Happy Thanksgiving! What a busy Holiday weekend. Allison came home on Weds. She finished her mid terms and did very well. She had extra time so she worked on her upcoming class projects and is 2 weeks ahead of schedule! So she had a nice, relaxing weekend to catch up on video games with Scott. Plus she was able to help out around the house. Including taking Cookie for a daily walk.

I got all the Thanksgiving dinner shopping done over the previous weekend. I also picked up some Birthday gifts for Scott for his upcoming 18th Birthday. Tom does all of his shopping online. I tried to get my hair done on Sunday, but the place was packed. Instead I dropped in on Tuesday evening. Just in time for our upcoming family photo. I wanted to join Allison at the hair salon last Friday, but I had to work.

One of Scott's Birthday presents included his new car. Unfortunately, we are still waiting for the repairs on his Jeep Renegade. It passed inspection and they were able to fix the check engine problem with a replacement of the exhaust manifold. But now we are waiting on some electronic parts that were causing the buzzing sound in the speaker. And they are not in stock. Sounds like it may have a whole new engine by the time they are done! Surprisingly it passed the state inspection and we are also waiting on the license plates.

We ended up celebrating Scott's birthday on Sunday night. He wanted Mexican for his Birthday dinner, so we passed on taking Grandma out with us(not her favorite food). We were also out all day getting our family Christmas photo. I have signed us up for our family photo at the Target studio for the past 21 years. They always do a wonderful job and it is very quick and easy to order our photos right after the photo shoot(although it is usually very crowded at the holidays and we have to wait longer than our scheduled time). But they suddenly closed all their studios! I was so sad. Instead the website directed me to JCPenny. We have gone to Penny's before for a family photo when we first got Cookie. We wanted her in our Christmas photo 8 years ago and there was only one Penny's studio in Annapolis that you could bring your dog to on one night of the week. We did not need Cookie this time, but I signed us up for a photo shoot on Sunday morning anyway. We still had to wait about 30 mins. But the photo shoot turned out well anyways. I just thought it was funny(or a bit flattering) when the photographer told Tom and I to lay down on the floor! I told her that was the kids job! If I lay down on the floor, there is no going back! Instead we sat on a low footstool and the kids were able to lie down in front of us. Turns out that photo worked the best! Afterwards we usually sit down with a representative to try some different photo combinations for Christmas cards and family photos. I don't think Penny's was ready for the influx of customers. They left us alone with the computer. Allison and I ended up making our own Christmas cards and photos! I think we did a great job! And our photos were the same price that I paid at Target, and will be done in the same amount of time. So overall, a fun experience. Guess we will be going back for Scott's graduation photos! And maybe more Allison graduation photos!

Afterwards we had lunch and did some Christmas shopping in the mall. Do you know how hard it is to shop for Christmas gifts for the family when all of the family is with you! So everyone knows about some of their gifts, but it was a lot of fun to shop for presents in a mall together. And the kids were most impressed to see Tom shopping in a mall at Christmas time no less!

On Thanksgiving Day we were all busy together cooking and cleaning. Tom put our 20lb turkey on the rotissierrie on the grill outside. Scott and Allison got up early with me to make Loaded Baked Potatoes, stuffing and crab dip. I had already bought Pumpkin pie and a Pumpkin cheesecake for Allison. We had my Mom and our friend John over for dinner around 4pm. I tried to invite other friends over for dinner, however everyone seemed to have invited someone else over for dinner. No matter. We all enjoyed our dinner together and a few football games. In the morning we caught up on our Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the National Dog Show in between cooking. We passed on the Turkey Trot since we were all busy cooking. Instead the kids took Cookie for a very long walk around the lake in our local park-about 3 miles or a 5K. It was such a beautiful day out for a walk. In the evening, I got my Mom started on her Christmas cards. We should be done by the 25th!

