July 9 to July 15, 2018


Happy Birthday Allison! She celebrated her birthday on Friday the 13th this year. Spooky!  We had dinner and cake when she got home from camp Friday afternoon. We could not wait for Tom! He was traveling home from work out in Salt Lake City.  We did hold off on opening all her presents. She asked for a new phone, and I picked her up some dressy work clothes, new tennis shoes for playing ultimate frisbee and a travel bag along with some computer games and books.  Plus we decided to enjoy an afternoon  on Saturday at the Meyerhoff theater watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince while the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra played along. The mood was very light and fun-the conductor did an incredible job and informed the audience that we could cheer and yell whenever we wanted. Allison and I even put on a few Potter clothing items to get in the mood. She wore her Harry Potter scarf that she bought in London. I put on a small witches hat and packed a cat and wand in my purse!  It was extra special watching the film while the orchestra played the background music. You almost forgot they were there! It was so good.  And a special way to celebrate Allison turning 23!

When Tom returned over the weekend, we decided to celebrate Scott and Allison's graduations, Allison 's new job and her Birthday all together with a special dinner at Ruth Chris Steakhouse in Annapolis on Sunday. Tom had earned a gift certificate through work and we decided to make good use of it. We had a lovely dinner and a walk down by the pier through the Naval Academy along with a bite of Kilwins ice cream to top off the evening. Sadly I could not talk the family into a Harbor Boat tour. Guess we will just have to plan on entertaining some out of town guests with that activity!

Allison needed the weekend to recuperate from another week at GS camp. She was really excited and happy to have gone to camp for her last week, although it really wore her out. This week they went rock climbing. I am so impressed with Allison's skills. She is not afraid at all to rappel off the side of the cliffs with the girls. Scott went rappelling at boy scout camp when he was younger and does not share Allison's joy for falling off the side of a mountain!  I just loved her photos! And I am glad she was feeling well enough to get through the climbing portion of the week. We will have to check out this park located in northern Maryland. Maybe for a hike. And Allison's GS camp name of Dragon

will live on at least in the form of newly acquired wagons. I had given Allison my portable, fold up wagon to haul her gear around camp and she fondly referred to it as her Dragon Wagon(although the girls thought she meant Dragging Wagon). Anyhow, the GS summer camp staff purchased several wagons to keep on hand to haul stuff around since they thought it was such a good idea and dubbed them Dragon Wagons in Allison's honor!

Meanwhile, I continued to work at least through the month of July at my nursing home.