Last weekend Salisbury U celebrated their Homecoming. In the past our family has spent the entire weekend with Allison at school for the many Homecoming activities scheduled starting Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. However, this year there appeared to be a lot less activities scheduled. In the past we have enjoyed free BBQ lunch with lots of activities, parades, free tshirts, free shows, special dinners, ice cream socials and some activities that we just could not squeeze into our already tight schedule including kayak adventures. And then there is always football. But this year they scaled down the activities. So we just opted for visiting Allison and Salisbury on Saturday to enjoy the alumni BBQ with beer and pulled pork sandwiches, as well as the football game. Although we did get some free stuff including Salisbury beer glasses, car magnets and luggage tags at the alumni tent! And we enjoyed the winning Salisbury football game in the new stadium! Plus, it was quite a nail biter game on Saturday night. We listened to the MSU/Uof M game from Ann Arbor on the radio on our ride back home. MSU pulled off the win which was quite a surprise! Works for us. And Tom has started back with his weekly football games with the guys, except they switched to Thursday. And to make things really interesting, we wives have been included(and we make snacks). Although I haven't been too interested in the NFL games recently. For one thing, most of our favorite teams are doing terrible this year. The Ravens game from London was a complete embarrassment. And for another, I don't appreciate the players taking a knee during the National Anthem. Enough said.

After our very entertaining Salisbury football game,  we took Allison to the movies to see the new Blade Runner movie. She had never seen the 1st movie, but was able to figure out the scheme of the sequel. Again, Tom and I enjoyed the first run movie, but I thought the sequel worked. And always nice to see Harrison Ford. We then had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and made a quick stop into Lowes to have some door keys made for Allison's roommate. All in all a very busy, productive day.  And very warm. We actually had to put on suntan lotion to avoid getting burned while sitting in the stands watching the football game. Overall a very nice day out with Allison.

And she seems to be feeling better with the latest infusion. She has had more energy for the past week and even went out Thursday night and practiced ultimate frisbee for 3 hrs! I am so happy to hear she is finally starting to feel better. She also continues to eat her meat and I keep looking for other optional snacks full of iron besides her supplements. I went crazy at Trader Joes on the pumpkin items, especially the ones with iron supplements. Both kids really enjoyed the special treats. Allison has another treatment scheduled the following week and will be coming home which also happens to be the end of her first semester!  She is doing very well. Now if only her new roommate would work out as well. Cayley seems to be making herself at home in the condo-she moved the Alexa computer up to her room(she really likes it), she helped herself to Allison's toothpaste and bath towel, but worse, she threw out the rest of Allison's movie popcorn! Good thing this is just for 1 more year. Allison and her old roommate Jen are really missing each other. And currently the girls are all fighting the landlord to get some repairs completed. They have been without a downstairs toilet for months. Looks like it is leaking into the bathroom floor. Tom finally had to write a certified letter before they could get anyone out to look at the problem. They just now showed up to pull the toilet, but the floor needs replaced before changing the wax ring. And they still have a leaky roof, not to mention the AC died!  And the washing machine was leaking(or Cayley just does not know how to do laundry). We finally met her this weekend-a nice enough girl studying Exercise Physiology, but she needs to work on her people skills). Abby is the part time renter who is staying until Helena comes back from France in January. But she is not a problem and not usually there.  On top of everything, a new group of boys moved into the condo next door and seem to really enjoy partying-starting on Thursday nights. With loud music and people spilling out into the parking lot and lawn, plus drinking(underage), it makes for a difficult time for Allison to get any work done. Another reason she is enjoying coming home on the weekends as needed. At least the two groups are trying to work things out, especially since the police do show up.

