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.