It certainly has been a busy three weeks! For one, I was getting ready for a trip to Orlando, Florida with Tom. He was asked to present a paper at a conference last week at Disneyland. He wanted all of us to come along, but with school in session, it is a bit too hard to pull the kids out for a week. However, we did decide to take Scott with us since he would only be missing 4 days. Ha! With all the homework he had to make up, as well as working on homework/studying during the trip, you would have thought we had been gone for several months! Thank goodness for computer access. Right before we left for vacation, we had SCott's teacher conferences. Unfortunately, most of his teachers were completely booked by the time I checked the online computer access after getting home from work. We did manage to meet with two of his teachers who gave us assignments to work on while Scott was gone. And we decided to move Scott out of the 9th grade Algebra class and into the regular algebra program(he is in 7th grade). Tom and I just think the class moves way too fast, and we want Scott to have a strong grasp of the math rather than just race through the program. They tried to do the same to Allison, but she did just fine in her math classes by waiting one year. Of course, Scott is now complaining that the new math class is too slow and they are reviewing information he already knows, but I told him he could use a break in his homework load! And so can we! He should have no problem completing the 9th grade Algebra class next year in the 8th grade like Allison.

I wanted to leave for Florida on a Friday, but we decided to use the free day to pack, cut the lawn and meet with Scott's teachers. I also had to deliver food items to work that Allison sold as a fund raiser for her Field Hockey team. Tom and I had Friday off, as well as Scott since his school was having parent teacher conferences. It gave him time to start on his homework, as well as scheduling a computer play date with one of his classmates at our house. And in the afternoon, Tom and I enjoyed one of Allison's Field Hockey games, although they lost to a very tough team(but not by much!). Allison has been extremely busy. She also had two other games that week, piano lesson, attended the National Honor Society Induction ceremony for new members, and attended a GS council meeting, not to mention keeping up with school.

That was the main reason we had to leave Allison home. She had about the same schedule, plus work. We were very proud of her as she has never had to stay by herself for such a long time. She got herself to school, work and field hockey, plus took care of the house and the pets. We did get that dreaded phone call -at least we got a phone call-from Allison asking if she could host a sleepover pasta party for the entire Field Hockey team on their last game night! I think there is about 20 girls on the team. Tom and I just couldn't imagine all those girls in our house with no parental supervision. Allison then asked if they could just have the dinner at our house, but again, Tom and I did not want to be the parents responsible if something went wrong. And I was a bit curious why no one else on the team did not offer their house, even for a dinner. Or why the girls couldn't just go out for dinner. Tom and I were afraid that the girls on the team may have been trying to take advantage of Allison. Who knows, but we do know that Allison is a very responsible girl. And there was no party.

Meanwhile, the rest of us headed down to Florida. We drove since the airfare was so high. We arrived in Orlando on Sunday afternoon. After Tom checked into his conference, we toured our hotel. We stayed at the Disneyland Dolphin and Swan. We wandered over to the Disney Boardwalk next door and Scott took a quick swim in the nearby Disney Yacht and Beach resort(he had to try out the pirate slide). On Monday we all headed over to Epcot center to enjoy the Food and Wine festival. Each country had extra food booths but they charged around $3-$5 per sample. We decided to try food items we hadn't eaten before, but Tom and I did break down in Germany and had a bratwurst on a pretzel roll. Yum! Scott especially enjoyed his samples of escargot in France! And Tom and I shared a beer during the Air Supply concert in the evening(I'm all out of love). Plus we hit all the rides and Tom and Scott tried Mission Space for the first time. Tom said if the ride was any longer he would have barfed. We were sad though that the Test Drive ride was being remodeled and we missed CAptain EO(but we did catch that show in LA last year). WE also tried a new activity with Scott using a cell phone solving several Phineas and Ferb detective stories throughout the park-basically a scavenger hunt.

On Tuesday Tom was off to his conference and SCott and I visited Seaworld. We enjoyed feeding the dolphins and the sting rays and watching all 6 shamus splash and jump in their show. We just stayed half a day and then headed over to the Sea World water park. Thank goodness it was plenty warm down in Florida. We could have done without the humidity though.