We left Allison to her studies on Saturday night and headed back home. Tom spent most of Sunday finishing up his last paper for this term. He took a break on Sunday morning to take Scott out car hunting. We decided Scott will definitely need a new vehicle when/if he goes off to Western Michigan for school next year. And it wouldn't hurt to have a new car now-Zippy the wonder car is not exactly built for rain and snow. And he needs his car to get to school and work right now. So far, Scott really enjoyed driving a Jeep. In the afternoon, I stole Scott to go apple picking with Grandma B. The weather was a bit drizzly, so I figured the orchards would be less packed at our favorite Pick Your Own Farm. Surprisingly there were still quite a few families out with kids in their rain boots. But we managed to pick a few bags of Stayman and Winesap apples(the Winesap are wonderful!).  When we got home, I had Grandma B peel and slice the apples for an apple crisp. Delicious. After a spaghetti dinner, it was a great treat. And I think I wore out Grandma!

Scott also stayed busy with his last Boy Scout Court of Honor ceremony. The boys are recognized for their recent accomplishments including obtaining badges or rank advancement. Scott's Eagle level was announced, but he does not receive his official medal until after his Eagle ceremony. We have been trying to schedule the event at Northrop's Electronic museum, however, we have not had much luck. This is just a very busy time of the year and there are a ton of events going on. Currently the boy scouts are preparing to attend the Weebelos O Ree camping trip in order to introduce upcoming cub scouts to the boy scout program. Scott has attended in the past, but probably will not be going this year as he winds down his scouting career. But we still attended the Court of Honor and the boys scarfed down 64 taquitos that I brought along with a ton of other goodies. And Tom and I were recognized for our help with the Six Flags Amusement park outing. I as happy to finally get reimbursed for the tickets! And Scott kicked off the beginning of his Homecoming week with pajama day at school. So nice to wear your jammies to school on a Friday.

Another busy weekend in the Seitz household. Scott requested to participate in one of his last Boy Scout outings, mainly because he enjoys it so much. Caving. The troop decided to go caving this fall at a previous visited location in Ohiopyle PA, near the rafting town. Scott has toured the cave several times, but it has been a few years. When he was very young, he walked through the cave. As he got older, he was able to crawl through the cave which he really enjoys. However, he was not interested in the camping part of the trip. So we drove up on Friday night-a 3 hr drive to western MD after Scott got off work.  We stayed at a hotel overnight and after a great breakfast, headed to the cave. Scott joined his Troop and had a wonderful time crawling through small, dark and wet spaces. He really enjoyed hanging back a bit when they turned the lights out! Rather dark and quiet! So we learned that they shut down the cave tours in the winter to allow the bats time to hibernate undisturbed. Cool.

Tom and I have toured the cave several times, so we decided to go biking instead. This is the same bike path we have been on in the spring when Scott was rafting, but we decided to head up the other side of the bike path. And we were glad we did. The eastern bike path runs right along the river, so you have a great view the entire trip. Tom and I biked about 8 miles before heading back to pick up Scott. He had crawled through the cave and then changed his clothes before we headed to town for lunch and then driving home. It was a very relaxing and fun weekend.

And Scott had quite a busy week before that while fighting a cold. He joined his friends for the traditional Sr Crab Feast at his high school on Tuesday night. Scott was able to put away quite a few crabs, but he especially enjoyed the mac and cheese and crab dip he mixed together. Then on Weds after school he volunteered for the National Honor Society at the indoor snack shop during a Girls Volleyball game. His work at the grill in the roller rink certainly came in handy. He was able to orient the adults that joined him on how to operate the cash register and prepare and serve the snacks. So he managed to get a few hours in and is happy to sign up for future time slots. He already fulfilled half of his required NHS hours this summer when he volunteered at the Cub Scout Day camp.

