and to repair my window seals on the back side windows. The seal has come unglued and when you open the windows, the seal catches in the sliding side doors. Very annoying. So I made an appointment to take it in this coming week. At least I did not have to pack up food for the trip! That involves a whole lot more planning. I did however order tickets for another house tour on our camping trip. This time to Frank Lloyd Wright's Kentuck Knob house just down the street from Falling Waters.

On Sunday morning we stopped by the house for a tour and walk around the grounds. This house was built about 20 years later than Falling WAters and also used as a vacation home. The family had a dairy farm and sold their ice cream under the name Hagen. They were friends with the owners of Falling WAters(and founders of Macy Dept store). Their house was smaller, more modern and more wooded. Tom and Scott did not enjoy the tour as much as Falling WAters, but it was interesting to see another example of his work. More recently the home was owned  by a British family, so it has a few english accents! Besides English phone booths and mailboxes, they had photos inside with Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher.

So my photos include our camp site and trip to the cave, along with the bike ride Tom and I took. We stopped over the river to watch the kayakers and rafters, as well as groups taking a class in fly fishing(busy place!). On Sunday we stopped at Kentuck Knob(short for Kentucky). The house was designed to blend into the mountain top. They have a great view of the Appalachians(or Alleghany as they are called in PA). At the front door you can see a red tile with Frank Lloyd Wright's initials(he always signed his work). And the carved windows all along the roof line are actually the blue print of the house. No photos allowed inside, but we entered through the front door next to the car port(he did not like garage doors). Out back was a long deck that opened up from the kitchen and a patio with a fountain. Inside were a large family room, 3 bedrooms and bathrooms, a modern kitchen and dining room. Down in the meadow was a strange collection of Yard Art and an interesting piece of the Berlin wall. The British owners added their phone booths and post boxes. And of course no yard is complete without an apple core! Overall, Tom and Scott report they like the Falling Waters house much better. And there were lots of bugs at Kentuck Knob.