Another Scout Weekend! Scott looks forward to White Water Rafting every year in June. Usually the trip is scheduled after school lets out, but not this year. We took a chance on signing Scott up for the trip even though he had finals scheduled for the following week. He especially wanted to attend this year as he decided to try kayaking down the river on his own. The river rafting company provides large group rafts as well as blow up kayaks called Duckies. Scott wanted to skip the large group paddle and attempt the trip on his own. So Friday night I asked one of the fellow scout moms to drive him and her son up to the campground in Ohiopyle. It is a small river town located in Pennsylvania just south of Pittsburgh. We have visited the area for the rafting trip for several years and even toured Frank Lloyd Wright's house, Falling Waters nearby. The area is beautiful-hilly and rocky with a large river great for rafting, kayaking and fishing. Plus there is an extensive bike path-nice and flat-along the river. The old railroad track. While Scott paddles, Tom and I usually go for a bike ride. This year I was surprised to hear fellow bike riders cheering Go Green! as I was wearing my MSU tshirt. We even parked next to a Michigander visiting from Traverse City. He was outfitted with lots of camping gear, kayaks and bikes. We shared info on the local area and all the activities available. Afterwards we love to stop for lunch before picking up the boys after their river ride. They love to stop into town for ice cream before bunking down for the night after cooking dinner. Scott was so worn out from his kayaking that he crawled into his tent at 7pm after grilling a burger and did not emerge until the next morning. He even skipped the bonfire. We picked him up early Sunday morning and Tom gave him the opportunity to practice his driving on the way home. Tom and I stayed at a local Hampton Inn along with the mom that drove Scott up to camp.  We wanted to make sure we got plenty of (comfortable) sleep and Tom and I arrived late on Friday night as I went to a class and Tom had to work late. I was happy we did not plan on camping since the woods were jam packed with Cicadas! They were buzzing so loud it sounded like an alien invasion. And you couldn't walk anywhere without getting hit by a bug. Tom pulled up to ChickFilA to order dinner and a few bugs flew into the car. I don't mind them, but not in my food! We also spent our evening at the local movie theatre. We caught Now You See Me 2.  We saw the first movie and really enjoyed the magic trick theme and slight of hand. This was quite similar, but not quite as good as the first movie. However, any excuse for popcorn. (No bugs in my popcorn!).  We arrived home in plenty of time for me to do laundry, cut the lawn and for Tom to head off to Colorado for a work trip. Scott got busy on his last homework assignments and studying for finals. Allison stayed home. She was busy puppy sitting. Our friends, Beth and Barry headed out to London and Paris to celebrate their oldest son graduating high school. They often watch Cookie for us while on long trips. We enjoy their Cavachon, Ripley, since she is still in the puppy stage at 2 yrs. Cookie on the other hand is in midlife crisis at 7 and not quite as interested in having Ripley over. But they get along quite well. Even the cat is learning to tolerate Ripley's over enthusiasm with an occasional swat on the nose.

Allison also successfully finished her first full week of her internship. She has to keep a daily journal and write a paper for the class as well. I believe she has become the technology guru at the company. Allison was a bit taken aback when they asked her to complete the billing and manage the accounts on an adding machine! At least she has seen one in Grandpa Bozyk's office and knew what it was! They also have a typewriter available, but that is where Allison draws the line! She is happy to use her calculator on her phone as well as all her great computer skills. She even chose a project to help her earn her Green Belt Management certification that she initiated while completing classes at Northrop with Tom. I recently read an article that points out most businesses have several generations working together with different skills and levels of technological abilities.

Did I mention how much we love having Allison home for the summer? She continues to be such a big help with dinner and doing dishes. At least I got a jump on house cleaning while preparing for our Bunco guests. No one believed I even had a dining room table! It was covered with several projects. I even washed windows and curtains!  And Tom had a few projects to help out with around the house recently after a few wind and rain storms came through during the week. We lost our over the stove microwave when the power went out. He tried to find a similar replacement and turns out, he was able to replace the unit with the exact same GE model from the original appliance store where we bought this one. However, it was a floor model and also did not work. So he went back to one of their other stores and was able to find a replacement that actually did work. So it is like we have not lost our microwave. We also lost his Amazon Alexa talking computer system from the power outage. He could not help himself and he had to replace that as well. His own early Father's Day gift.  We especially use Alexa to turn on and off the lights by voice command, so we were missing it. Boy are we pathetic. Talk about different levels of technological skills in one place! I am all for paper and pencil and on/off switches! I admit I did miss my microwave though. Even Gma Bozyk had a great idea and recommended we use her counter top model from her apt. until we replaced ours since she was not using hers!