Actually the whole weekend was beautiful. So much so that we spent most of the weekend outside putting away all the Thanksgiving/Fall decorations and putting up Christmas decorations, including our outdoor lights. Tom even bought a new extension ladder for the event, however, he decided it was too heavy and he returned it. After he got the lights up of course! The kids were a great help putting the Fall decorations up in the attic and bringing down a few snowmen. I spent the entire weekend doing my usual activity-raking leaves!  I did manage to get out and do some Black Friday in store shopping!  That was alot of fun. Plus I got some online shopping done too! I especially wanted to get our St Nick's Day shopping done since that arrives on Dec 6th. That is when we exchange Christmas stockings!

I am still surprised how much sooner the Christmas decorations are popping up. We had decorations up around the neighborhood and stores before Halloween!  And some of he Christmas lights went on before the end of October. I just want to get through Thanksgiving before worrying about Christmas!

On Friday morning the kids and I were busy with a trip to the Festival of Christmas Trees fundraiser for the Children's Hospital. My Girl Scout choir was singing on stage-the first act of the morning. I had to be there at 9:30 but I was running a bit late. I took Allison and Scott along to enjoy the decorations. They patiently waited for our group to sing for 1 hr, and then we went off to look at all the trees and gingerbread houses. The place was packed. After several hours of listening to Christmas music and looking at Christmas decorations, we were so done with Christmas! And once again, hard to Christmas shop for someone when they are with you! Guess the kids will know which gifts they are getting this year. And again I wanted to take my mom but we had to be there so early in the morning. And it was incredibly crowded. Instead we brought Scott for his first time.I think he enjoyed the experience and hanging out with his big sister!

I celebrated my Birthday on a Monday. My coworkers treated me to a homemade pumpkin cheesecake-delicious!  Tom, Scott and I went out to dinner on Monday night for half price burgers at Glory Days. I was not going to cook on my Birthday! Afterwards I opened presents and ate leftover chocolate birthday cake! I must say my presents were very eclectic-gifts shared by the whole family! Tom thought it was time for a new crock pot-so guess what I got! He wanted one that had more heating options including a timer and a Low/Medium/High setting. We tried it out  with a rib dinner last Sunday since Allison was home. I also brought my mom over for dinner. Tom was pleased with his purchase and the tasty results. He also ordered a one year subscription to Netflix. So far the kids and Tom have been enjoying my Birthday request the most. I have a big list of shows I would like to see, just not enough time to catch any! Thank goodness it is good for 1 year! And Scott ended up with a Western U Football jersey since Tom picked one up for me, but it basically looked like I was wearing a dress in an XL! I am  looking forward to spending my Kohls gift card, and am enjoying my new earrings. I got some new cookie sheets too-just in time for Holiday baking! Tom also picked up a new radio receiver for my car so I can continue to listen to Sirius XM. The radio in my minivan is slowly wearing out, but just too expensive to swap out(also the GPS, back up camera and DVD player as well as the radio in one unit). So Tom got a portable receiver to pick up the XM radio, and I can take it in to work(but now I need a portable player with speakers to operate the portable receiver out of the car). Lucky me. Tom just did not want to spend several thousand on a replacement unit. He would rather buy a whole new vehicle-I am just not ready for a new car.

I still like my minivan. It came in handy when we moved some furniture last weekend. I bought myself a Bday present-an antique corner hutch from one of our neighbors. She was selling an entire dining room set and Tom agreed to look at it with me-a dining room table, hutch and corner cabinet from the 1940s. All Mahogany made in North Carolina. Very pretty.Tom and I stopped in on Tuesday night to take a peek. Turns out the owner is a recently retired Northrop Grumman Manufacturing employee. She immediately recognized Tom and they have mutual coworker friends(but Tom had no idea who she was). She was very sweet and was even selling her ceramic chandelier, all her beautiful china and glasses, and a lot of end tables. We decided the dining room chairs, although very pretty, were just too small for Tom and nicely embroidered seats that the cat would ruin(unless covered in plastic-lovely). Also the table was permanently sealed in its extended position-they sealed the leaf inserts so it is difficult to move since the table does not close. The hutch was also very beautiful, but smaller than my current hutch and not lit. So we decided to take the corner hutch since it matched our current set and was a bit bigger than my current pine corner hutch. And I really don't need another dining room set since eventually we will be downsizing, but Allison or Scott may one day want a set. As it is, Allison has started to collect our leftover appliances(like the old crock pot and our previous blender that Tom fixed since it needed a replacement part). She also has our old kitchen table and couches and a bedroom set. And Alexa. So she will be ready for the big world after she graduates!