Weds Scott and I took the transport boat over to Disney Studios. We have never been to that park so we thought we'd try something new. It is similar to the Disney CAlifornia Adventure in LA. They have some similar rides. Tom was busy presenting his paper at the conference. Scott and I had a wonderful time discovering this new park. I was just a bit annoyed that the Backlot tour was closed for remodeling. Now I know what they do on the off season. Scott loved the rock n roll Aerosmith roller coaster and the Twilight Tower of Terror. He said the ride was different than the one in LA. And I loved the Star Tours ride(they have 33 different videos so the ride is never the same I guess until ride number 34). And I wore my Neil Diamond tshirt and everyone kept asking me about the concert. 

Thursday we checked out of the hotel and traveled to Tampa to visit Busch Gardens. We have passes to Busch and Seaworld so we wanted to take advantage of our membership. I was looking forward to participating in the Howl O Scream haunted houses on Thursday night, but Tampa charges extra for their Halloween program after park hours. Tom did not feel like spending another hundred bucks especially since Scott gets terrified and won't even go through the haunted houses. So no haunted houses for me this year. Poop. But we had fun at the park. And Tom and SCott got to try out the brand new magnetic accelerated Cheetah Hunt roller coaster. Twice. And we watched the park vets work on a small antelope that was brought in from the field that was not doing well in their brand new clinic. We also enjoyed watching the elephants eat their way through a food obstacle course. Did not know elephants ate bananas and coconuts.

We stopped in for dinner at the Taco Bus highlighted on Food Network's show,  Diner, Dives and Drive ins. And then drove down to Venice to visit with Tom's parents. Friday we spent the day bike riding along the intercoastal bike path and enjoyed spotting the gopher tortoises. We rode down to Casperson Beach and were pleasantly surprised to see that the Red Tide had moved away. The week before most of the beaches were closed with lots of dead fish. But on Friday the water was warm, clear and Scott and I had a great time swimming and picking up shells and shark teeth. Tom enjoyed reading his book sitting on the new covered picnic tables. And we were all happy to see the new showers and facilities installed at the beach. They even embedded shark teeth in the new sidewalks! And Friday night we had dinner at Pops with Tom's parents at Nokomis beach. I also had time to visit the family at the local cemetery and drove by my parent's house for a quick check. I was just sad to hear that the dolphin Mooch died who used to beg for food scraps on the boats that traveled through the intercoastal waters near the Nokomis beach. Probably too many cheeseburgers.

Saturday we had to head home. Our drive was delayed through the Orlando area as the police shut down a section of I-4 to escort some debutant or politician-probably to Disney World. Tom would have loved to have made the entire drive in one day and night, but I needed a break, so we stopped along the way in North Carolina. By 3pm on Sunday, we were back in Baltimore. Plenty of time to unload the car and do even more laundry! Allison was off to GS choir practice. 

This week Scott has been busy catching up with his schoolwork. And Congratulations to Scott. He finally finished his Second Class Rank in Boy Scouts after his scout interview. He also had a great check up at the dentist! No cavaties. Allison had her first Regional Field Hockey game and they won. ON to the semifinals.

As you may have heard, we are having a small Noreaster/Hurricane/Tropical Storm next week. School has already been closed. I still kept my original plans of having the neighbors over for a small Halloween party Saturday night however. So on Friday I headed out for some party supplies. That was when it was announced that we were under a State of Emergency. The lines got a lot longer and everything was flying off the shelves including batteries, water and toilet paper!  The gas lines were long too. They sold out of ice and propane gas by Saturday afternoon. The kids were told to bring home all their books in case they get stuck for a week or so out of school.

Our party was a lot of fun on Saturday night. We enjoyed chili, brats and Koegel vienna hot dogs from Michigan. But the highlight of the evening were the games. I had a request to repeat the Pictionary game. Last year we had to guess Scary Movie titles. This year I had them guessing scary Musicals. Although some people think Musicals themselves are scary. It is hysterical watching people figure out how to draw titles of the Broadway shows. Most of my guests did not or could not believe that some of the shows were actually musicals-like Titanic. After recuperating from that activity, I had them play the Taboo game where they have to get their team to guess a word without using key phrases listed on the cards. That was even tougher than the pictionary game! Especially after a few beers or glasses of wine!  It was a lot of fun and easy to put together. I did not put up as many Halloween decorations though since the news is recommending everything be put away for the storm. At least the spiderwebs won't blow away. And I had less help since Scott and Tom went off on a 10 mile Boy Scout hike. And Allison had to work and then went off to her own Halloween party Saturday night. She also had an early start with her piano lesson in the morning, followed by volunteering at a kid's neighborhood Halloween parade passing out candy with her Field Hockey team.  She also put in some National Honor Society volunteer hours on Friday when we both volunteered at a Haunted Hay Ride. haunted house and served up Allison's head when she poked through a hole in a table after I pulled a cover off her. I guess we did  a pretty good job with our skit as they asked us back on Saturday night. But we had other plans. I did try to get my girl scouts to join me but no luck. They all were involved in band and had football games to attend.

