Happy Labor Day!  We were happy to have Allison come home for the weekend. She was still a little shook up from the car accident last weekend, so she drove extra slow and carefully. Fortunately, I think there was less traffic out on the roads, especially on the Eastern shore as Hurricane Hermine blew over. Apparently it ruined the beach goers Labor Day weekend, but it turned out to be better than they thought. They closed Ocean City on Saturday. The boardwalk was flooded from the high tides and storm surge. Looks like the beaches reopened Sunday, but no swimming allowed. The waves were just too strong and it continues today. Looks like it was a good idea for Allison and her friends to hit the beach last weekend(minus the car accident).

We decided to stay home this Labor Day weekend, but it doesn't mean we were bored. On Friday I spent the day running errands. I had to pick up my van from the car dealership. Tom took it in to have the back door repainted and the taillight replaced. Unfortunately I discovered a new rattle in the back door so I will have to take it back. I ran out of time on Friday after attending my swim class and doing some shopping. I met up with Allison in the afternoon and we packed a picnic basket and headed out to a local winery with one of my coworkers. Ann had the week off from work and was celebrating her birthday, so we joined her at Black Ankle Vineyards for wine tasting, a concert and picnic dinner. It was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed the sunset while sipping our wine and eating our Mexican casserole. It's fun having a 21 year old in the house too!

On Saturday our family attended the annual Comic Con at the Baltimore Convention Center. The event is usually held later in the month. Glad I was watching the news or we would have missed it. This event is like Halloween for adults. People dress up in amazing costumes from all types of comic book characters. Super Heroes, Robots, Sci Fi characters-everything! We decided to go on Saturday after donning our favorite tshirts. I was decked out in my Walking Dead apparel, the kids and Tom were sporting Video game tshirts but upgraded to a favorite cartoon, Steven's Universe with new shirts which they bought at the convention. We all came home with a pile of comic book collections too. That evening we dropped into our neighbor's house to pick up their dog. We were puppy sitting Ripley for the rest of the weekend. Our friend's son, Barry, headed off to Penn University a few weeks earlier, so Mom and Dad wanted to visit and take him out to dinner. It is about a two hour drive each way, so they did not want to leave their dog in the house all day. Plus we enjoy having Ripley as a house guest. And we also stayed for dinner! Not too late though since they had an early morning the next day.

On Sunday, Tom decided to stay home and do some yard work. Meanwhile, the rest of us decided to attend the Renaissance Fair. Since Allison was at home visiting, she wanted to spend some time with her boyfriend Tyler. And Scott had asked one of his friends to go along. We thought the Fair would be a great place to hang out for the day, especially since the weather turned out so nice(no rain from the hurricane). Unfortunately, Scott's friend Matt was suffering from a concussion when he wiped out on his skateboard without wearing a helmet. He was in such bad shape that weekend, they had to take him to the ER. But his mom said she thought it would be fine for him to go with us(although I was supposed to keep an eye on him and make sure he did not pass out or throw up). Gee thanks.
Fortunately, everyone had a wonderful time and no passing out. We watched shows and ate lots of food items on sticks. Scott's girlfriend Tori showed up with her mom and sister so I hung out with Tori's mom. They were supposed to go to the beach also, but cancelled their plans due to the weather. Scott spent time with Tori and Matt, Allison and Tyler hung out together and I went shopping with Tori's mom. I usually don't spend much time shopping while we are there. No one wants to wait for me to look through all the art and jewelry, but this time I had plenty of time to shop. Not a good thing. I picked up a few flower prints. The artist has her work displayed at the Natural History Museum in Santa Barbara, CA. I also got a neck pillow filled with lavendar(good for high blood pressure and sore necks), along with another tapestry to hang in the foyer and a brass dragonfly for my front porch flower pots. See, too much extra time on my hands!  Of course I also couldn't help sharing my wisdom with Tori's mom on the college hunting process. Tori is their first born and interested in computer programming or engineering. She is looking at applying to Uof Michigan. So naturally I had to share my insight on schools and the application process(on a limited basis). Meanwhile, the kids went off on their own and mostly ate and watched jousting, shot arrows and attempted the maze!  In the evening, we invited Tyler to stay for dinner and enjoyed steaks out on the patio.  The kids topped off their day with an evening of video games.

Today it is back to homework and yardwork. Allison will drive back to school. She started classes last week, but not much homework for the holiday weekend. Scott however was overwhelmed with a number of assignments for the weekend, including a few upcoming quizzes to study for and projects to complete for next week. I was surprised at the amount of work already assigned to the high school kids their first week back. Scott is busy this year with 2 engineering classes, Trigonometry, World History, Chemistry, English and guitar. He also has to meet with the Boy Scout Sr Patrol Leadership on Labor Day to discuss his plans for his upcoming Eagle project.No rest for the weary. He went to his scout meeting on Weds night and they asked him to come in so they can preapprove his plan of taking the last 3 planters over to my nursing home and spending a morning doing some yardwork and planting fall flowers with my residents. I think it will turn out to be a great project.

I also attended the Back to School night on Thursday which gave me a chance to meet all of Scott's teachers and get a feel for his curriculum. He is certainly going to have a busy year.  Plus he will start up his Video Game Club again with a new teacher/mentor, and his friend Matt wants to start a Utube Video production club. And he will be participating in the Robotics Team again as well. And he continues to work at the Roller Blade sports club. He was finally able to get back on his skates this past Friday(with splint in place) when he went off to work. And he was able to get back behind the wheel of a car. He had another  2 hr driving lesson with an instructor from Greg's Driving school and focused on parallel parking and 3 point turns(although the parallel parking assessment has been taken off the official driving test!).

The kids are not the only ones back at school. Tom started up another online course this past week so he spends his extra time doing assignments. Looks like next year the kids will be going back to school after Labor Day. This has been a long time coming, and our Governor announced that the new school year will begin after Labor Day. It worked in Michigan!

A Big Happy Birthday to the twins, Dan and Dave Bozyk who celebrated on Friday!