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This past weekend we had the opportunity to attend Girl Scout weekend at Hershey Park with the Girl Scout choir. They were selling discount tickets to the park, so of course, Tom and Scott had to join us. Allison and I actually got into the park for free since we were singing with the GS choir at the Camporee!

So Scott got a substitute to work for him on Saturday and off we went. We took Cookie too! We dropped her off at the Hershey Park kennel. We were able to stop in to see her during the day and take her for a few walks and feed her dinner. She was so excited to see all the people. Especially since they were also holding a country/western concert at the park Sat. night and there were lots of extra people. In the meantime, we all had a great time on the rides, playing video games during a quick pop up afternoon rain shower, enjoying a BBQ lunch and a Hershey ice cream milk shake. We actually drove up in 2 separate cars. Tom had Scott drive to get some practice on the highways. So the two boys headed home Saturday night because Scott had to work all day Sunday, but Allison and I spent the night in a local hotel. We were scheduled to sing Sunday morning in the Hershey camp. We would have stayed at the campground, but it was sold out. This was a last minute scheduled event for our choir. We all enjoyed dinner together at Qdoba, and then Allison and I said Good night and headed to our hotel. We had a wonderful breakfast in the morning and then drove over to the campsite. We only had to sing a few songs and then stayed for the ceremony. Which actually involved more singing! We could have run the whole program! Afterwards, we picked up a couple of Camporee souvenir tshirts and stopped into the Hershey store for the quick chocolate tour and a bit of shopping. Then we headed home. We all would have enjoyed a Hershey Bear Hockey game while visiting the park. Unfortunately, they were not playing that weekend. Tom and Allison had traveled up to Hershey to catch one of their playoff games. They enjoyed club level seats and wanted to repeat the experience with the whole family. Hershey Bears went on to win their Eastern Conference but lost the Caldor cup. Tom has lost a bit of interest in the NHL playoffs for the Stanley Cup since it looks like the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to take the championship. Booooo.

Meanwhile, I had plenty of time Sunday afternoon after returning from Hershey to get some yard work done. I have been a lot more careful on the type of yard work I am completing these days. My last project out in the backyard left me with a terrible case of poison ivy. I knew I was cleaning out a small plant that was very happy under my butterfly bush. I thought I was being so careful-wearing gloves and everything. However, I can just look at poison ivy and break out. I have been bathing with creams and spreading lots of poison ivy anti itch cream all over my body for the past week. It was pretty bad. I had to cover my arms at work so I would not scare anyone. I did have Allison plant my flower boxes this year. She did an awesome job.

I have also  been busy trying to get the house straightened up for the end of the year Bunco party which I hosted. I wanted to clean up our back deck in case the weather was nice and I ended up with more women than I could handle. You need space to set up extra tables to play the game. Turns out I had about half of the women that usually attend. So I invited a small group of women near our house to join us. Allison and one of her girl friends were also invited. And naturally I brought my mom. This is just a dice game, so I figured mom B could handle it. Turns out Mom B and Allison won the whole pot! And the ladies all had a wonderful time. We had lots of great snacks, and the North side of the neighborhood ladies got along quite well with the South side of the neighborhood. I was just a bit worried about our parking. Wouldn't you know that a neighbor down the street was hosting a retirement party at the exact same time. We ran out of parking! Cars were parked on both sides of the entire road. The ladies thought I went crazy and invited the whole neighborhood!  They started asking all the guests if they were going to the Bunco game while they were getting out of their cars!  We are just the Party Neighborhood I guess.

