(June 21-June 27)Well, we survived finals week! Allison had two tests every day from Monday to WEds. She also had some projects to turn in-test review packets that the teachers ask the kids to do to help study. My favorite was when Tom tried to mentor her in Geometry over the phone and computer late Tuesday night from Charlottesville, VA. Allison ran into a few complicated problems and needed his help, but he was having dinner with the coworkers early in the evening. She had to wait until he got back to his hotel around 930pm. They were at it until 11 and then she just had to call it quits! I got her through a Spanish and Health review, as well as History over the weekend. We ran out of time to study together for her second piano test and the Science test. She ended up getting some pointers from her geometry teacher before the exam. But all her hard work paid off again this year and she brought home all As. I can't believe she just finished her freshman year in high school. This is sure going fast!
We also finished with her Spring Field Hockey league. Her team played a college freshman group and the high school Varsity and JV Coach came to watch and give pointers. Allison worked very hard at goalie, and did a great job, but those college girls were pretty good. Still, it gave Allison some one on one exposure for the goalie experience and in front of the Varsity and JV coach too. They had a team meeting after school to talk about next year's season(which starts August 14th). Right around the corner! We decided Allison could use some extra training so she will be attending a Field Hockey Camp for goalies in July before we head to Michigan. I think it will be a lot of hard work, but a very good experience. Plus it is right here in Baltimore. Many of her teammates are heading to Massachusetts for World Camp this summer(maybe next year). I really didn't have time to plan that trip out!(and it is rather expensive). I think she will benefit just as well here at home.
Now she is just happy to plan and prepare for our upcoming Twilight Movie Night. The Girl Scouts were sponsoring a premiere release of the new Twilight Movie, Eclipse. We decided to combine the outing with a sleepover Birthday party for Allison since the movie is at midnite. (Tom picked the right week to travel to California). Allison has been busy putting together goody bags and making up a Twilight Bingo Game. We even found a Twilight Video Game for the Wii for the girls to play before we go to the movie. They are actually showing all 3 movies that night, but we opted for staying home and eating pizza and red velvet cake! And I took the next day off of work! I am sure I will need it!
She also started her summer piano lessons-a lot less stressful though. Only 8 lessons all summer.
I ended up putting in a half day of work on Friday to help out the Home Health Therapist who was on vacation. She wasn't expecting much work, but it turned out to be a very busy week. They even bribed me to come in on Saturday, but I had too much scheduled already. I was supposed to go to training for Cub Scout DAy Camp next week but the time was changed and myself and several other parents who showed up at 2pm missed out. They had changed the training to 9 that morning. We parents just didn't get the message. Oh well, we tried. We decided they could fire us if they had to-I am just signed up to help with Scott's Den for one day on Friday. This will be his last year of Cub Scout camp. Again we are going to car pool with our neighbors whose younger son is also in scouts. And thankfully they are letting Scott sleep over during Allison's Twilight Night party.
Scott spent his first week home at the Y camp. Since school was still in session for the county, they had to move the camp to our Girl Scout property. The weather hit 100 degrees the first two days of camp, and the kids stay outside all day. It proved to be too much for Scott. He had a bad headache on Day 1, and only made it to about 2pm Day 2. I got a call from the camp and the counselors told me he fell asleep in the air conditioned nurses office. I left work early to pick him up. At least I made up my work hours on Friday. The rest of the week went pretty smoothly and at least the temperature dropped into the 80s.
I did spend some time off on Friday morning seeing a movie with Tom and Allison. We all went to see the new Tom Cruise movie, Knight and Day. Allison and I laughed the entire time. Tom managed to get home early from his trip to Charlottesville. I was glad he returned a day earlier since that area had a big storm and their power was knocked out over the entire city. He had to leave on Father's Day last Sunday. And on the 27th of June, he had to travel to California which just so happens our Anniversary. Since he was traveling that day too, we decided to celebrate our 23rd year of marriage on Saturday night. We had a gift certificate for a steak restaurant in Baltimore called Flemings that we needed to use so it made for a good choice for dinner. The place was very similar in menu to Mortons or Ruth Chris Steak house so we opted for the 3 course dinner special. Although the restaurant was a bit loud, we still enjoyed our complimentary photo and box of chocolate truffles. We also enjoyed our wine tasting, salad and key lime pie for dessert. Surprisingly, we were not impressed with our steaks, although it may be due to the fact that they were cooked in a puff pastry. Anyhow, it was fun to try out a new place, and we also got to see a newer section of Baltimore that we hadn't explored yet.
