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.