What a busy weekend! We started off on Saturday morning with some drizzle and rain, but not until after the Mt Hebron Homecoming parade. Scott was in the parade with his Robotics team. Once again they outfitted their robot to throw candy into the crowds along the parade route. I showed up with him at the start of the parade with Cookie in tow. We were both sporting our Viking helmets and braids! Cookie loves all the attention and activity from the kids at the start of the parade. And this year she got a special treat because they were throwing out dog treats along with candy! She sure got her fill of dog bones that morning!  Scott decided to ride his hover board along the parade route through our neighborhood rather than walking. It was a big hit. I usually follow behind the parade in the car to pick up Scott at the end of the parade. This year I ended up in the parade! Cookie sat on my lap with her head hanging out the window. We drove behind the police and fire truck, waving to the crowds. Then I just had to pull into the High School and pick up Scott. We were in a bit of a hurry since he had to get to work right after the parade, and he still needed to change his clothes and get some lunch.

We also spent our very busy weekend completing Scott's Eagle Scout Project at my work place. Scott and Tom were busy this past summer designing and building wheelchair accessible planters. This Sunday was their big debut. Tom dropped off the 3 mobile planters at my facility on Friday morning. When Scott got home from school Friday afternoon, we stopped into a local nursery that provides Boy Scouts with a $30 gift card. We picked out pansies and potting soil. On Sunday morning, we packed up our cars and headed over to spend the day working outside. Tom and Scott dropped into Home Depot and asked for immediate donation of mums and tulip bulbs and they gave it to them! Scott has dropped into Home Depot multiple times requesting donations and has been promised gift cards to be mailed to the house. But we never received any donations and he started asking back in the spring. Same thing with Lowes. So now they received some plants that were placed in multiple flower beds in the front of the facility. We have 6 flower beds dug into the side of a hill overlooking the building that were overgrown with weeds. Scott invited the troop to come out and help with cleaning out the beds and planting flowers Sunday morning. After several hours of weeding, we took a break to have pizza lunch which I prepared in our rehab kitchen. In the afternoon, more boys showed up and we took the portable planters inside the facility to plant flowers with a few residents. They also sanded the planters and prepared them for planting with dirt and stone for drainage. They also cleaned out the old planters from the outside patio that were falling apart. We had a pretty good turnout from the Troop, including Scott's Eagle coach. It was a very busy scout weekend with a camp out scheduled, as well as training for the upcoming summer jamboree. So not as many boys assisting, but that was probably a good thing. It makes it tougher to keep track of a lot of volunteers.  So now Scott is feeling a big sigh of relief! He still needs to write up his project report and attend a Board of Review to receive his Eagle rank. That will be exciting!  Currently he has been appointed Patrol Leader (again) so he needs to drop into the weekly meetings as well as adding the monthly patrol meetings to his schedule. The scouts will be putting on a Training Camp Out weekend for Cub Scouts at the end of the month, but I think Scott is going to pass on that event. We are also wrapping up the end of our popcorn sales. Unfortunately Scott's weekends have been so busy he has not had time to help out with any more Popcorn Booth sales. And he was running back to school in the evenings to work on the robot for the upcoming parade. Besides doing homework! There are just not enough days in the week!

Fortunately we also missed Hurricane Matthew that ran up the east coast. It veered off of North Carolina, so our eastern shore caught a bit of the rain and wind. On the other hand, we had some rain on Saturday and a windy Sunday but our storm came from the North. I don't think our area needs any more rain. On Friday night we decided to stop into Yappy Hour at our favorite Wine Bin store in olde Ellicott City. You can bring your dog to the wine tasting evening(inside and out) and a portion of the proceeds of the wine sales goes to the local animal shelter. They just reopened the main road through downtown after the flood in July in Ellicott City. Most of the shops and restaurants are still boarded up. We walked Cookie up and down the sidewalk, but noticed the musty, moldy smell coming from the boarded up shops. Apparently it cost 12 million just to get the street and sidewalks back in shape. Most of the buildings down by the river were the most damaged as everything-water and cars-came crashing through and rushed down the street to the river. So sad since the town has been losing so much money. Their ghost tours usually keep the place hopping this time of year. I think you could still host the ghost walks-it was even more eerie.

After spending most of the day doing yardwork at my work facility on Sunday with the boy scouts, it was time to attend to our own yard. We had so much rain the weekend before, we did not get to cut the grass. However my helpers were all busy when we got home. Tom was  packing Sunday evening for a flight out and a week long trip to Chicago on business. Scott had tons of homework to do since he worked Friday and Saturday, participated in the Homecoming parade and he went over to his friends for a party on Saturday night rather than attend the Homecoming dance. He also had to work the Monday before since school was closed for the jewish holiday. I had to leave work to pick him up from work at home, get him lunch and drop him off and go back to work. Tom did pick up. Very annoying since he does not yet have his drivers license.

Allison had a frustrating weekend with her Field Hockey team. There was a mix up on the location of her games on Sunday. The team was supposed to travel to George Washington U and George Mason U-both schools in the DC area. They girls were headed to the wrong school for their first game, and showed up late at the scheduled game. The other team actually started playing before Allison could get her goalie gear on and get out on the field. So they scored and had a head start on the game. And the girls completely missed the other game. So Allison had a long drive for a 20 min play. It was so messed up, one of the new freshman goalies decided she was not going to play anymore. So it is back to Allison as the main goalie.

 I spent Sunday evening mowing the lawn and trimming shrubs. It was an action packed weekend! I did not even get a chance to stop in and visit with  mom.  I had spent most of Friday picking up food items for Sunday's event and running errands after my swim class. I am just glad to have my van back. It has been at the dealership for about a month getting the back taillight repaired and the back door repainted following the fender bender this past summer. They had to repaint it 4 times since they kept screwing it up and doing a sloppy job. They finally got it right and it looks better than brand new!

Tom and I did attempt to go see a movie on Saturday night while Scott was at his party. They recently transformed a local theater into lounge chair seating and we wanted to catch The Magnificent 7 or the new Oil Rig movie. Unfortunately it was a cold, rainy night and everyone in our county decided to go see movies too! Everything was sold out. So we headed home to watch tv. and do laundry. Bummer.