Tom was just happy to be taking a break. He had spent the day shoveling mulch since I was finally able to get an order delivered and we were home long enough to start spreading it. Although we first had to trim all our shrubs. With the wet spring we had a massive growth spurt in all our plants and lawn. However, now that we are in the 90s with a lot less rain, everything has turned brown-especially the lawn. Tom didn't get too far in the mulch process however since our air conditioner apparently died and he was talking with a repair man in the morning. Looks like we are getting an air conditioner for our anniversary(or at least a repaired one we hope). Tom also decided to take me cell phone shopping since my old phone was dying. We spend a lot of time texting each other and my key board was wearing out. We upgraded my old phone and even picked up a new one for Allison for her upcoming birthday. Tom even met with our friend John who was recently laid off from Northorp to have lunch and to look at other possible options at the company. Before we knew it, the day was over and Tom was packing for San Francisco! Once again I'm on my own for the week. I will let you know how it goes. Kathleen

Hope everyone had a Happy Father's Day(for all those Dad's out there). Allison and Scott took Tom to see Toy Story 3(me too!). We had a choice of 3D or IMAX 3D. The IMAX was sold out, so we watched it in 3D which was fine. We all loved the movie. Afterwards the kids took Tom to lunch. He did not have much time to spend with all of us on Sunday as Tom had to head out to Charlottesville VA. for work.
He and Scott had just returned from Indiana on Friday. They had a fun week visiting with the Seitz family. They even enjoyed a trip down to Kentucky to tour Mammoth cave with nephew Eric, a day at the Indy Children's Museum and a stopover at Kings Island Amusement Park in Cincinnati on the way home. They kept Cookie with them and sounds like she enjoyed visiting with her doggie cousins. Especially Mark and Linda's dog Rambo since it sounds like they are very similar.
Meanwhile, Allison and I were home trying to get Allison through her last full week of school and homework, not to mention squeezing in a few field hockey games. I could not believe how much work the teachers assigned at the end of the school year. Allison had to write a paper on the history of the piano and present a power point presentation on her favorite musician for music class, along with her piano recital and a test, she had to perform a scene from Midsummers Night Dream for English, complete an extensive math packet(Algebra II to prepare for next year), not to mention a few County Assessments, and even complete half of her final exam in Spanish. My favorite was when her English teacher had to take off due to a death in his family, (sadly Allison believes it was his mother). Unfortunately, their English final was scheduled for Friday, and by WEds the class had not yet received a study guide. Since they only meet every other day, there were no more classes scheduled before the final exam. They hadn't even taken their English County Assessment which was originally scheduled two weeks earlier. Allison sent her teacher an email and by 10pm Weds night, the teacher emailed a study guide back to the class. He requested the kids fill out a worksheet with 50 vocabulary words to define and complete a two page essay. Turns out that it was a take home final. I was happy that Allison was able to get it done. The kids were given the English County Assessment only during class and that was all the time they had on Friday. What a week that was! And she still had Finals to study for over the weekend! It all seemed to pay off though when she brought home Student of the Month!
We took a little break at the Dog Fest with Cookie on Saturday. Scott was off to a birthday party so Allison and I braved the heat with our little puppy at the Fairgrounds. Unfortunately the festival was on the infield of the racetrack so it was pretty toasty. Cookie decided she really liked lying down in the kiddie pools to cool off. She also did a wonderful job trying out the agility course where dogs run through tubes and climb ramps. We even put her in the costume contest in her hot dog outfit. We didn't win, but I think it was mainly due to the fact that the Governor's wife was judging. It's not likely that a democratic judge would choose a republican candidate! Cookie just enjoyed visiting with all the gabillion different types of dogs and eating her doggie snow cone and cooling off in the pool. Allison and I enjoyed all the freebie stuff.
We also enjoyed a brief piano presentation from Allison on Saturday as she finished her yearly private lessons. She missed the year end recital with her school as we were in Indy that weekend for the wedding, so her teacher asked her to come play for one of the younger classes. Now it's time for summer camp piano lessons! And Scott will be starting summer camps as well. He is looking forward to a busy summer of play! He is feeling very sad now that his best friend moved from across the street. They had him over to their new house briefly to check it out last weekend, but they are currently away on a two week vacation to Ireland with their entire family. So my hope is Scott will be completely worn out at camp and won't miss him too much.