We dropped Scott's new car off at the car dealership on Monday morning. I heard a buzzing in the back speaker and we needed to figure out why the check engine light came on. Plus we needed the state inspection. Sadly they kept the car all week and still need parts. Scott is waiting patiently.

Veteran's Day fell on Saturday the 11th. When Tom and I were waiting for our flight on Southwest to Orlanda, our plane came in from Ohio full of WWII and Korean vets. There was a large group of vets headed to DC to tour the monuments and lots of flights coming in at the same time. In the airport they had a welcoming party which we joined. There were Navy personnel, Boy Scouts as well as Northrop employees lined up cheering the vets as they came off the planes. Even an announcer calling out their names and rank, ringing a bell and dressed in Colonial garb.  Very cool.

Allison stayed at school last weekend for her frisbee tournament, as well as studying for her midterms. Another semester flying by. And she is doing very well with her Finance and Management classes. She came home during the week on Weds for her last iron infusion. She has been feeling so much better, with only an occasional upset stomach(may be from the extra iron pills). Again we were so happy to have Allison home. I sent the kids out to rake some more leaves. I was hoping the big wind and rain storm would blow everything away, but no such luck. And it seems like the leaves are taking forever to fall off the trees this year! At least I think we are done with cutting the grass since we have had a few hard frosts. Looks like I missed the last of my winter flower planting opportunities. The ground was so frozen I could not even pull out the old flowers! Besides keeping the kids busy with chores around the house, we took a fun break and went to see The Justice League movie on Saturday night. Scott skipped the movie to play video games since he heard the movie was not very good. Allison almost skipped it too, but joined us instead(the lure of movie popcorn was just too great!). And she ended up enjoying the movie as much as Tom and I did.

I enjoyed the break. I have been busy at work. We took in quite a few patients, although not the best rehab candidates as some are homeless with drug and alcohol, psychiatric issues and chronic problems getting worse. But we still provide the therapy services. I attended my first online class at work with my rehab director. We listened to a class on feeding skills taught by a Wayne State U OT grad.  It was live from Austin TX, so it screwed up our work schedule since it was an hour earlier in Texas. The website told us to start at 8am, but it was 9am our time. Then it went to 5pm, and we had an hour long quiz afterwards! Plus we had some technical difficulties linking the website with a computer that had built in speakers so we could listen to the class. But we finally figured it all out. Then we had to deal with interruptions from other staff members coming into the office asking questions all day. Even though I really liked the course, I am not so sure I enjoy online learning (at work anyway). Last week I spent a few hours with my Rehab Director presenting at a local hospital. We were orienting their Rehab staff about our services at the Nursing Home. Our Administration team came along, but Nyla and I did all the talking. And I just had to wing it since Nyla handed me her scripted speech in the lobby that morning and asked if I could present half. Fortunately I am familiar with what we do-I just did not realize we were talking to a team of 25!  And I was promised lunch-Ha. Little did the Administration know that when you buy lunch for therapists, there are no leftovers!  So Nyla and I stopped to have lunch in the hospital cafeteria afterwards. We just did not feel like running around town looking for a place to eat since it was pouring rain. And then I had to come into work last Friday to renew my CPR certification. I figured if I was going in for a class, I might as well see a few patients. So not much free time for me.