I did pick up my girl scout cookies this week however. I also found out that my poor cookie mom who is going in for brain surgery next week got in a car accident last week. She broke her hand and was bruised and burned from the airbags. Poor baby. So now I am taking over cookie sales and distribution.

And our Sunday schedule was changed all around. Tom and I were supposed to enjoy a Temptations concert at Charlestown Sunday afternoon with our neighbors. It was cancelled due to the hurricane. Allison was called into work to help out with a Halloween party, so I took Scott and a neighbor friend and we all went rollerblading too. Afterwards I dropped Scott and his friend off at a neighborhood kids party(like I used to have). Sounds like the same challenges I have had-54 kids in one house and someone got hit in the head and needed stitches when a toy was thrown. Glad those days are over for me! We adults were actually invited, but Tom and I opted out. Glad we did.

I also attempted several times to early vote, but the wait was over 2 hours on SAturday and Sunday. They are closing the early polls after tomorrow. Guess I have to wait until Election DAy. 

So I hope we are not out of power for too many days. Tom and I will still have to work, if we can get there. They may even postpone Halloween. We had to run out to Home Depot to buy spray paint so Allison can turn herself into a Lego block for the Kindergartners Halloween party(when ever that will be). She seems to be enjoying her internship-she has been teaching the class lessons at least once a week. They especially enjoyed her lesson on the bat, Stella Luna. Well, we are off to fill out college applications before the power goes out from Frankenstorm!

Enjoy the photos-Halloween in Disney, The Dolphin Hotel at Disney, Air Supply at Epcot, Sea World, RocknRoll Rollercoaster by Aerosmith at Disney Studios and Cheetah Hunt rollercoaster at Busch Gardens. Casperson Beach(new facilities), Gopher Tortoise on the bike ride and Allison in the Haunted House.

It turned cold and rainy this weekend. We started off wearing shorts on Saturday morning and switched to sweatshirts and sweatpants by Saturday afternoon as the cold front came through.

Tom and Scott spent the weekend camping. They enjoyed a Boy Scout 100th anniversary camping weekend that brought out about 10,000. There were only 4 boys from Scott's troop and 3 adults, but the place was packed with cub scouts and boy scouts. They had to be bussed into the camping area, so Tom brought our big tent to put all the boys in together. Tom slept in a small hiking tent(but didn't actually sleep much). He said it was too noisy-coughing, snoring and crying.  And that was just the adults.  But it sounds like they had a great time with their activity packed day on Saturday. Scott had the opportunity to horseback ride, mountain bike, play games, make and shoot off a rocket, watch  police dogs in action as well as police robots, meet a race car driver, listen to stories about indians, look at a display about the Hubble telescope, play with Lego Robots, practice leatherworking and participate in a bridge ropes course. All in one day. And they finished the evening with a Battle of the Bands concert, fireworks and Laser light show. Even Tom spent his day trying out of few activities including bridge building out of paper and cardboard to support a human. Tom said by the evening, most of the boys were falling asleep and freezing cold, so they watched the fireworks and laser light show from the tent. And Scott finished off his last 1st class requirement on Friday night-telling direction at night by looking for the north star.

Tom and Scott had to rush off after work on school on Friday, so Tom had the car packed up on Friday morning. I had to run and get SCott's scout pants from the dry cleaners on Friday morning so he would have some long pants to keep him warm. I am glad I did. It sure got cold. I also managed to get to my swim aerobics class on Friday morning and cut the lawn. I would have enjoyed watching all of Allison's field hockey game on Friday afternoon, but I had to leave at the half time to pick up Scott so he would be dressed and ready  when Tom got home to go camping. I managed to watch the first half of Allison's game and it was very exciting. They played a tough school and managed to win!