Scott ended his High School Video Club with a Pizza party too. He had a big turn out and is looking forward to running the program next year. He also finalized his Eagle Scout project report and presented his proposal to the Boy Scout leaders during his weekly scout meeting. After the Troop Leaders review the project, it goes off to the Baltimore Council for approval. That group will meet at the end of the month and if his project is approved, he can get busy asking for donations and finishing the planters towards his Eagle rank. Then he will just have one more badge to complete, Personal Management. He will also have to get 3 references and fill out a report concerning the outcome of his Eagle project, meet again with the Board and then, hopefully, earn the Eagle. Fortunately we have one more year to work on this. He has until he turns 18. And Scott continues to work his way towards the end of the school year with tests and projects, as well as preparing for the High School Assessments in Biology and Government.

Allison also started her first day of the summer internship. Jeannette, her boss, had her come in on Friday to start her job training. The facility has never had an intern before and they are very excited to have Allison on board. Also they are trying to figure out how to keep her busy. Should be an interesting experience.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We usually spend our holiday at Busch Gardens. It is the kickoff to their Wine and Food Fest event. But this year we opted to stay home.  Scott wanted to attend the Boy Scout camping trip at the Howard County Fairgrounds. The boys usually help run the Hamfest-a huge electronic yard sale sponsored by old Ham Radio folk. They come from all over-Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, everywhere on the east coast to sell a whole lot of junk. But the boys love it. They usually get a bunch of free junk that no one wants to pack up in the car for the trip home. So Scott has not been in  a few years and I thought it would be a relaxing camping trip. So I signed up to join him. Especially since last year they complained that there were not enough adults to supervise. And I think one of the boys fell and broke his arm last year. Anyhow, I decided to spend the weekend camping with Scott. He also decided to cook for his patrol.

Scott chose meatball subs for dinner with chips, Egg Mcmuffins for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. I spent several days the week before shopping for his food items.  He started the cooking process at home by putting the meatballs in the crock pot. My suggestion following multiple GS camping trips. Use resources wisely. However, his ScoutMaster did not see it the same way. Boy Scouts do not appreciate cooking with electricity. Fortunately, the boys finished dinner before Scott was shut down and had to put his crock pot away. He even set up my tent for me since he arrived earlier. Allison dropped him off. Thank goodness for big sisters. I came later in the afternoon with the rest of the equipment.

Tom and I were invited to his intern Nishay's house to have lunch earlier in the day on Saturday. Tom's intern is from Pakistan and she wanted Tom to meet her family. They all live together, including her parents. And her sister was visiting from Austin, TX with her young daughter, so she wanted Tom to meet them before they had to return home. So we were both invited to lunch along with several other fellow Northrop employees. Tom was all nervous about their customs. The women are not allowed to touch men, so no hand shaking from the men to the women. And the family was mostly women. So just a lot of head nodding and How Do You Do. And Tom wanted to bring something to the luncheon(his old stand by-a bottle of wine). But they don't drink. So his student suggested we bring a vegetable plant. OK. They want to put in a garden. It just so happens I was in Home Depot buying all my flowers when she texted me with the recommendation. So back in I went after loading the van with all my plants and I bought a patio tomato plant. Everyone likes tomatoes. They did too! Then Tom wanted to bring a dessert. But it has to be Kosher or Halal. He went online and checked out all our grocery stores and club stores. The Safeway sells Kosher/Halal desserts. I picked out a chocolate mousse cake which was a big hit! Their  5 yo niece got into the dessert before we even had lunch!  Turns out we had a wonderful time and were amazed by the home they were all renting. She has 4 sisters, all working, very bright and beautiful women. Her mother was amazing. Dad was a bit quiet. Who could get a word in edgewise with all those women! They rent an amazing house -all stone with 20+foot ceilings built in the 1800s. A very large yard and garden that is cared for by the owners. Someone is renting the basement level and another family lives in the carriage house out back. Just amazing. After lunch we climbed the very narrow, 5 story wooden steps to the rooftop to look out towards downtown Baltimore. I have to do some reading on the history of the house, but they said a preacher used to live there. The house was amazing, the family was amazing and so was the food. We had traditional Pakistani meal-lamb, basmati rice, Naan bread(like pita), chick peas, scalloped potatoes and a strawberry/spinach salad. For dessert they had homemade rice pudding-a massive bowl, chocolate covered strawberries and of course, Tom's chocolate mousse cake(a big hit too).