On Friday night I celebrated by spending my Birthday money. Thank you so much Mom and Dad Seitz!  I put my birthday money to good use playing BINGO at the Mt Hebron High School fund raiser. This year I took Allison along, as well as my neighbor Gloria and her daughter Kelsey. Gloria was celebrating having a new Nursing job at a local out patient clinic. I was celebrating making it one more year! I took Allison along since she is my good luck charm! They always have such great BINGO prizes. And Allison did get a BINGO-however, so did 3 other women and Allison lost in overtime. Bummer. She would have had $150 worth of shoes at DSW.

I usually sign up Scott for volunteering at the BINGO event for his NHS hours. But the slots filled up fast this year. Instead he was busy practicing his baking skills on Sunday to donate to a local church for Thanksgiving dinner for the community in need. He managed to make 1 pretty pumpkin pie and some pumpkin bars. The rest we donated in Girl Scout cookies. He will drop off his goodies to the church in the coming week. And he gets lots of volunteer hours for his work.

I also had to squeeze in the Thanksgiving food shopping over the weekend! That was crazy. I usually get my errands done on Friday-a little less crazy during the day. But I worked this past Friday, so that left the busier shopping days. And besides food shopping, I was also busy shopping for Scott's upcoming 18th Birthday and St Nick's Day when we share our Christmas stockings. But someone has to do it!

Tom was busy finishing up his last class for the year and turning in his end of semester paper. He plans on taking a break until January so he does not have to worry about studying over the holidays.
Looking forward to a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

So Halloween was over. Scott and Allison celebrated with a trip to Zoo Boo (in costume) the weekend before. But they did not get any candy! Instead, Allison played Pokemon Go. Everyone at my clinic was expecting left over Halloween candy, but we don't have any more trick or treaters in the house! And we did not have any leftover candy.  Instead, I picked up some Halloween candy on sale the day after-and fell in love with a package of multi flavored Snickers bars! And so did everyone else at work! (Regular, Peanut Butter, Krispy and Almond Snickers)

Allison was back at school and did not plan on coming home over the weekend. Her frisbee team was hosting the last tournament of the season at Salisbury on Saturday. The girls were excited as the school has not hosted games in over 10 years.  And they had a great day, winning all their games. Allison even ran into one of our neighbors and her daughter who plays for UMBC. They wanted to know why we weren't there cheering them on. Tom and I tried to watch Frisbee games, but they go on forever! There is no time limit to the games-it is the first team to score 13 points, although they try not to let the games go past 1 hr. And we usually prefer not to sit out in the cold watching frisbee football.  But we are thrilled that Allison has been feeling well with her iron infusions(1 more to go), enough so that she can play frisbee all day(and score!). And that she has enough energy to get through her classes, and that she is doing very well with her grades!  And getting along with her new roommates, although she is missing her previous roommate Helena who is currently studying in Paris. She will be back next year and the temporary roommate will move out(Allison can't wait). But she wishes she had time to visit her friend in Paris. Allison will be back home next weekend. And she can always visit with her previous roommate, Jen who is getting her Masters in Library Science at Uof Md and lives in our neighborhood.

In the meantime, it was my Birthday weekend! I prefer to celebrate the entire month of November, although my actual birthday was Monday Nov 13th. We decided to go out to dinner on Sunday with my Mom to celebrate. We found a new restaurant(new to us), the City Centre Grill nearby. It turned out to be very good, complete with a little live jazz band and everyone enjoyed their meals. Including Tom who had the Prime Rib special for $22. Afterwards we came home for my favorite Costco chocolate cake. Tom decided to hold off present opening on Monday, but Scott gave me a new Walking Dead tshirt(all ready for Halloween next year!). I also celebrated my birthday with our neighbors at their house for dinner on Saturday night. So nice not to cook! And to catch up with friends. I also gave myself an early Christmas present when I stopped into the Hallmark store to meet the artist Jim Shore. He designs all the wooden angels with carvings on their gowns, as well as Santas. Plus he has the rights to Disney characters and Snoopy. He was very nice, taking time to chat with each patron with photo ops. He was only supposed to stay for 2 hours, but waited an extra hour to make sure he met with everyone. So I picked up a snowman for myself and had it autographed. Very cool. Even the Hallmark store owner made sure we were all somewhat comfortable waiting in line and passed out bottles of water.