When Allison got home, we both went out for Mexican food and then just passed out on the couch watching Harry Potter. (AFter I walked the dog and had Allison try to sell a few more boxes of Girl Scout cookies). Our pre sales ended this weekend. We are saving up for a trip to Michigan next summer(with a stop over at Cedar Point)!

Allison's team lost their Field Hockey game to a fairly easy team on Monday, so they were happy to get a win on Friday. Just 4 more games left in the season! 

Scott is busy with his school's Lego club which now meets twice a week, as well as choir which meets in the morning before school. He also had a boy scout meeting on Tuesday to attend. Allison and I were busy with the start of our Girl SCout choir season. We attended our first practice this Sunday afternoon. I have also been keeping Allison busy with filling out college applications. I just wish all the schools asked for the same essay. At least Allison has been working on essay writing in her English class. So far we have all her paperwork/computerwork filled out, money sent for transcripts and SAT scores and teacher/counselor recommendations requested. Now she just has to fill out essays. And thank goodness her applications are not all due on the same day! Her time is limited as well, especially now. She put in a two session shift at the skate center, working from noon until 1030pm on Saturday. (More spending money for Europe next summer).

Before she left for work, she had a piano lesson. And we both took Cookie up to church for the Blessing of the Animals on the Feast of St Francis. It was fun seeing how all the dogs interacted during the prayer service. And I was even recruited to complete a reading and the responsorial psalm.

I had high hopes of getting a ton of activities done over the weekend, but spent most of my time at the hair salon trying to get some new highlights put in(getting ready for Florida!). So I had to hurry up the rest of my chores including some shrub trimming, grocery shopping, banking for girl scouts and tried to get my appraisal letter for my new ring(the jeweler never sent it). I tried to even get Cookie a trim, but the dog salon was all filled. So I broke down and trimmed Cookie's nails and fur around her eyes so she can see! I also started the work week off by attending my Girl Scout Leader meeting.

Now we are getting ready for our trip to Florida. I don't like pulling Scott out of school, but he is only missing 4 days. Allison is staying home on her own. She is just too busy to miss anything. We also decided to switch SCott's math teacher. We do not like when the school pushes the kids so far ahead. If Scott stays on this track, he would finish Algebra 1 and Geometry before high school. We prefer he just finish Algebra 1 by 8th grade. So he is going into Allison's old math class when we get back from Florida. What a relief that will be.

 Here is a shot of cookie getting blessed by Fr Warren!

 

This certainly has been a nice first full week of fall. And the leaves on the trees have started turning. I am not ready.  Saturday was the Mt Hebron High School Homecoming. I started the morning with the kids at the neighborhood parade. It actually starts up at Scott's school, so we love going to the beginning. Especially since the kids on the floats love to throw candy! And since there are not a whole lot of kids at the start of the parade, SCott usually makes out quite well. It is better than Halloween! And he has started a tradition of following the parade up to the high school on his bike so he can still collect the goodies.  He came home with a small backpack full of candy! He was in heaven.
Then he was off studying for his math test.

Tom, Allison and I decided to watch the Homecoming football game. Allison has not yet seen a football game at her school and we all thought she should see at least one before she graduates next year. I realized I had never seen a high school football game either. I was always too busy playing basketball in high school and the seasons overlap. So we headed up to the school in the afternoon and enjoyed Chick Fil A sandwiches and a very exciting game. Mt Hebron usually has a losing team in football, but this seems to be their year. So far the boys are undefeated, and they played an exciting game on Saturday, winning 29 -0. And Allison was happy to hear that the Seniors came in first for Spirit Week. She had fun dressing up each day last week for a different theme -costume day, Spirit day, wacky tacky day. She even missed her internship so she could attend the pep rally on Friday afternoon. She also finished selling pizzas for her Field Hockey fund raiser. Now back to cookie sales.

And she had her own games to worry about. Her Field Hockey team played twice last week. The girls won both games, but more excitedly they beat the number one rated County team on Friday! And Tom was off work so he was able to go see the game.   She also received her official letter approving her Girl Scout Gold Award program! More work for her. At least she had some time to celebrate by attending the Homecoming dance. We had picked up a great dress last year and she still did not have a chance to wear it. So she was looking forward to going to the dance, but could not find anyone to go with her. Most of her friends were going as couples. I checked with our neighbor's daughter and Allison ended up tagging along with that group of sophomore girls. She said she ran into a group of seniors while she was there though and had a lot of fun dancing with all of them.

