It has been a busy week at the Seitz household! Allison went off to college this past week. Before she left, she was trying to finish up her paperwork for the Girl Scout Gold Award Final Report. She edited a videotape that I made of her presentation at the Nature Center as well as finishing up all the questions she had to answer. And she has another article in our local paper-this one is a full page!  Besides putting together her end report, I had her fill out an application to become a life long member of the Girl Scouts. When the girl's graduate, the council offers them a one time discount on being a lifelong member so we took advantage of the offer. And Allison felt compelled to help out with the training of the goalies for the new Mt Hebron Field Hockey team. The new team was chosen a week ago, and started their full training last week so she spent a few hours each day giving them pointers and working out with them. I think she enjoyed that the most! She also treated the team to popsicles. And of course she finished packing for school!

On WEds night we packed up our van and drove down to Salisbury on the Eastern shore. It is about a 2.5hr drive. Earlier that morning Allison dropped off Cookie at the kennel. We stayed overnight in Salisbury as our check in time was at 7:30 am. Tom and I were amazed at how organized the whole move in process was as the school assigned students to help out. All we had to do was take everything out of the van and they carried everything up to Allison's dorm room. The volunteers all were members of the sports teams and sororities and fraternities. So we arrived before Allison's roommate and had everything set up in just an hour. Even a small fish tank! Afterwards we visited a vendor fair with lots of freebies from local restuarants and services-food, cups, pens, drinks, coupons. We stocked Allison up with goodies. We then ran some errands for last minute items at Target and stopped for chinese food for lunch. It was just incredibly hot and humid so we spent most of our time searching out the air conditioned buildings. We also stopped at the bookstore to pick up the rest of Allison's school books and check out her mailbox. And of course I had to get a sweatshirt. Finally in the afternoon we met Allison's roommate, Melania. Her family is also from Maryland. There are many students that attend the school from all over the east coast including Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and North Carolina. And Allison knows alot of students that she went to her high school that are also attending Salisbury.  Turns out that Allison's roommate, Melania's family is originally from the Detroit area-Warren. And Melania's mom attended Wayne State University and also graduated in the Occupational Therapy program just as I did, only 1 year ahead of my class! She works as an OT in the school system.

What an incredibly small world! And pretty amazing since Allison and her roommate were randomly placed.  After Melania moved in, the girls were whisked off with their Orientation groups. We had a brief Welcome presentation from the school President and they took an aerial photo of the new freshman class and passed out backpacks and tshirts for the class of 2017. Afterwards they treated us all to ice cream and all the parents and families said goodbye and headed home. So far it sounds like Allison is having a great time! They have lots of orientation programs scheduled this week, but they also have lots of fun activities too. Like the hypnotist show that Allison volunteered in! She reports sitting on the stage for the whole 90 minute show, and faking it. But her friends thought she was actually hypnotized!  So we plan on visiting Allison next week so that we can visit Busch Gardens over Memorial Day Weekend. Both Allison and Scott start school this Monday.

Scott has been wrapping up some work for his boy scout badges and his summer school book report. He also had a Boy Scout Patrol leader meeting this past week. He was happy to ride his bike up to the church by himself for the meeting, but it is starting to get dark earlier. Although we did get a light for his bike. He is also excited to be riding the bus home from school this year.

And Tom and I attended a parent's meeting/boy scout picnic this past weekend. We enjoyed chatting with the small number that showed up, eating hamburgers and meeting a new family that recently moved here to Baltimore from Wisconsin.  And of course Tom and I volunteered to help organize a few of the boy scout outings this coming year. But Tom would not volunteer to be in charge of the popcorn sales!

I have been extra busy at work since our owner decided to take over as the administrator too. He wants the facility beds filled, so he is taking in a lot of patients all at once. Which means we therapists are obliged to complete evaluations on everyone. Since it is extra busy, and since some of the staff is on vacation or attending classes, I volunteered to go in to work on Saturday. I will probably work on Labor Day as well since we will be heading off to Williamsburg on Friday after a swing by to pick up Allison.  