On Friday I had a million errands to run. Work has been picking up and I had to go in on Friday the week before. I was looking forward to getting some of my phone calls and bill paying done after my swim class. Instead, Tom asked me to drive out to Virginia with him to test drive a car for Scott. Tom, Scott and Allison have been test driving multiple cars for Scott. The Toyota Echo is slowly falling apart, and SCott could use a car up at school next year. He may need one sooner as winter is coming on. Not sure his current car will make it safely around the block!  So Tom and Scott narrowed it down to a Jeep, even though they knew it did not have a very good track record for engine wear and tear. All the cars they tested had the check engine lights turn on! Including some Subarus. And Scott did not like the drive of the Subaru. They were trying to balance safety with 4WD for snow, and a comfortable drive. Tom found a 2016 Jeep, used with all the features and more for under $20K. We drove out past Harpers Ferry(past the town where Blair Witch was supposed to be located too), about 2.5 hrs west and south in Virginia. We test drove the car and Tom thought it was perfect. He bought it and drove it home while I returned home via Hagerstown with a Papa Murphy pizza pick up. I needed to get home before 7pm since I had an extended Girl SCout choir practice that night for the upcoming Holiday concerts. Never a dull moment.

Scott enjoyed his half day on Friday(teachers getting ready for report cards which come out next week at the end of the semester). In the morning he had his Senior Portrait taken at school for the yearbook. I took him in for a hair cut on WEds night for the big day!  I like how they fit the boys with a fake tux. At least I don't have to buy the tux or the yearbook photo!

Tom was gone all week working in Buffalo. He decided to return 1 day early since Buffalo was looking to get snow and a bad storm on Friday. He got home on Thursday evening in time to join our neighbors for football. The weather has been turning chilly and I keep trying to get my yardwork done. Which is not easy since the trees still have not lost all their leaves. Some of the trees are still green.We also had our first hard freeze and I could not even pull out the old flowers from the planters since the ground was completely frozen! I am a little behind in my gardening.

Tom and Scott had a fun time driving the new car around over the weekend though,

until the check engine light came on! Fortunately the car is on extended warranty, so it looks like the next trip will be to the dealership. Oh well. Guess it was too good to be true.

So my flight out of Orlando was early Sunday morning. Tom could not get us two tickets on a flight together Sunday night. He had to stay during the day to finish up his coursework. Instead, he had me flying out early in the morning which actually turned out to be a good thing. I am not crazy about flying as it is and the weather was turning. A Nor'Easter was blowing in on the eastern seaboard and Baltimore was expecting some nasty weather Sunday night. I returned home by 11 am and it was just drizzling and overcast. When Tom got in at 8pm it was raining sideways!  And I had to pick him up at the airport that evening. He said I would not have enjoyed the flight. It got pretty rough as they flew into Baltimore. So for me it actually turned out OK and he made it safely home.

I had taken the kids to lunch Sunday when I got home and spent the rest of the day doing laundry and unpacking. I also brought the kids a few souvenirs from Florida. Allison was still home and did not go back to school until Monday. She had started her new semester and had class Monday and Tuesday nights. She kept Scott company over the weekend. They enjoy spending time together and especially playing video games with each other. We would have spent time Sunday putting up the last of the Halloween decorations, but it was just too rainy.

On Monday, Allison was back at school, and Tom and I were back to work. And very tired. We had a busy week ahead of us. Tom spent most of the week wrapping up homework for school.

