Happy Augtober! Our weather has been unbelievably hot this past week-in the 90s!  And humid too. And we just turned off the AC. We are trying to have Fall. The leaves are starting to turn and it is cooler at night(thank goodness). The Halloween decorations are coming out(but the Christmas decorations are close behind).

In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, I spent all day Saturday with Scott and his friend Bryce at Six Flags America enjoying Fright Fest. It just happened to be Boy Scout day. They had a discount for Boy Scouts and even a campout on Friday night. I was unable to convince the Troop to attend the event-especially since they had already committed to a church clean up on Saturday. Scott opted out of the clean up to enjoy a day of Amusement park rides and haunted houses. Scott finally decided that the Haunted Houses are actually fun. His friend Bryce joined him-the boy who broke his arm this summer and missed out on the Amusement Park Summer camp. The boys had a great time and I was completely exhausted after 12 hrs walking around the park with temps in the 90s.

We also enjoyed a quick visit to church Saturday morning with Cookie for the annual St Francis Blessing of the Animals service. Cookie enjoyed showing off a few of her tricks to Msgr. John. Friday was the Feast Day of St Francis. I caught the morning mass after dropping Scott off at school. I also enjoyed watching the news Friday as Pope Francis visited the home of St Francis- Assisi, Italy and held Mass. It was exciting to see the Pope at all the places Allison and I visited when we traveled to Assisi, Italy this past summer.

I was getting a head start on Parent Teacher conferences at Scott's school. Tom and I are very familiar with most of Scott's teachers since he has been with them for the past several years. But I did want to speak to his new Language Arts teacher as she is new to the school. The school only blocked two afternoons off for parent meetings and of course they are all filled already. The teachers were nice enough to set up time before and after school to meet and speak to the rest of us who couldn't schedule an appointment at the set times. So Friday morning I stopped in for our scheduled discussion. She is a very nice, young teacher. Her husband also graduated from Salisbury University(Allison's school). So far SCott is doing pretty well-lots of tests. Which is what kept him busy last week. This weekend he is busy writing a paper.

Tom spent his week in Indianapolis-much to his surprise. He had just returned from Chicago, and thought he had a week off of traveling. He even enjoyed an evening having the neighborhood boys over for Monday night football and beer and snacks. Next thing he knew, on Tuesday morning he was off to Indy. He returned home early Friday morning, but had to go into work to go over the week's progress. He had plenty of time to run up to his favorite new computer store with Scott in the evening though. He picked up a laptop for Scott and I to use-hopefully for me to take to work to do my notes when they hook up the wireless connections, and Scott was having trouble with the computer system for his Lego Robotics team at school. So I thought he could use this one too to program the robot. Especially since Scott has the most expertise in programming the robots. He just can't work on it at home. So every Monday and Tuesday after school he is off to Lego club. And on Weds night at Scouts he received his chemistry badge he earned last week, along with his new official job as Troop Librarian. He keeps track of all the badge books during their meetings and checks them in and out. A stress less job during a busy school year.

I should know. After a busy week helping SCott with his studies and attending scout meetings, I was glad to have a day to myself to run errands. Friday I was gone most of the day, or on the telephone. It's nice to have one day to myself to get (most) everything done.I just wish I could have had some extra time to get back to my swim aerobics classes. I had to settle for taking Cookie for a walk. Of course, Scott and I got a work out on Sunday afternoon with yard work-cutting the grass, trimming bushes and raking leaves. Not to mention having to spray for yellow jackets. Now if we could just get a little rain.

Meanwhile, Tom headed out to Salisbury U to catch Allison's Field Hockey games. So far she is undefeated in the net! Just 3 more weekends of games, then she switches to Floor Hockey(mostly for fun). Allison was surprised to see Tom at school since he really didn't tell her he was coming. He also brought her new vacuum cleaner which I heard got a lot of use already. Her Senior yearbook and some Fall mums to brighten up the room. And a case of water for Field Hockey. So after the game Tom took her out for a late lunch and caught the Ravens game at Buffalo Wild Wings.

I have also been keeping track of my brother Mike's visit to Michigan with my parents. He drove Mom and Dad up to Charlevoix to bring back a few items and apparently fill in some dirt under the pole barn. The rain storms really cause havoc on the landscaping since all the water flows from the street in the back down to the lake in the front taking the sand and soil with it apparently. They also had time for a little fishing and swimming(warm there too). So Mike headed back to LA today.

Meanwhile, things are a little crazy around here. DC seems to be having a tough time. It brought out the crazies with a woman being shot for attempting to ram the White House and Capitol, along with a man setting himself on fire. Guess we are not missing much at the museums or national monuments down there. We have many neighbors and friends who are on furlough right now since they have government jobs. Too crazy. Meanwhile, our neighbor Gloria has finished her traveling nursing job in Oklahoma and heads to California this week. Guess you do what you can. Although our county was named one of the top 10 in the US for highest incomes. They didn't check with me!

Just a little shout out to our nephew Clayton Bozyk-Congrats on your acceptance to Texas A&M! We hear your twin sister Caroline is looking at Oklahoma.  Also congrats to cousin Eric Borg on the announcement of the birth of his son Julian Samuel-another July birthday baby! 

Here's hoping it cools down. Also a shot of Scott at his golf lesson today on the driving range, Cookie enjoying Mass for the Animals along with all the dogs and Msgr John. Allison's Salisbury Field Hockey Club Team and Scott and Bryce at Six Flags Fright Fest.