Just a quick blog as we are heading out the door. We are headed out west and back via mini van. Tom and I thought it would be a great way to spend our 25th anniversary(although I enjoy my new ring too!).

We will be stopping out in LA for a few days to visit with Mike Bozyk. We hope to visit the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Vegas, and Yellowstone just for the highlights. Tom's sister Susan and her husband John will be watching Cookie for us for which we are very grateful.

Speaking of Tom's family, Mark Seitz had a successful surgery for a twisted intestine last Sunday and he was sent home today from the hospital. Happy Healing Mark!

Meanwhile, my parents are still trying to figure out when my Dad will be scheduled for his prostate surgery. Hopefully they will get a date next week.

My brother Mike is still trying to figure out what is going on in his arm. he's had a painful right arm for many months which seems to be getting worse. He had an MRI of his shoulder but nothing unusual and next week is a nerve conduction study to determine if it is carpal tunnel syndrome. The doctor also wants to make sure he doesn't have a pinched nerve in his neck. I hope he finds out soon, but unfortunately he won't be cured soon enough before our visit.

This week seemed to fly by quickly as both kids were gone. Allison was off to her Field Hockey camp at Hopkins University in downtown Baltimore. She asked to spend the night this time. She said she did quite well and learned a lot. But it was unbelievably hot. WE hit a record 103 during her camp session. They passed out frozen towels and lots of gatorade especially to the goalies. She finished camp on Weds afternoon and Tom picked her up. He took the day off work to get her and then head to the dentist. He decided he really likes our new dentist. And found out that he is related to one of his fellow employees(brother in law). Actually our new dentists are husband and wife. Tom met the husband. He just couldn't believe how friendly they all are in the office.

Scott on the other hand got a ride home early on Friday from Boy SCout camp in PA. Sounds like he had a very good time. He actually called us during a pizza party on Thursday night and sounded very wound up! And he managed to earn himself 6 badges, including two that are EAgle requirements. He got his First Aid and Environmental Science badges, both required. And then he had Fishing, Electricity, REptiles and Amphibians and Basketry. He made himself a few baskets and a nice stool. He especially enjoyed the REptile badge. We are very proud of all his hard work. He even had to pass some tests for the badges.

Tom and I just stayed home and were busy at work. We are losing another therapist in my clinic so there was a bit of panic when my vacation time came up. They even wanted me to work on Friday, but I was too busy packing for our trip. Tom spent the week finishing up a paper that he is presenting in Orlando in the fall. So no rest for the weary. We did take some time to have our neighbors over for dinner Thursday night to catch up with the last two weeks of activity. And we also wanted to catch up with our vacation schedule as they will be watching the house.

Take care and we will talk to you all when we return in a few weeks!

Baltimore Blog

So I arrived home from Michigan last Sunday afternoon. I had plenty to do around the house-noone figured out how to do the laundry. Allison was out of running shorts as she was busy trying to get into shape for Field Hockey. She has already had two meetings with her coach and team to discuss next season's strategy. I also had to unpack my car for work the next day and get Scott's paperwork ready for the Y camp.

I planned on speaking to the head counselor and so Monday morning we had a chat. I let her know the boys in Scott's group have been harrassing him. She said she did not know(Scott did not want to say anything). I let her know I was concerned about him heading to the lakes all week and swimming when the boys were treating him so bad. She said she understood-she was an excop and her son had been bullied in school. She also said the group was quite large and ran from 11-17 years old. Scott had made a friend, but he was not at the camp at this time. SCott did manage to hang out with one girl who was friendly to him. The counselor told me they were going to split up the boys and keep a closer eye on Scott. I also told her I would love to get my $20 back since they found out who was stealing things out of kids backpacks(a younger kid). He was booted from the camp. They told me they would look into it but I am not holding my breath.

So Scott's week was not too bad. Monday was pretty slow but Tuesday the camp headed to Cascade Lake. Scott enjoys jumping off the raft and the high dive in the center of the lake. I let him play hooky on Weds since a school friend invited him to a local pool for the day and then the boys headed to our house for an afternoon of video games. His friend stayed so long I invited him to dinner. Boy that kid could put away the ribs I made. On Thursday Scott headed to Harpers Ferry for a day of tubing. He was not too thrilled with the trip however since the river was so slow it was a lot of extra paddling. He preferred the trip he took last year with our Parks and Rec Dept. Guess I will plan on signing up for that program next year. He did manage to make it to his swim lesson, even after all that paddling on Thursday. Friday I kept him home to work on packing for boy scout camp. I wanted to take him to the Boy SCout store and get him a bigger shirt, but I just didn't have time and I would not have gotten all his patches sewn on either before he left on Sunday. I also went into work Friday morning after a doctor appointment. They asked me to see some new patients, however, it turns out they did not have as many patients as they expected. So I just worked a half day which was good since it was Allison's birthday on Friday. She turned 17! I had to take her in for a physical for Field Hockey season. We also took her out to dinner and to see the Spiderman movie. The kids loved it but Tom and I thought it was a bit slow. She had a lot of nice birthday surprises including a new phone and Vera Bradley wristlet to put it in. Tom also got her a Kindle. I also had to stock her up on Field Hockey shorts and sports bras for camp this weekend as well as for her preseason which starts in August. I have also been putting her new driving freedom to work by having her run to the grocery store for me and taking herself to piano lesson while I took Scott to his swim lesson.