Allison and I also spent Friday night helping out with our previous volunteer program for The American Cancer Society. In February, our entire family made luminary bags for the Relay for Life all night cancer walk/run. The luminary bags were dedicated to those fighting cancer or those that passed away from cancer. We had punched star shapes in all the bags, and then the names of those with cancer are placed on the bags along with colored ribbons representing their type of cancer. Our family prepared several hundred bags back in February and Allison and I assisted with the sale of more bags on Friday night. We spent 4 hours at the event, from 4-8pm when she had to leave for her piano lesson. We were very busy helping sell out all the bags, including bags for Cats and Dogs with cancer! They ran out of room on the track for all the bags, and they had to double up the rows. Sadly we missed the lighting of all the bags at 930 that night(Allison and I were just too tired to go back). We did enjoy the opening ceremony when they released a flock of doves. And we took a stroll around the track to admire all our hard work. Allison and I were surprised to spot a bag decorated in memory for Allison's 3rd grade art teacher from Resurrection St Paul. And we made a bag in honor of Tom's Uncle Peter who is currently fighting lung cancer. We all have certainly been touched by someone who has had cancer. The sale of bags and the fund raiser I was told raised over $127,000 for the Cancer Society, up by $30,000 from last year. Last count we sold over 2000 bags for the event. The coordinator for the luminary bags was so impressed with Allison and myself she is hoping we come back next year. (Sounds like a great program for the Scouts!)
Wish us luck getting through finals this upcoming week!

Once again, Allison and I just returned from a trip-this time to Indiana for Stacey Seitz's wedding to Matt Draper. Stacey is the daughter of Tom's brother Mark and his wife Linda. Stacey just graduated from nursing school at Purdue University in Indy. Her brother Eric is still attending school there as well. Now she is off on her honeymoon to Hawaii and then back to their new house and off to her new job!
We had a wonderful, quick visit to the Seitz family out in Indy. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun. We drove half way to Indy from Baltimore on Thursday night. Allison had to miss school on Friday, but Scott was done for the year. We also decided to take Cookie on this trip. She is a great car rider, but not so great in hotels we discovered. She gets a little excited if she hears a noise and started barking! Tom had to sleep next to her to keep her quiet through the night. So we did not get much sleep on Thursday, and then we finished our drive on Friday(with a quick shopping stopover at the JC Penney outlet in Columbus). We always manage to find something we can use there.
We arrived in time on Friday to unpack the car, change and head over to the rehearsal dinner. It was quite a large group and we all enjoyed the food(especially the cheesecake!) at a family style Italian restaurant. Saturday was the wedding scheduled at 230 pm. Stacey was beautiful, and so were all her bridesmaids in bright, hot pink. The men looked terrific in their tuxes. The wedding was very nice-the rain was even timed during the ceremony so we did not get drenched when we came out. After some quick family photos(for us anyway), we stopped back at Mom and Dad Seitzs house for quick hors d'ouvres and to chat with extended family members(that I invited over to share our wine!). It was fun to see everyone again since we figured we haven't been out to Indy since Thanksgiving 2008. That was the time that Scott's birthday fell directly on Thanksgiving Day and we went off and did a Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning with Mark Seitz and family. We were also hunting for a dog at the local pounds that trip.
Anyhow, we then headed out to the Wedding reception for the evening at a local museum, Conner Prairie. Dinner was wonderful and we especially enjoyed the cupcakes afterwards(a new wedding trend rather than big wedding cake). Notice a trend on appreciation for the desserts! Yum. The reception was fun, Allison caught the bouquet(she loved it) and we got a few dances in until the power went out! There were a few big storms moving through the area and the wind apparently knocked down some power lines. It actually made for quite a romantic mood since the candles on all the tables were still lit. But it did not last(and either did the air conditioning it seemed!). Our little ones had had enough, so we headed back to the Seitz house. We shared the house with Linda's sister, husband and their daughter Allyson visiting from Michigan. Their Allyson just finished the dietitian program at MSU. They could not stay long since they had to head back to Michigan and ferry their son off to an orientation program on Monday at Ferris State.
My Allison and I were in the same predicament. We had to fly back on Sunday so Allison could go to school. She had some studying and homework to keep her busy over the weekend, but at least she did not have to study for finals! Not yet anyhow. We took off late Sunday evening so we could spend some time on Sunday visiting with family. We got to meet Gus, Tom's sister Susan's new dog-a ridgeback that is as big as a small horse! I think Cookie was a bit intimidated, but they very nicely shared chewing on a bone.
So after dinner, Tom and Scott dropped us off at the airport. You're right Dad Seitz, the Indy airport is very nice. It did not take Allison and I very long to check in and the extra time in the airport gave Allison time to work on her math review packet. Unfortunately a large storm was coming and Southwest airlines decided to out race it(much to my and Allison's disappointment!). We are not one for bumpy flights and I was not sure how this was going to turn out. The storm had already hit when we taxied out to the runway with rain crashing down sideways! The crew got us up and out of the storm pretty quick though and it was beautiful blue skies and pink clouds all the rest of the way to Baltimore. We flew in over the Baltimore Harbor at night and made a turn over the Francis Scott Key bridge. It was fun looking at the places we had just sailed by the weekend before. So we managed to get back home a bit early which was better since Allison had a full week of classes. Tom and Scott are staying in Indy to visit with Tom's family since Scott is off school and summer camps don't start until the 21st of June.
