Another Scout Weekend! Scott looks forward to White Water Rafting every year in June. Usually the trip is scheduled after school lets out, but not this year. We took a chance on signing Scott up for the trip even though he had finals scheduled for the following week. He especially wanted to attend this year as he decided to try kayaking down the river on his own. The river rafting company provides large group rafts as well as blow up kayaks called Duckies. Scott wanted to skip the large group paddle and attempt the trip on his own. So Friday night I asked one of the fellow scout moms to drive him and her son up to the campground in Ohiopyle. It is a small river town located in Pennsylvania just south of Pittsburgh. We have visited the area for the rafting trip for several years and even toured Frank Lloyd Wright's house, Falling Waters nearby. The area is beautiful-hilly and rocky with a large river great for rafting, kayaking and fishing. Plus there is an extensive bike path-nice and flat-along the river. The old railroad track. While Scott paddles, Tom and I usually go for a bike ride. This year I was surprised to hear fellow bike riders cheering Go Green! as I was wearing my MSU tshirt. We even parked next to a Michigander visiting from Traverse City. He was outfitted with lots of camping gear, kayaks and bikes. We shared info on the local area and all the activities available. Afterwards we love to stop for lunch before picking up the boys after their river ride. They love to stop into town for ice cream before bunking down for the night after cooking dinner. Scott was so worn out from his kayaking that he crawled into his tent at 7pm after grilling a burger and did not emerge until the next morning. He even skipped the bonfire. We picked him up early Sunday morning and Tom gave him the opportunity to practice his driving on the way home. Tom and I stayed at a local Hampton Inn along with the mom that drove Scott up to camp.  We wanted to make sure we got plenty of (comfortable) sleep and Tom and I arrived late on Friday night as I went to a class and Tom had to work late. I was happy we did not plan on camping since the woods were jam packed with Cicadas! They were buzzing so loud it sounded like an alien invasion. And you couldn't walk anywhere without getting hit by a bug. Tom pulled up to ChickFilA to order dinner and a few bugs flew into the car. I don't mind them, but not in my food! We also spent our evening at the local movie theatre. We caught Now You See Me 2.  We saw the first movie and really enjoyed the magic trick theme and slight of hand. This was quite similar, but not quite as good as the first movie. However, any excuse for popcorn. (No bugs in my popcorn!).  We arrived home in plenty of time for me to do laundry, cut the lawn and for Tom to head off to Colorado for a work trip. Scott got busy on his last homework assignments and studying for finals. Allison stayed home. She was busy puppy sitting. Our friends, Beth and Barry headed out to London and Paris to celebrate their oldest son graduating high school. They often watch Cookie for us while on long trips. We enjoy their Cavachon, Ripley, since she is still in the puppy stage at 2 yrs. Cookie on the other hand is in midlife crisis at 7 and not quite as interested in having Ripley over. But they get along quite well. Even the cat is learning to tolerate Ripley's over enthusiasm with an occasional swat on the nose.

Allison also successfully finished her first full week of her internship. She has to keep a daily journal and write a paper for the class as well. I believe she has become the technology guru at the company. Allison was a bit taken aback when they asked her to complete the billing and manage the accounts on an adding machine! At least she has seen one in Grandpa Bozyk's office and knew what it was! They also have a typewriter available, but that is where Allison draws the line! She is happy to use her calculator on her phone as well as all her great computer skills. She even chose a project to help her earn her Green Belt Management certification that she initiated while completing classes at Northrop with Tom. I recently read an article that points out most businesses have several generations working together with different skills and levels of technological abilities.

Did I mention how much we love having Allison home for the summer? She continues to be such a big help with dinner and doing dishes. At least I got a jump on house cleaning while preparing for our Bunco guests. No one believed I even had a dining room table! It was covered with several projects. I even washed windows and curtains!  And Tom had a few projects to help out with around the house recently after a few wind and rain storms came through during the week. We lost our over the stove microwave when the power went out. He tried to find a similar replacement and turns out, he was able to replace the unit with the exact same GE model from the original appliance store where we bought this one. However, it was a floor model and also did not work. So he went back to one of their other stores and was able to find a replacement that actually did work. So it is like we have not lost our microwave. We also lost his Amazon Alexa talking computer system from the power outage. He could not help himself and he had to replace that as well. His own early Father's Day gift.  We especially use Alexa to turn on and off the lights by voice command, so we were missing it. Boy are we pathetic. Talk about different levels of technological skills in one place! I am all for paper and pencil and on/off switches! I admit I did miss my microwave though. Even Gma Bozyk had a great idea and recommended we use her counter top model from her apt. until we replaced ours since she was not using hers!

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