I was pooped out by Saturday morning, but I had to get up early in a rain storm and pack up the van for our Boy SCout Fishing Derby. I also picked up our neighbor's son. Unfortunately, since we woke up to a tstorm they cancelled the derby. But we were all prepared to fish, and I needed photo proof that Scott could indeed catch something, so we stayed while he pulled in a few small sunfish. Most of them fell off the line into the water, but I managed to get one photo. We even took home a sunfish that didn't make it so Scott could practice cleaning a fish as one of the prerequisites. He did very well for his first time.

I also had to run over to a local brand new Nature Center with Allison in the afternoon. She is still searching for a Girl SCout Gold Award project and was interested in some type of nature program. She was inquiring about installing blue bird houses, but most parks seem chock full of them. Instead, one of the new centers asked Allison if she would design a Bird Trail with some wood carvings they have so they can take kids out on the trail and teach them about Maryland wildlife. Sounds good to me. Of course she still needs preapproval from Girl SCout council. Maybe they won't be quite so hard on her this time. We had lots of volunteer paperwork to sign and then we headed out on the trails around the new Nature Center to check out the grounds and take photos.

Afterwards we headed to our new grocery store to pick up a picnic dinner for our outdoor Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert. Tom thought we might be rained out, but the evening was beautiful, although a big muggy and humid. We even got a fireworks show after listening to theme songs from Star Wars, Batman and Pirates of the Carribbean. I always manage to run into someone I know there and Saturday night was no exception. ONe of the PT's I work with was there with her husband and son and friends and stopped by to say hello and meet my family.

It was a very long day, but the weekend was not over. Early Sunday morning Tom dropped Scott off for his boy scout camping week. The troop is carpooling up to PA, north of Reading to Hawk Mountain. As soon as he dropped SCott off it was time to drop Allison off at Hopkins University in downtown Baltimore for Field Hockey camp. We got her settled into her dorm room since she is sleeping overnight and then took her out to lunch before saying goodbye. She had a few games on Sunday afternoon but had to quit when a t-storm rolled in. She says she is having a good time. I also dropped Cookie off at the pet store to get another summer haircut. It has been so incredibly hot this summer and she will be visiting with Susan and John in Indy while we are on vacation so we thought she could use another trim. She certainly looks a lot happier.

And we were busy catching up with the status of Tom's brother Mark. He ended up in the hospital on Friday with severe stomach pains. He went in for surgery Sunday morning and they discovered he had a twisted bowel. He is certainly doing much better now. Get better soon Mark!

I left my parent's house on Saturday and my brother's Dan and Dave and Dave's two boys, Nick and Chris arrived on Monday. They drove up from Texas and only had a few days to visit. They were able to get mom and dad to another urology appointment as well as do some work in the basement moving out some old wood and Dad's floor saw. They even had a chance to visit with my Uncle Joe and also drove over to one of the local lakes for a swim. And they brought Dad with them for a break. Dan was also able to set up an installation from AT and T for cable and internet. Dan picked up a laptop to connect but we will have to see if my parents can figure out how to use it. The boys only got to stay for a few days before heading back to Texas. Dave  was starting a new job on Monday and he had to get back home. 

So never a dull moment. My Dad goes back for a urology appointment in 3 weeks-hopefully to discuss the surgery. Nothing is ever simple.

Also want to say thanks to Dan and Jack Hejza for stopping by my parents house for measurements and to figure out a price quote for work that needs to be done.

Here is SCott fishing on SAturday at our local lake and cleaning his first fish. And I cannot believe how big our turtle got in one year. He was just a quarter sized bright green turtle when we brought him from Hilton Head last summer. Look at him now! He needs to move into a bigger tank. And there is Allison at our new Nature Center. 

Baltimore Blog

I have certainly had an interesting two weeks. During my first week(and last week of June) I was on my own with the kids. Tom flew to Chicago for work. Fortunately it wasn't too hectic as Allison was off to GS camp teaching archery. She had a ride every day from our neighbor who was volunteering and had her two little girls enrolled in the day camp. Allison of course had a wonderful time. She even had a job offer teaching archery to girl scouts for a day, but it is scheduled when we will be on vacation.

Scott on the other hand needed dropped off and picked up at his favorite camp-classes at the local university. He took a lego class and a science experiment class. He loved the lego class, but thought the science experiments were rather lame(except for making ice cream!).  And of course there were summer piano lessons for Allison and Scott had swim class to get to as well as trying out a new Boy Scout troop.