Tuesday was Halloween. I dressed in a Busch Gardens Howl O Scream tshirt at work with a spider headband. I also shared some Key Lime candies with the staff that I brought back from Florida. I got off work early Tuesday so I could get home and finish putting up decorations, make dinner and open up a few bags of candy before the Trick or Treaters showed up at 5:30. It was a fairly mild night, so I took a break at passing out candy to take Cookie for a walk. She was dressed up as a piece of sushi and I was a Samurai chef.  Cookie loved being outside with all the kids and visiting with our neighbors. I stopped at a few houses to say hello, especially to some of the neighbors that I don't get to talk to very often. Then we stopped by Dan and Gloria's house for a Halloween treat in the form of a gin and tonic!  I left the bowl of candy with Scott to pass out to the very cute Trick or Treaters. Everyone went in at 8pm which made it very nice. All in all we passed out over 300 candy bars!  That is a lot of kids. And they were so cute-they loved our scary decorations! Tom even found a few laser lights on sale at Home Depot that project skeletons on the house. Very cool. 

Scott also received a special Halloween Treat when he received his acceptance letter from Western Michigan University! Way to Go Scott! Now he can feels a sigh of relief as the pressure is off on the college application process. Although this was the easiest process ever-just fill out the application, have the ACT score and his high school transcripts sent in and pay $40 registration fee. Done. No essay. No letters of reference. His high school counselor was excited to have Scott as the first Senior of the year to get accepted into college. So now he is signed up on their website and will be attending New Student Orientation early in the Summer.   

Allison was stuck in class on Halloween night. No fun. She did come home on Friday though since she wanted to spend time practicing with the Frisbee team at practice on Weds and Thursday. She had a tournament scheduled at a local University, Towson over the weekend. It is nice when the games are so close to home. She left very early on Saturday morning and had a beautiful day to be outside. They even stopped into a fellow teammate's house for lunch.  They played all day-4 games and won all 4!  Sunday was not as successful, however they placed 4th out of 10 for the whole weekend! And we are just happy that Allison is feeling well enough to play-and even score!

On Saturday night when Allison got home from her games we headed out for dinner and a movie. We all wanted to see the new Thor movie and we were pleasantly surprised. I absolutely loved the movie! It was hysterical. One of the most entertaining movies I have seen in a long time-I was laughing out loud!  Maybe a bit too loud, and maybe one too many jokes for the super hero movies, but still very good. Go see it.

Here is the update on our Florida trip. Tom was attending PhD classes at the end of the month of October in Orlando. This was his opportunity to meet face to face with professors and choose a mentor for his thesis. He asked me to join him to squeeze in a Florida vacation since most of the trip was covered by work. We decided to fly to make the most of our time so Tom cashed in some points for my airfare. We left on Saturday morning to spend a few days with the Seitz family members before Tom's classes started Weds night. Scott was home on his own during the week, so I stocked the fridge Friday so he would not have to worry about running around at dinner time looking for food. Allison was home over the weekend before heading back to school on Monday to start her new semester. She is taking Management and Finance this semester. Turns out the Management class is with the same professor she had as an Undergrad, and actually looks like the same course syllabus!  Hopefully they will kick it up a notch!

We headed out to the airport on Saturday morning. We flew into Orlando, rented a car and drove down to Venice to spend a few days with Tom's parents. We had dinner at Carraba's and I started my customary vacation puzzle. On Sunday, after church and breakfast at Denny's, we stopped into the Veteran's cemetery in Sarasota. I was quite impressed with the place. It reminded me of  DC with sculptures and small monuments. It also included military photos and quotes from service men and women stemming from more recent wars back to the civil war with added photos from the Smithsonian archives. Tom's family members have military backgrounds and now plan to use the services.  Of course my trip wouldn't be complete without a stop into the Venice cemetery to visit Dad Bozyk's gravesite. I was surprised to see a new Chinese monument for a Karate Master nearby. Cemeteries are like museums, full of history. We also spent the day walking around downtown Venice at the Sun Festival with an afternoon visit to John and Susan's house. They lost their big tree in their backyard during Hurricane Irma, but now do not have to worry about any branches falling on their house. They also had hurricane shutters installed, so they won't need to ride any future storms out with the neighbors and can stay in their own place. And Susan has more room to grow her garden in the backyard.  We all went out to dinner at the local BBQ place and spent the evening visiting. I had planned on a trip to the beach with Susan and their dog Gus at the dog beach, but the jellyfish warning was up!  Not good for Gus or us if we were to get stung. As it is, Gus loves eating the lizards!