And he was quite busy with classes last week as he took both a Physics and Math test, on top of writing up reports on his Sr Engineering project, the raised Handicapped Flower Beds. Tom has also been busy with writing papers for his latest class. He only has a few more weeks to go with this class, then another 6 wk course and then he will take a break until January. Allison is also busy with her Grad classes and right in the middle of midterms! She had a little set back however when she spent 2 hrs on the computer in the lab at school typing up her midterm for marketing, only to find out that it did not save! Needless to say she was a bit upset. Fortunately she has a really great professor who let Allison retake the test online from home-orally and face to face. So Allison headed home Weds so she could log on at home Thursday morning and take her test orally. And she got an A!  So maybe it was a blessing in disguise!  Allison had already planned on coming home over the weekend for another iron insfusion on Friday, as well as an Ultimate frisbee tournament on Saturday at nearby UMBC. I joined her for her doctor's appointment. This treatment seemed to go very well, and Allison even had enough energy to play one of her frisbee games on Saturday. And she assisted in scoring a point, and they won the game(1 out of 3 wins ain't bad!). Right now the girls on the team look to Allison as their coach since she is one of the older girls now and wasn't playing as much. Most of the team is made up of freshman new to the game.  Allison's previous roommate Jen and her boyfriend also stopped by to catch the games. Jen is currently attending school for a career as a librarian at Uof Maryland and she lives at home in our neighborhood. So Allison and Jen keep in touch online mostly-even helping each other out with assignments just like when they lived together at Salisbury!  We were also glad Allison was home to keep an eye on Cookie and Pika for us while we went on the caving trip.

I did get Tom to take a break during the week and we went out for the $5 movie night on Tuesday at AMC. We had wanted to see the new Kingsman movie. We had seen the first one-a bit of a spoof on the British Spy movies like James Bond. The Kingsman are an elite undercover Secret Service organization. In this sequel, they have to team up with the American version of the organization, the Statesman, to save the world. I was surprised when the ticket desk charged us $10 each for the seats. Apparently the movie was being played only in their Dolby theater which usually runs around $17 per seat. Turns out it is the very loud theater with recliner seats that vibrate when there is a big explosion, crash, etc in the movie. Tom and I could have done without the special effects thank you. We just wanted to watch the movie. Oh well, now we know. And actually I think Tom and I enjoyed the first movie better, but maybe because it was so different. However, they did have two very cute puppies in the movie-worth the $10 seats!

On Sunday Scott and I were busy doing yardwork. Scott cut the lawn while I trimmed some shrubs and transplanted a few large bushes. I was hoping we would get some rain soon to soften up the ground. We have had a rather warm beginning to Fall and very dry too. I also spread some grass seed under our big trees where it is rather sparse. But now I have a lot of watering to do since we have not had much rain. Plus I started putting in my fall flowers and they need lots of water too. Scott can't wait to start decorating for Halloween!  After I spent the afternoon working in the yard, I finished my grocery shopping and headed over to pick up Mom B for dinner at our house. As soon as I arrived, the staff informed me that Mom was not feeling well and had been ill before going down to dinner. So we tucked her in bed with some ginger ale and will keep an eye on her during the week. Looks like it is going to be a nasty flu season.

Happy First Weekend of Fall!  This is the busiest time of the year!  Scott had a short school week as they closed 2 days for the Jewish holiday on Thursday and Friday. We decided to spend the time off with a trip to Busch Gardens for the kick off of the Howl O Scream event. We would have left early, on Friday when Scott was out of school, but the Halloween opening did not start until Saturday night.  Scott and Tom were still busy with school work anyway. Scott started working on his Senior Engineering project. He is revamping his handicap accessible planters and has many reports to write up before the actual build. Tom is deep into this semester with another accelerated course, hoping to be done before Thanksgiving and planning on taking a break until the start of the new year.

Scott still had Boy Scouts during the week along with work at the After Care program. And the Catholic schools did not have the 2 day holiday, so Scott decided to go into work during the Before Care hours. He figured he is used to getting up early anyway, and they pay more per hour for the Before Care program. Plus it is a lot more laid back than the After Care program. The school staff was very pleased to have him since they seem to run short of help. I also heard from another previous parent of the Catholic school that the staff there are so excited about having Scott working. They are very impressed to see how Scott has matured, hard working and responsible. He is a work in progress! He also spent last weekend house and dog sitting again for our neighbors where he sleeps overnight in the basement with Eli. She does not like tstorms. Although it has been extremely dry here, and quite warm.