Here are some photos of Allison teaching her Bird Nature Trail class at the Robinson Nature Center-in the class, on the trail and making pine cone bird feeders, as well as Move In Day at Salisbury University, her dorm and dorm room and the Business School.  And Scott's visit to Little Italy.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-nature-center-0822-20130819,0,1521880.story

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/ellicott-city/bs-md-ho-scout-nature-trail-20130814,0,1592098.story

Here are two links to Allison's newspaper articles found in The Baltimore Sun this past weekend on her Bird Nature Trail for her Girl Scout Gold Award. 

This past week was backwards for me. I took off Monday instead of Friday. A fellow coworker needed to switch days off. It was nice having a 4 day weekend. Just wish I had gone somewhere! But I did use my time wisely. I got Allison a babysitting job for the week! Just a few hours each day with our neighbor's son. Allison was able to take him up to the community pool each day, although it was a bit chilly last week. They spent one afternoon playing tennis. I tried to make sure she did not use up all her time working though. She had to start packing and was putting the finishing touches on her GS Gold Award.
I did steal her away Monday afternoon to do some last minute school clothes shopping since Maryland had tax free week. That comes in handy. And we decided to go see the new Percy Jackson Movie which she really enjoyed since it followed the book so well.

This past Saturday morning she and I headed off to the Nature Center so Allison could present her Bird Nature Trail program to the staff and some kids. I was on camera duty. Her program is primarily geared for Kindergartners, but we had a mixed group for this first session. And she had a full room. After completing her power point presentation on local birds, we went out on the trail to look for the model birds. The kids really loved that. Afterwards they each made pine cone bird seed feeders to take home which they loved even more. We couldn't get them to leave! But we had to wrap it up so Allison could head off to her skate guard job. The nature center also arranged for Allison to have several interviews with our local paper and The Baltimore Sun with photo opps. Included in this blog are links to Allison's online newspaper articles with photos. We also have an article printed in the paper and two more printed articles coming out this week. So she already is in 2 news stories online and was in this weekend's Baltimore Sun newspaper. She had two reporters attend her presentation and do interviews and take photos.   All the neighbor's came up to me to tell me they saw her article in the paper when I was out walking Cookie this weekend. I didn't know they had already printed one! I had to run home and dig through my paper. So now Allison is finishing up her post project report to turn in for approval and she will be done! We hope. I also took a video tape for her to include and more photos. And she needs an evaluation formed filled out by the staff at the Nature Center. We found out that one of the advisors also went to Michigan State. So Allison can spend a few days wrapping up her report before heading off to school.

  Scott on the other hand spent last week at his new favorite camp-Amusement Park Camp with Teens on Tour. Each day the group headed off to a different Amusement Park, with one rain day. He visited Hershey Park, Kings Dominion, Six Flags and a new park to us that he just loved, Dorney Park in Pennsylvania. It looks like Dorney Park is owned by Cedar Point as SCott said the lay out was the same and it had the Camp Snoopy theme too. On the rainy day they went to see the movie Wolverine and went bowling. He had a great time and is completely worn out. A good way to end the summer.

On Sunday, after Scott served mass, I took him and Allison downtown to Little Italy to attend the St Gabriel festival. Scott needed to visit an ethnic festival to finish off his Citizenship in the World badge(Eagle badge). The Italian church puts on the festival with restaurants selling lots of food and wine. The kids were extremely hungry, so we opted to eat at a restaurant so we could sit down and enjoy our meal rather than finding a spot on the curb. I decided to take them to a bakery/deli that we ate at for Tom's birthday(the birthplace of the Tiramisu). On Sunday they serve a combination plate and you get to choose 3 different dishes. I had eggplant parmesan, spinach frittata and sausage and veggies. Allison had ravioli, sausage and veggies and a panini. Scott had lasagna. Then we all had gelato(but Allison and I thought the best gelato is still in Italy). And we took home freshly made cannolis. We were stuffed! The food is the best part of the festivals! 