Instead, Tom and I enjoyed lunch at Pop's outdoor deck at the Nokomis beach on Monday while watching the boats and dolphins pass by in the canal. I talked Tom into letting me take a quick walk on Nokomis beach before heading out to Tampa. It was a beautiful day for a beach walk, and I had time to pick up a few shells and shark teeth. I also noticed that they built a snack bar at Nokomis beach-a great place for a fish taco and a beer. We then stopped by my Mom's house up the street. I wanted to get some photos of the place to see if there were any hurricane shutters and to see what type of damage occurred during the storm. I had heard from the property manager that is was minimal.  I got out to take some photos and was spotted by the renter, his friend and his son working in the yard. They were quite suspicious, but when I explained who I was they invited me into the house for a post hurricane update. I did not want to stop in and bother them without going through the property manager first, but I did not really plan on a visit. Just a drive by. I am glad I got out of the car though. The renter, Eddie, showed me damage to the sea wall from reoccurring flooding. We knew it was deteriorating, but now it is pulling away from the land. Looks like it will be a big expense to replace, but if not, there won't be any land left to own! Big decisions. Looks like the house survived the the hurricane. Minimal damage to the roof where a tree limb fell on the corner. Eddie cut up all of the plant debris including the neighbors and they paid to have it hauled away. I also see they are building a new house at the end of the street right on the bay. All new construction has to be built up for flood control which means a house on stilts basically with the garage underneath. 

So we had a great visit and it was time to head back towards Orlando. Tom and I decided to stop into Tampa for a quick visit to Busch Gardens. It started raining, and the park was not very crowded. Especially since it was only open until 5pm. We had a few hours though to take a ride on the safari train. We loved seeing all the animals, especially a 1 month old rhino! Then we walked through the safari and were surprised by two very young gorillas. Tom took time out to catch the newest roller coaster. I really was not in the mood to be flung all around, so I passed, but it looks really cool. It starts off with an elevator ride to the top, then the cars twist and turn and even go backwards on the course. Similar to a ride at Hershey Park. Tom just could not convince me to ride that nor the Cheetah Chase. And that was about the only rides open due to rain. No matter. We stopped into one of our favorite restaurants in Tampa afterwards, Gators, for some fish tacos and then to the hotel. 

On Tuesday Tom had to stop into Northrop to meet with some previous Maryland employees in Apopka, just north of Orlando Northrop acquired a Litton plant there many years ago. While he was meeting with the staff, he dropped me off at a local mall in Altamonte. I managed to entertain myself with a manicure/pedicure and lunch by the time he was done. After his meeting, he offered to take the guys out for beer, so we met up at World of Beer. We had a wonderful chat about life in Central Florida and surviving the hurricane. Seems that Florida is chock full of strange critters, including black bears, alligators, cranes, snakes, mice, rats, lizards and see -through frogs. Even Tom's Dad spotted a bobcat in the middle of the day in their community in Venice! And Susan and John can barely open their door without something making its way in their house! Everything grows well in Florida! We actually chatted for a few hours in the restaurant, into BINGO Happy Hour, so I tried my luck which was no luck. But we had a fun visit. 