Besides school work and his job, I squeezed in a trip to Comic Con with Scott on Friday. The event ran all weekend, but we were planning our trip to Busch Gardens and did not think we would be back in time on Sunday to attend. Tom was busy with homework, so Scott and I headed off to downtown Baltimore on Friday afternoon to wander the aisles full of comic books and characters. We love to see all the costumes and paraphernalia from Super Heroes to Science Fiction. Even Linda Carter, television icons Wonder Woman attended the conference on Friday night. Tickets sold out immediately, but Scott and I would have been too tired to attend after walking around for several hours. Turns out Linda lives in Montgomery County, MD with her lawyer husband. She has spent her post television years following a music career and actually sang during her Comic Con show. They also had the young actor David who plays young Batman on tv's Gotham along with the actor that plays Alfred. Plus the actor that plays Colossus from the Dead Pool movie(although the kids tell me he is mostly computer generated imagery/CGI). He was there signing autographs on Friday afternoon, but Scott and I did not feel like standing in line for that. We did not even dress up this year, but both sported our favorite character tshirts.  Unfortunately, the event seemed a bit smaller than past years as we did not see some of our previous frequently visited booths. But we still had a good time together.

On Saturday morning we packed up, dropped Cookie off at our friend's house and headed to Salisbury to pick up Allison at school. Unfortunately she was not feeling well. She decided to join us anyway-better to spend time with family than alone when you are feeling ill. However, the Park turned out to be a bit too much for Allison. It was opening day and it turned out to be extremely busy. In the past, the opening weekend, so far from Halloween night, is usually not as crowded. But not this time. We arrived before the evening Haunted Houses opened and enjoyed our favorite Halloween show. That was enough for Allison. She and Tom camped out in the Octoberfest Haus, enjoying a Halloween musical while Allison sampled German meatballs. She had enough just walking around the crowded park, looking at the decorations and scary characters. She was just not up to standing in long lines waiting to get into the spooky mazes. So Tom and Allison headed back to the hotel while Scott and I ate dinner and then made our way through 4 out of 7 of the trails before Tom picked us up. We loved getting into the Halloween spirit. Just wished Allison was up for more activity. On Sunday morning we had breakfast and packed up for our drive back to Salisbury. We took Allison out to lunch and then shopping for lots of iron enriched meat!  She certainly does a lot better when she has eaten and fills up on an iron enriched meal. She is due for another transfusion next weekend. We left her to her studies as Midterms were coming up next week. And by Sunday afternoon, she was feeling a bit better although tired.

We were all pretty tired as we made our way back home with a quick stopover at the Outlet stores. Since we returned home rather late in the evening, I did not have time to visit with my Mom or even get the yard work done. We did pick up Cookie from our friend's house on the way home. And we did have time  to sit at the computer and fill out Scott's college application to Western Michigan. His ACT scores came through and were more than enough for entry into the school and to get him into the Pre Calc Engineering classes. We only had to fill out the online application, and now are waiting for his High School transcript to be emailed from his counselor. They already have his college test scores. Now we wait.  It was an activity packed weekend for sure!

Before we left I also took time to get my van into the dealership for an oil change and to sign up for a recall repair on my sliding doors. I was able to borrow Scott's car while mine was in the shop to get to work since he was off school. Unfortunately, my van radio is also deteriorating but Tom would rather me buy a new car than replace it. I just don't want to give up my van yet. It is comfortable for me to drive and hauls a lot of stuff!  Tom did change my brakes to save some money. He also had to repair the outside water faucet. I walked to the front door and heard water running-a big leak from a deteriorated washer. Glad I caught it. We did not need a flooded basement!