We have been very frustrated with Scott's troop and thought it would be fun to try a new troop. I wanted Tom to take him, but he wasn't home. Scott's troop was not meeting that week, so he and I checked out a newer troop. Of course I really liked the parents and leaders, but Scott was not crazy about the boys. It is a small troop and mostly young kids and very old teenage boys that weren't at the meeting because they were packing for Philmont-the High Adventure camp out west for boy scouts. So guess we will keep looking as needed. I also had SCott work on some projects for Boy Scout camp. He is going to work on his fishing badge so he needs to show that he can catch and cook a fish. (Not necessarily in that order).  I had him cook some Tilapia for dinner one night. We will be going fishing in a few weeks for the boy scout fishing derby which will fulfill his prerequisite for catching a fish(if we do indeed catch one!).   Scott is going to work on his Fishing badge, Basketry, Electricity, First Aid, Environmental Science, and Reptiles and Amphibians badge. So he had some work to do before going to camp. He had some research to do and a few reports to write up. I was just excited that he paid for most of his camp by selling popcorn and picking up trash after the 4th of July fireworks last year.

I was also struggling with the decision to head to Michigan to help out my mom and dad. My dad has been recuperating in the rehab center, and on June 30th he was discharged home. I decided to ask for the week of the 4th of July holiday off from work since I figured our out patient clinic would at least be closed one day. They were able to find a substitute to see my patients, so I planned on heading out on Saturday. I am not a long distance driver so I split my trip into two days. The Friday before I left however we had a very big storm. It made all the headlines. It was a solid line of storms from Baltimore to Richmond VA with winds at 80 mph called a Derecho. It hit around 11pm, just after Tom brought Allison home from work. Our power went out, so I couldn't get any more laundry done. At least after the storm rolled through we got our power back on, but much of Maryland and our neighborhood was without power. And lots of trees down.

It felt eerie to drive down our main street with no traffic lights and tree branches hanging off the power lines on Saturday morning. I had a very nice trip and even took myself to see the movie Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp at a cheap movie theatre I found in Ohio.  I got to my parents house early on Sunday afternoon, just in time to drive us all over to my Uncle Joe's house. We had dinner and Mom and Dad took a nap while my Uncle Joe, Aunt Kathy and I swam in the pool. It was a very nice afternoon. Unfortunately, I can't say the rest of the week went as well. My dad had a urology appointment on Tuesday and a dentist appointment before that. I took both of them to the appointments and learned that my dad is going to have to be hospitalized for surgery to his prostate at some point. MOm and I also had to run him to the Hospital ER Thursday morning since they put in a smaller catheter at the urology office and it clogged and needed replaced. Besides doctor appointments, I was helping make sure my Dad got the right medication, as well his helping out with his general care and we even stopped into his barber shop for a hair cut.

Michigan also had incredibly hot weather like the mid atlantic and a few strong storms that took out the power in the Detroit area. I watched a branch hit the power lines early Thursday morning and sparks went flying. Fortunately my parents did not lose power, but I did notice their new air conditioner was not working. I had to call in the service company to have the unit switched on. At least no service fee. And finally some much needed AC. I did get some yardwork done and cut the grass. Dad was able to cut the back lawn with the tractor.  I was also trying to help get the house a bit organized as it appears it will need to be fixed up and sold. I had some friends come in and do an overall assessment of some of the projects that needs to be done. They also helped me set up a large tv that I brought from our house and cable will be installed thanks to the very helpful guy at Best Buy, my great friends the Hejza's and my brothers who visited the week after I left. I couldn't get as much organizing done as I would have liked to as Dad is not quite ready for a change in plans. Due to his decline in his status, it looks like it would be best for the two of them to relocate to their Florida house. My dad was not quite ready to hear that. But he is not supposed to drive or handle the finances alone so it would just be too difficult to travel back and forth to Charlevoix as well as to be quite so isolated in Northern Mich. So big change in plans that was not expected at this time. Life has a way of doing that to us.

It was a pretty stressful week for all of us, but I did enjoy spending time at home. I also was grateful to spend time with my very dear friends the Hejzas. Again, thanks for everything that you all do and did. You all are dear family to us. I loved visiting the Hejza house on the 4th. We had so much fun swimming in the pool, eating way too much great food, talking and even a quick game of scrabble for me before I had to head back to my parents. And I was able to break away to have dinner out with Laura. What fun to have a girls night out. I don't even really get to do that at home much.

Back on the homefront, the kids were melting in the heat and entertaining the neighbors that did not have electricity. They really did not do anything special for the 4th. Tom sent them out on the back porch with  poppers at night. Lame. I am taking us to a Baltimore Symphony Orchestra outdoor concert with fireworks next weekend since we missed out. Scott was miserable at the Y camp. The boys have been harassing him and he missed his field trip to Philly to see the liberty bell and Independence hall. Tom and Scott missed the early morning bus. At least he has been there before. Scott did enjoy one good day swimming at Beaver Dam and swinging on the ropes over the lake. But he came home with a black eye. Mostly he just stayed home from camp with Allison. However, on Friday Allison had her big moment when she passed her driving test!  Now she is a full blown licensed driver. Wow. And she didn't have to work the weekend before because the rink lost power. Now the rink is on their summer schedule so only open on Fridays. And Allison will be able to drive herself to work. Wow again. Mixed feelings about her driving-it is a blessing and a curse.