Tom was busy all week with repairs. After cutting the lawn he and Scott replaced a few rotted fence posts in the backyard. He was also busy repairing bike tires since the kids have been riding quite a bit this past week. And he bought himself a new Keurig coffee maker since his last one went up in smoke. Literally. Apparently it caught fire while Allison and I were in Europe. Since I switched to decaf and Tom still drinks caf, we have had two coffee pots going at once. Now we are back to one, and everyone can make what they want. Including hot chocolate, iced tea or coffee and coffee for when the neighbors visit.He has also been busy replacing brakes and struts on his car. And trying to perfect cherry flavored whiskey just like Grand Traverse Distillery. Good Luck. He did take a break and set up a movie outside Saturday night so we could invite our neigbors over for drinks and dessert. We saw Admission with Tina Fey. We thought it was a good send off for Allison since it is about an Admissions counselor at Princeton Undersity. Very cute and funny. We hosted our friends Dan and Gloria. Gloria was in town from Oklahoma where she is working as a traveling nurse manager. We last saw her when we visited with our other neighbors in their Virginia mountain vacation home. Gloria will be finishing up this position in a few weeks and hopefully reassigned somewhere else. We asked her to put in for Hawaii this time!

OK, I have to go help Allison pack. Kathleen

Well it was back to our usual schedule after our Michigan Girl Scout Adventure. I say usual which means back to work for Tom and I and something to keep the kids busy.

Although Tom gave himself a treat and took a day off on Monday. He spent it with Allison running errands and ordering her college books online. He also was drop off and pick up for Scott and his friends at a computer summer camp at the community college. Scott loves the Kids on Campus classes and recently finished a Pets N Vets class for his Pets Merit BAdge for Boy Scouts. This time he signed up for a computer programming class in Visual Basic with a few of his friends. Unfortunately, his friend Bryce broke his elbow last week at a rock climbing camp and had to have surgery this past week, so he did not finish out the class. And his brother who also signed up for the class missed a few sessions because of driver's ed and a sinus infection. But Scott really enjoyed the class.

Unfortunately, Scott and his friend Bryce were supposed to go to an Amusement Park camp next week. However, with Bryce's arm in a cast and just coming out of surgery, he had to cancel. We had to scramble to find Scott a new buddy to go with, and were lucky enough to find another available friend who was able to get into the program. Even though he was 6th on the waiting list. The boys will be traveling to a different Theme Park each day, with a built in rain day at the movies and bowling. Tomorrow they are off to Six Flags near DC. Scott is in heaven.

Besides his computer class, I had him stay busy finishing up his summer reading and book report. He also worked on a few merit badges. He even rode his bike up to the Boy Scout meeting on his own this week, but it thunderstormed and they ended the meeting early since all their activities were scheduled for outside.

Allison did not have to babysit this week as her Russian family found a full time replacement nanny. Instead she worked at the roller blade center on the weekend, and kept busy writing up her Girl SCout Gold Award project report. She and Tom spent another afternoon this weekend mounting model birds at the nature center. Everyone liked the first batch so much, the Audobon Society carved another set of birds and this time the staff asked Allison and Tom to mount the birds along a paved pathway for handicap accessibility to her educational program that goes along with the Nature trail. Allison also took a photo of herself in her uniform and wrote a quote for a newspaper release about the program. Next weekend she will be training the instructors on her power point computer presentation that goes along with the Nature Trail.  I also had her start packing up her clothes for school in case she needed to buy anything like jeans or dress clothes for the business program. The business students are expected to dress up once a week for class. I want to take Allison shopping this coming week if she needs any clothes since it is tax free week in Maryland.  She also spent a lot of time at the doctor's office catching up on vaccinations and getting a TB test before school starts(mandatory). I also had a doctor's appointment and next week it is Cookies turn for a shot before she goes to the kennel.

Friday afternoon I hosted a home mortgage surveyor as Tom wants to look into refinancing before the interest rates go up. The woman that came out spent over an hour and a half measuring the perimeter of our house, and then walking through the house and taking pictures of every room, bathroom and closet! I just expected her to take a quick run through the house and measure the outside. Still don't know what our house is worth yet. I also spent the weekend cutting the lawn and running errands. But at least I did not have to cook!