So after saying goodbye, I headed over to Scott's camp site-very stuffed-only to enjoy chicken fajitas cooked out by the Adult Patrol Leader. What a wonderful way to spend Memorial Day weekend. And I did not miss out on the Food and Wine Fest afterall(minus the wine of course). After stuffing my face, it was just about time to go to bed! The boys played a few games of cards, but we needed to get up by 4am to help set up the yard sale! It was a bit noisy sleeping next to the I-70 freeway, but we managed to stay dry and warm enough. It was actually a very hot weekend during the day. Thank goodness no rain. We all got up early-Scott made his patrol breakfast and the rest of us were on traffic duty, directing vendors on where to set up. By 8am, shoppers began to arrive. And then the boys started shopping. Scott picked up an electric Razor scooter(so far doesn't run). Also a huge, old Craftsman drill(minus the bits) and a computer printer. I picked up the free 2016 calendars for my patients at work. I felt like I was walking through my father's garage as I peaked at all the tables. One gentleman had a large robot like Scott's robotics team and another had a large scale helicopter that he was flying around the fairground. Certainly an interesting mix of humanity and electrical stuff, aka junk to me. Although that is what Tom says about my Arts and Craft(Craps) shows.

Anyhow, everyone grabbed a sandwich for lunch and then it was time to clean up, pack up and go home. I decided to spend the rest of my day at the hairdresser with Mom Bozyk. She was asking to have a perm and I decided I needed a hair cut and it was time for summer highlights. So we were both there for about 3 hours. I could hardly keep my eyes open. Afterwards I planned on bringing  Mom B over to our house for dinner. Tom was ready to  throw some steaks on the grill when it began to downpour. So instead we all went out for dinner. Much more relaxing.

On Monday, Memorial Day, while the family slept in, I headed to work. I had signed up to work since we needed staff to cover and I knew we would be in town. This way I get a paid holiday and paid to work a regular day. While I was at work, Tom had Scott drive himself and Allison out to Hagerstown to shop at the Outlet Mall. Allison needed to do some clothes shopping for outfits to wear to work.
Allison visited the Maryland Chemical Company for orientation before she starts her summer internship next week. She had some paperwork to fill out and job descriptions to go over before she is an official intern. Scott was just happy to have another day off. He spent some time working on his English project-writing and illustrating a graphic novel. The teacher already reviewed his work and especially loved the sketch book he is using that he got last Christmas(not to mention his story line and artwork).  And his math teacher sent them home with an online Math test that he had to complete before the weekend was over. No rest for the weary.

I also managed to get a few extra projects done around the house since I took off work the Thursday before the Memorial Day weekend. I discovered that I had some personal time that I needed to use up before June or I would lose it. So I decided to take a day off and get some gardening done. I wanted to transplant a few stray bushes, repot a few lilac bushes and pull a whole lot of weeds from my flower garden. Mainly so I could see all my peonies that were getting ready to bloom. With all the rain and sun we have had a lot of plant life. Plus I needed to pick up my mom for her dentist appointment. Afterwards I visited her apartment complex for a Family Open House with drinks and hors d'oevres. The staff presented some current activities that are being planned as well as some remodeling that will begin this summer in the building. Families also had time to ask questions. Mom enjoyed an indoor BBQ dinner and then joined me at the family meeting. We then had a mother-daughter team lead a singing group. Overall a very nice evening.

On Friday I was busy gathering supplies for Scott's scout trip. I had the van all packed with tents and sleeping bags for both of us. That evening though, Allison and I headed over to the military cemetery with Scott for the annual WE REMEMBER activity of placing flags at each gravesite. Scott has participated in this activity since he was in Cub Scouts starting in 3rd grade. I think next year I will see if our Girl Scout choir can't sing for their ceremony.

Sending out a Big Happy Birthday to Stacey  who celebrated her special day while on a Nursing Conference in New Orleans.

WE REMEMBER Memorial Day Flag Ceremony /Joe and Scott

Memorial Day Scout Camping Weekend/Hamfest

Memorial Weekend luncheon/Tom's intern's house Circa 1800s(we climbed to the roof!)