Two  weeks ago it was a bit quieter  at our house since both Allison and Scott were off again to scout camp. Allison left last Sunday morning for another work week and we drove Scott up to boy scout camp on Sunday afternoon.

Both kids seemed to enjoy their time at camp. Meanwhile back at the ranch, I spent two evenings with the scouts myself. Monday night was the parent's scout meeting-I had to give an update on my planning schedule for the Hershey Camp and Play weekend in August that I organized for the troop.
On WEds night I dropped into the scout meeting to collect any last minute checks for the Hershey trip since I have to mail off an official Troop check to order more tickets. I ended up staying the entire meeting and chatting with a fellow scout mom.

Tom spent this past week working on the cars, including Allison's-oil changes, car washes, tire rotations and smog checks. We took a break last Saturday night to go see the movie Pixels with the kids. Allison and I enjoyed it even more than Tom and SCott(which surprised me). We liked Adam Sandler's humor in this movie. I thought it was fun to see all the old video games that Tom and I played and was impressed that the kids recognized them as well. On Sunday night Tom and I enjoyed dinner out at his favorite italian restaurant, Maggiones. We had a dinner for two special and got to take two meals home as well(less cooking for me during the week!).

Allison seemed to enjoy her week at camp a bit more. I don't know who has more fun-Allison or the campers! She was assigned to High Adventure. Her favorite activity was rappelling up in the trees, especially rappelling down a tree! And of course the ever entertaining Miss Conowingo pageant keeps them all laughing. She opted on staying at camp last weekend since we all were packing up and heading out the door on another trip. Allison stayed with one of the counselors at her house on Friday night(real beds and real showers and less spiders). On Saturday the counselors all traveled via camp van to Hershey Park for a day of fun. Allison got brave again and rode coasters!(at least the old wooden ones). Those were always my favorite too. On Sunday they were back at it again for another week of campers.

Tom and I spent last weekend picking up Scott from one camp and getting him to another. Tom actually picked up Scott last Friday afternoon while I hung around the house waiting for a package delivery(with signature) that never came. But I had plenty of time to do some packing, laundry, and housecleaning. I also managed to get my car washed along with the dog!  Scott had spent the week at a Boy Scout Tech camp and seemed to really enjoy it. This camp was all about computers, video games and science. He was encouraged to bring his Wii, Nintendo,  Tablet, iphones and anything else he could pack. He got to fly drones and take apart computers, make ice cream out of liquid nitrogen-all sorts of geekie stuff. And he finished badges in Animation, Game Design and Movie Making. His Scout Master put together the camp program and invited the Boys Life staff to come in and do a story since this is the first scout camp of its kind. Scott said they took lots of pictures of him on the computers. Maybe he will make an upcoming edition! They also had a Japanese scout troop visit and cook them dinner. Quite an experience and very enjoyable according to Scott. They had 40 boys sign up this year and already have 200 on the waiting list for next summer.

No sooner did we get Scott home that I had to wash all his clothes and repack for a trip to Michigan State University with the Order of the Arrow scout troop. We had to drop him off in the morning at a local school for a bus ride to Cedar Point. The group from Maryland was quite large and took up 3 chartered buses. They actually had to limit their numbers-I think twice as many signed up for the trip. Overall, there were 15,000 Boy Scouts visiting MSU at this event. Their first stop was at Cedar Point. The boys spent the night in these really cool cabins on the property. On Sunday they spent the whole day at the park. Scott rode every single coaster in the park! All 17! They were back on the bus early Monday morning to head to East Lansing.

We were out the door on Sunday morning. On Saturday Tom and I dropped Scott off in the morning and I visited with my parents in the afternoon. I took my mom shopping before dropping her off for dinner back at the apt. Then Tom and I headed over to dinner at our friends, Beth and Barry who  watched Cookie for us while we were gone. On Friday night we had drinks with our neighbors Dan and Gloria who watch the house and take care of Pika(cat). We spent time catching up with them on their recent trip to Italy. Everyone has been so busy this summer!


Scott visits MSU with the Order of the Arrow Boy Scout Troop for a week long camp.

Allison enjoys swinging in the trees at GS camp!