She also had Weds. off school(more jewish holidays). So she spent the morning at her internship, and I took her to the University of Maryland for a college tour in the afternoon. I don't know who had more fun-Allison or myself. Uof MD reminds me of MSU in a way. Both schools started out as agricultural schools and have been around for over 100 years. The campus is huge and surprisingly hilly. Lots of trees and squirrels. We had a 2 hour walking tour of the campus and even caught a flash mob dance on the main green. We visited a dorm room, the athletic fields and stadium and most of the main buildings that house the different programs. And we had to rub the mascot's nose for good luck. Yes it is a turtle or Terrapin(Maryland native turtle) and he is good luck for all the students. We also paid homage to a few graduates including Jim Henson of the Muppets, the UnderArmour president and the CEO of the Washington Redskins. Not sure if Allison would be as interested in such a large, competitive school. Of course the business school is very popular and has limited enrollment. But we are working on an application. And we did enjoy milkshakes at the school dairy which reminded me of State.

While Allison was off dancing Saturday night, Tom and I headed over to our favorite wine store in Old Ellicott City to watch one of our favorite college movies-Monty Python and the Holy Grail -the last outdoor movie of the season. We picked up Boston Market and a bottle of wine and enjoyed a cool night out repeating all the favorite movie lines. We are definitely getting old-Tom fell asleep at the end of the movie. He had spent all his free time on Saturday spraying the siding on the whole house with an anti moss/algae/mold spray. We get enough rain and heat here to grow plants on the side of the house! So he basically powerwashed the entire house with lots of moving and climbing our big ladders as the siding is in difficult to reach places. While he was cleaning, I was busy trimming the shrubs and raking leaves(that time of year again). We never did get to cutting the lawn until Sunday, and we still have shrubs to trim.   I broke down and put up a few outside Halloween decorations but I am certainly not  the first in the neighborhood. And by the time I got around to trimming shrubs on Sunday, it had started to rain/tstorm.

Since I took Allison on the college tour on Weds I had to work a half day on Friday. I would have just taken the whole day off on Weds, but I had to teach a class on low vision at work to the residents in the morning. I did get to my swim class again on Friday morning though, and still had time to go out to lunch with TOm since it was his day off. We like to try new places when we get a chance, so we headed to a small diner near my place of work. We decided it was ok, a bit pricey for the amount of food that you get though so don't think we will be rushing back.

(Here are a few shots of the Homecoming parade-Scott and his friend Jack are busy collecting candy. Also University of Maryland Terrapins-good luck turtle and Jim Henson and frog(notice the connection? Also a shot of the college green-not exactly the Red Cedar river, but a pretty good substitute. As Allison says, at least the fountain isn't shut down in the summer due to high pollution levels. )  (Allison enjoys a milkshake at Uof MD and off to the homecoming dance)






The kids had a busy week with extra programs to fit in. Scott started his Lego club in school. Tom would like to help coach, but can't get to the meetings at 3:30-right after school. Last year he took the kids to the competition since the teacher in charge was out with a broken foot. Scott also had altar serving yearly training. And Scott has been working hard at earning his next level in boy scouts to achieve 1st class rank. He just has one more requirement to go-telling directions at night using the stars. But every night they meet has been cloudy, so he has not been able to get to that requirement. But he did memorize what he needed for a safe boat trip. He also spent the weekend baking a loaf of bread from scratch. His school had the ingredients donated to provide a loaf of bread to the homeless-one loaf per family. So he baked a loaf of bread and also treated us to cinnamon rolls.

I also scheduled a girl scout meeting on Thursday night to see what the girls would like to do this year-their last year as scouts. I decided to just have a bonfire and make s'mores since we had lots of marshmallows and chocolate left over from the boy scout camping weekend and we had some extra wood that needed to be burned. However, it was very warm and 100% humidity so I was sweating around the fire. And then we had a thunderstorm. At least our meeting turned out well. I still think it is funny that the girls drive themselves to the meetings now rather than having their parents drop them off. 

Thanks for all of the family members and friends that participated in our Walk Around the World contest at my work. I will turn in our miles this coming week.