Scott enjoyed his last week of school. On the very last day the class all went to a pool party in the afternoon. Sadly it was the one day it was cold and rainy, but they all still managed to have a good time. And a very nice parent took Scott and dropped him off at home with Allison so Tom and I did not have to miss work. We also enjoyed the last Cub Scout Pack meeting of the year complete with campfire and awards and patches. Tom was off to Allison's field hockey game that night. I missed cub scout training session though. Instead, Allison and I were enjoying a mother daughter evening getting a manicure and pedicure for the wedding. Allison especially enjoyed having her toes decorated with sparkles and flowers painted on the big toes! (Her first pedicure!) I still need volunteer training though since I am helping out this summer at Cub Scout camp. This will be Scott's last cub scout year as next year he will bumping up to an official scout.
I will let you know how Allison and I survive her last week of school! Kathleen

Allison and I just got home from a 2 day sailing trip on the Chesapeake Bay with the Girl Scouts! It was put on by an organization called Living Classrooms. The crew sailed the boats, cooked the food and provided educational programs for all the girls. We spent 6 hrs on the Bay Saturday sailing down to our GS campground, spent the night and then sailed back home. We had to hurry since each day we were under tstorm watches and warnings which turned into tornado watches on Sunday. Fortunately they timed the sailing and we arrived back in Baltimore before a big tstorm blew by. Our sailboat was the smaller of the two, a skipjack which was originally used for harvesting oysters in the bay. The boat is over 100 yrs old. We had 23 girls and 7 adults and 4 crew members on our boat, The Sigsbee. The other boat, The Lady Maryland had at least double that amount. We did lose about 15 girls Saturday night when they decided to call their parents and ask to be picked up. The camp had a bit too many bugs-primarily ticks-which some of the girls there have already had lyme disease and did not want to chance getting it again. That is actually why most of my girls did not join Allison and myself. But Allison was able to work with the other girls-all ages from 10-16. They learned about all the creatures that live around the bay and even caught a few in a trolling net, they talked about navigation and how to sail a large boat, looked at creatures under the microscope and checked for ph levels and salinity levels since the bay is brackish(half salt, half fresh). So we saw quite a variety of creatures, everything from crabs to sting rays. I just can't believe how hot it was this past weekend. We hit 80 degrees by 8am! We had a strong south wind blowing, but the storms were coming in from the north west. All the storms that produced tornadoes through Ohio and southern Michigan. Glad to hear Indiana beat the storms since Stacey and her friend Alex from Germany went to an outdoor concert. I was also happy we beat the storms-I don't think I would enjoy a tstorm sitting on a sailboat, not to mention a water spout. A few years ago a surprise storm hit the harbor and flipped over one of the pontoon taxi boats that ferry people around the Baltimore harbor. Several people died as they were trapped under the canopy of the boat. I was glad we did not have to deal with any quick moving storms. So we survived and Allison said we don't have to do that again. She wants the next sailing trip to focus more on the sailing.
I also had to cancel my horsebackriding for the girl scouts once again since the tstorms were around all weekend. I will get them out riding some day. Last year at this time we were camping with a large service unit from a nearby town at the Boy Scout campground. Of course it rained then too and I almost got my van stuck in the mud roads! And Allison was almost eaten alive by ants that had crawled into her sleeping bag. The joys of camping. The girls are actually looking forward to an upcoming GS premiere of Twilight. We get to see the movie at midnite one whole day earlier than the rest of the country. They are working on getting the first two movies and turn it into a Twilight marathon. They will also have giveaways and raffles-and Allison is turning it into her birthday party so the girls will be spending the night. Lucky Tom will be out of town that week in San Fran.
As a matter of fact he was out of town last week in Chicago this time. I was glad he beat the storms home too although he said flying was pretty bumpy.
I spent the week trying to get packed up and ready for our sailing trip and our trip to Indy next weekend for Stacey's wedding. Allison has been busy finishing up projects for school. She will have High School Assessments and Finals in the next several weeks. We even had to ask for formal permission for her to take off a day to to travel to Indy for the wedding so she doesn't miss any of her deadlines. Scott is heading to the end of his school days. He had a full week, but not much in the way of homework. Thank goodness.
Allison also is playing Field Hockey on Monday and WEds nights-in between the rain drops. Scott is finishing up his gymnastics class for the year. He enjoyed it so much, he asked to take one week of summer camp there too. Of course, they are also spending a day at the bounce house and playing laser tag, so what is not to love?
I will send some photos of our sailing trip when I get Tom to download them in my computer!
Kathleen