We knew we had a busy day on Weds as we were meeting up with our neighbors Dan and Gloria to spend the day at Epcot. So we checked into our hotel. Dan and Gloria also traveled to Florida for the week to celebrate Gloria's new nurse manager position. They decided to take a quick vacation since it was going to be awhile until Gloria had any time off. She was happy though to find a new job a few miles down from the house in an out patient surgery clinic. And they were happy to join us for a quick vacation in Orlando! Tom's classes did not start until Weds night, so we decided to attend the Wine and Food Festival at Epcot during the day. We had a wonderful time sampling food and drinks from all over the world, as well as catching some rides. Things are always changing at the theme parks. They closed the Ellen Degeneres Energy ride with Bill Nye. But we rode Soarin, which is always full and we rarely get on. And we loved it-a video screen ride the size of an IMAX which makes you feel like you are flying over vast stretches of the world like an elephant herd in Africa or a German castle. Complete with smell o vision!  And we enjoyed a performance by Billy Ocean in the park(Carribbean Queen and Drive My Car from the 80s). This is a nice time of year to travel to Orlando since the kid population is down during the week and parks not quite as crowded. But busy enough. We still did not get to ride the new Frozen themed addition in Norway. 

    We pooped out by 830, and opted out of the fireworks show. Tom still had some online homework to complete before attending class on Thursday. We got up early so I could drop him off to his class down the street from our hotel. We had a suite, so we picked up some snacks the night before so Tom would not have to eat out during the course. Dan and Gloria were staying down the street, so they picked me up and we headed to Disney Hollywood Studios. They are doing an amazing amount of remodeling in the park and several old rides were gone, including the Race Car Stunt Show and the Back Lot tour as well as the Hollywood Movie History ride. But we enjoyed all the live shows including Beauty and the Beast , The Little Mermaid and The Indiana Jones stunt show. And I finally got on the Toy Story Video Arcade Game ride(it also is usually too full). And they are building Star Wars Land, to open in 2019, so there was a whole lot of Star Wars going on including shows and merchandise. We rode the Star Tours ride(one of my favorites) and also called it quits fairly early. We decided to opt out of the night time shows as well since we were all too tired from walking around the parks for 2 days straight. We even passed on getting together to watch the Ravens game for our usual Thursday night football since Tom did not get done until after 8pm and we were all too tired after ordering pizza in. Instead Tom and I  climbed into bed to watch the crazy Raven/Dolphin game with our quarterback out for a concussion! However they still beat the Dolphins. Plus, Dan and Gloria were headed back to Maryland early Friday morning. Their son was scheduled to take the GRE on Saturday in DC and Dan was driving him down. Alex is looking to attend the University of Delaware to study Environmental Policy after graduating this December in Political Science. 

So Friday I was on my own. No problem. I took a hotel shuttle over to Sea World since we have season passes. It was a bit clowdy in Orlando, and temps in the 70s, low 80s, but very nice after the humidity left. I arrived before the park opened and filled my day with rides and shows with lots of great sea creatures. I had a wonderful time even though I was all by myself!  Naturally I sent lots of  animal photos to the kids. 

Allison finished classes on Tuesday night and stayed a few days to participate in frisbee practice. She was also excited to see they finally fixed their toilet at her University condo!She headed home on Friday to spend the weekend with Scott. She also had to get another iron infusion-good timing since she wasn't feeling well during the week. On Saturday the two went off to Zoo Boo at the Maryland Zoo with our season passes. Tom was still in class, so I spent my Saturday at the hotel and the pool, even though it was overcast and in the 70s. It was nice to get a day to rest up, take a swim and finish my blog! After Tom got out of class in the evening, we headed over to catch the opening Hockey Game of the Solar Bears at the Amway Center where the Orlando Magic Basketball team plays. Once again, we opted for tickets on the Club level which turned out cheaper and better than any other seat in the house. Plus we had our own little table to sit and enjoy dinner and the game. A lot of fun, even though the Solar Bears did not win. We must not be picking the right teams! It was raining that evening, so it was nice to do something indoors. And we did not stay out too late since I had to be at the airport at 5am for a flight home.