On Saturday we were invited to dinner with our old neighbors that lived across the street. Scotty and their son Sammy are best friends. Sammy ended up spending the night on FRiday and the boys spent their whole time together watching movies and playing video games. On Saturday night we all went over to their house to enjoy steak and salmon on their new deck and screened in back porch. I decided to make a banana pudding for dessert and was glad I did since they did not have anything prepared. I made a huge serving and did not have much left to bring home. The family also wanted to have Allison over as a sort of Bon Voyage as she heads off to college(she babysat their youngest son quite a bit). Then Sunday night we were invited over to dinner at another house of previous neighbors and Scott's buddy Bryce. This time we were celebrating our friend Barry's 59th Birthday. And this time Scott decided to make dessert(although we did not need any with chocolate birthday cake and cheesecake!). But our next door neighbor had dropped off an extra large zucchini from a friend's garden and couldn't possibly eat it by himself, so he donated it to our household. Scott immediately turned part of it into zucchini bread with chocolate chips which even with all the desserts, was still a big hit. I put together a plate of smoked salmon and cream cheese crackers for an appetizer, but there was more than enough food. We all came home with goody bags(more salmon and this time a pork roast for dinner). We are stuffed! And so is my fridge. I also brought home several loaves of bread and bagels this week from my workplace as a local bakery donates leftovers to our facility. More than the kitchen can handle, so they pass the extra onto the staff. And lunch was taken care of at work as we hosted our first Rehab Open House with a nurse instructor/vendor as guest(and she brought along trays of sandwiches and veggies). Good thing I am keeping busy with yard work!

Here are a few shots from last weekend of Scott and Allison at Bronycon(My Little Pony convention for Brothers/Guys). It was held at the Baltimore Convention Center near the Inner Harbor downtown. Over 8000 attended the event. Who knew!?


 

So last week was another Girl Scout Adventure. Probably our last. I dragged Tom and Scott along on this trip. As well as 7 teenage girls and 1 co leader. Here is our photo album from the trip. Including shots from the Lake house in Charlevoix, our trip to Mackinac Island and the ferry ride over and back, The Mackinac Bridge(just slightly longer than our Chesapeake Bay Bridge), The Grand Hotel complete with lunch buffet, carriage tour around the island, Rainbow Arch, Fort Mackinac and the Boy Scouts during the evening flag ceremony(the scouts stay in a lodge outside the fort complete with a massive gold bust of Pres. Gerald Ford-previous boy scout), Murdicks fudge shop, Charlevoix visit with catamaran ride(under the drawbridge and out to Lake Michigan plus kids getting towed). Cedar Point and Frankenmuth. 

We left last Sunday and headed to Sandusky, Ohio. We planned on a busy day at Cedar Point with a stopover at their hotel, Castaway Bay. We had two suites with bunk beds for the girls. Tom and Scott had their own room, and my co leader Sue and I had King sized beds. We decided to stay at the hotel since we enjoyed the Great Wolf Lodge and their indoor swimming. Plus we got into Cedar Point 1 hour early and the room rate included our admission to Cedar Point. We swam in the pools, rode the water slides and had dinner at the TGIF next door. Monday morning we were up early for a full day of roller coasters and spinny things. The big thrill was the Roadster roller coaster which shoots you out like a cannon at 120 MPH, then straight up and straight down. I passed, but most of the girls and Tom and Scott loved it. Allison enjoyed the old wooden roller coaster rides. Scott enjoyed everything. I did not recognize the place. Tom and I used to visit during our college years. I remember when the corkscrew was the amazing new ride and how much I loved it. Allison and Scott tried it and said it hurt their neck and back. I guess roller coasters have come a long way in technology.  Everyone had a great day at the park. We also had to drop Cookie off at a local kennel since dogs were not allowed at the hotel.

