Well, it was finally time to bid a farewell to Grandma and Grandpa Bozyk. They had to head back to Mich to shovel the 3feet of snow in their driveway. We will miss their company and Grandma's homework tutoring services(but my waist won't miss all the cupcakes and cookies Grandma kept baking!) Grandma's job as sponsor to Allison for her confirmation was over. As you may recall, Allison chose St Agnes as her confirmation name-the patron saint of girls and Girl Scouts. Allison loves her little saint Agnes statue that she received from Aunt Linda and Uncle Mark and had blessed by the Archbishop. Allison and I also loved our outing to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and dinner out with the family that night. On Sunday we were sadly disappointed to see our Ravens football team lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since we are so close to Pennsylvania, we have quite a few displaced Steelers fans in the area. We heard fireworks going off after the game, and found a huge blow up Steeler football player in a neighbor's yard. I am suprised someone hasn't deflated him yet. But we may have to cheer them on during the Super Bowl.
Monday was a day off for the kids-MLK day. Tom and I had to take my van back to the service center to fix the heating system. It had been there the whole week before, and when I picked it up on Friday, the carpet was filthy dirty, the front panel was not put on properly, my leather steering wheel was scratched and the heat still did not work right. Tom was extremely frustrated and asked to see the Service Manager this time. We have been trying to get my van fixed since Nov. 08. Within two days they got it working and replaced the steering wheel as well as washing it and detailing the interior. Tom and I both thought "time to sell the van". Now if I can just pick out something to replace it!
Grandma and Grandpa postponed their travel back to Mich on Monday since we had our first snow fall of the year that day. There was a nasty accident on the 70 out west which involved a few tractor trailers and killed a few people while shutting down the freeway on both sides. Instead, I stayed home with the kids and grandparents, and Grandpa shoveled my driveway while Allison studied Social Studies and Science for her big tests this week. We also squeezed in piano lessons and karate that day. Grandma and Grandpa had a pleasant drive back to Mich on Weds.
Allison and her fellow private- school- turned -public- high- school- classmates had a special tour of their high school,Mt Hebron on Weds during the school day. The public school was off for midterms, so the 9th grade counselor offered the afternoon for a tour and intro to classes. We had to pick up Allison in the middle of the day, then return her to school for her last class after a quick lunch. We also picked up her registration packet! Allison says high school is scary. I have to agree. Allison's high school is the oldest building in our county. It was originally a middle school, so it is small and crowded and worn out. But the county has decided to remodel-even though the current HS parents all wanted a brand new building. New schools are popping up around here all the time. Sadly, the county can only offer a revamp, and Allison will be attending the school right through the whole process. Should be nice by the time she graduates! Then Scott will have a whole new building to visit. Anyhow, we register for fall classes this coming Friday! School starts on Monday, Aug 24 after several "Welcome New Student" Orientations. I was very impressed by all the classes and programs the school has to offer-you couldn't possibly squeeze it all in during a 4year period. Looks more like a college program. We know that our county has an excellent reputation for great public schools, so we thought we'd take advantage of "free" education so we can save up for college!
And you may have noticed a bit of commotion around our area on Tuesday with the inaugaration(or coronation as Tom called it) of the next President. I am not exactly a huge OBama fan. Our kids were not excused from private school for the event, and our county schools stayed open as well, but some of the counties actually closed for the day. We all watched a bit on tv-the kids to understand the whole inaugaration process(have to get those lines right), and I peeked in at lunch at work just since I was so amazed by all the people that crammed onto the DC mall. Remember standing in that same space Chris/Nick and Sarah? How about you Brandon and Katelyn? It was a bit chillier than last summer. There is no way I would have attempted to deal with those crowds and travel down to DC, but it was something just to see all the people. And even more amazing was the amount of trash that had to be cleaned up after everyone left! It certainly kept the Nat Parks staff busy. Since Allison missed part of her day at school last week for orientation and the inaugaration, poor Allison had to get up early the next day to make up a SS exam. And I ended up working Friday and Saturday to make up for taking off Monday.
Of course we had a busy weekend again-more karate and piano. And Allison was terribly excited to see the opening of the movie "InkHeart", a series of books she just finished. She brought along a fellow bookworm and we all enjoyed the film. Tom and Scott headed off to "Hotel for Dogs" and really enjoyed it. That got Scott thinking about dogs even more(we are considering getting one). So we headed off to the Pet Expo on Sunday afternoon to see what was available. Nobody selling dogs, but we sure saw a variety of them since personal pets were welcome. As well as birds, cats, snakes, turtles, lizards, bunnies, ponies, llamas, sheep and exotics(monkeys, owls, opposums and porcupines too). We left when Tom couldn't breathe anymore!(allergies). Sunday evening, Allison and I enjoyed a rollerblading outing with the Girl Scouts. And I only fell once(my first time) trying to spin around and work on my backwards skating. My poor knee.
So it's back to work Monday-we may have some snowflakes tonite. Tom is headed out to Charlottesville, VA this week to work. Mark, I sent you some newspaper articles(look for them in the mail).