Monday night we decided to head to Detroit where we stayed at my parents house in West Bloomfield after picking up Cookie and shutting down the park. All the girls slept in sleeping bags on air mattresses in the living room and the rest of us found beds or pull out couches. My parents were in town and I think a bit overwhelmed with all the activity. But we were up and out the door again headed for Charlevoix the next morning. I thought a stopover in Frankenmuth would be fun. I had decided to visit Zehnder's restaurant for a chicken dinner(I also have 1 vegetarian girl scout) and their menu was the most diverse and best prices. Tom was not looking forward to our visit which surprised me since it is a good old fashioned German town(beer and brats and sausages-what's not to like?). Actually, the visit turned out to be quite successful and ended up surprising him! While we girls munched on chicken dinners, Scott and Tom took Cookie out exploring and located a distillery called the Grand Traverse Distillery that specializes in cherry whiskey and cherry bourbon. Tom's new favorite. And you can only buy the bottles there or at the main distillery in Traverse City. The owners were kind enough to let Scott and Tom bring Cookie into their store while Tom sampled their wares and bought a few bottles. The boys also found a restaurant with tables outside where they were allowed to keep Cookie while they ate their lunch. And my girls enjoyed souvenir shopping, but only half of us made it to Bronners Christmas store. I promised a stopover on the way back. I am so glad I did. Tom had to drag me out of the store.

But now we were headed up north. We arrived in time to pick out rooms for the girls, empty the van and put on swim suits. After a quick swim, the girls enjoyed nachos for dinner and a campfire on the beach complete with singing GS campfire songs and s'mores. Scott was very helpful in building their fire.

On Weds everyone slept in. I couldn't talk them into picking cherries. But we headed into Charlevoix for more shopping and lunch and a sailing adventure! We took a two hour ride on a large catamaran and had a great time. One hour on Lake Charlevoix, then another hour on Lake Michigan. The highlight for the girls(and Scott) was being towed behind the boat on a long line(shark bait style).  Weds night after burgers on the grill(thanks Tom!)we watched the movie Somewhere In Time. I wanted the girls to see the Christopher Reeve's movie filmed on Mackinac Island at the Grand Hotel since that was our next stop. The girls thought the movie was a bit cheesy(love story), but ended up enjoying the fact that they were actually visiting The Grand Hotel. They even went in search of places filmed at the hotel and on the island.

We got up early on Thursday and drove up to Mackinaw City. We took the ferry to the island and then walked up to the Grand Hotel. We started our tour with a buffet lunch at The Grand Hotel complete with peel and eat shrimp, oysters on the half shell, salmon, turkey, chicken, potatoes and pastas, lots of fruit and veggies and an incredible dessert table. I fell in love with the cherry pie. After a huge lunch, we had a carriage ride around the island with a guided tour, a stop at the Butterfly house, the Stone Arch and the Mackinac Fort. We had dinner in town at a pizza place and stocked up on Murdick's fudge before heading home.

Friday it was time to head back to West Bloomfield. Tom and I did a few chores around the Charlevoix house before leaving, like cutting the grass, sweeping and vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms. It was nice to visit since it had been a few summers since we were up in Charlevoix. Even Cookie loved running around the yard and onto the beach. And we saw a lot of wild turkeys running around.

As promised, we stopped into Frankenmuth again(the girls really loved this town). Lots of souvenir shopping and more Christmas shopping at Bronners. We spent the night in West Bloomfield after dinner at the country singers restaurant- Toby Keith's at the Great Lakes Crossing Outlet Mall. I had one very happy girl(country music fan) and  a few disappointed girls as the place is a bar/restaurant(very large) with a very loud country band playing during dinner. The food was actually very good. But it was loud. And the girls were kicked out after 10pm. So now they know what the bar scene is like in college(minus the cigarette smoke). I am glad they were not terribly impressed. Anyhow, after our night in West Bloomfield, we continued on to Baltimore on Saturday. A few of our girls were headed off on family vacations on Sunday and needed to get home. And then they will all be off to college!

I was glad to be back a day early, but I ended up spending the day with Scott and Allison at a Bronycon (My Little Pony convention for guys) held in downtown Baltimore at the convention center. Allison was very excited to meet some of the Utube fans. I thought it was a bit weird(guys who are obsessed with the new My Little Pony cartoon).  But they could be obsessed with worse things I suppose. Scott reports he will not be a Brony.(Brothers who love My Little Pony). Anyhow, I was worn out from standing in long lines waiting to get into panel discussions all day.

But I think the overall trip was a success. We had a chance to check in on my parents and Tom helped them out with a few projects at both houses. And the girls had a chance to spend their last time together as a Girl Scout troop. 

And that is the last of my big trips for the summer! Kathleen