Happy First Week of Fall!  We decided to celebrate by visiting HallowScream at Busch Gardens. The first weekend of their Halloween event opened Sept 23rd. Our family had planned on going to the Eastern Shore on a camping/canoeing/kayaking trip with Scott's Boy Scout Troop. I wanted to bring along my kayak, and I thought Allison could join us. I was also hoping to catch a few of her Field Hockey games. However, the plans just fell through. Allison's games were out of town at Penn U. Parents could not go paddling unless they had a full medical exam before hand as well as participate in the Boy Scout swim test. And turns out, Scott would have been the only member of his patrol going. So we decided since Scott was already off work for the weekend, that we would go to Busch Gardens.

Tom was busy working on his schoolwork for the weekend on Friday. We did take some time off for a lunch date at a local deli. Afterwards I dropped Cookie off for grooming and then I went in for my own trim!  When we were both done, I stopped into my mom's apt to pick her up and let Cookie visit with all the residents. I was picking up my lanterns that I dropped off during the week when the facility lost its power. Seems their underground wiring system corroded and they lost all power to the building for 2 days. The generator was working so there was power in the lobby and hallways, but not in the rooms. They handed out small flashlights to the residents and placed small lanterns in the bathrooms, but I thought Mom could use a bit more light. So I dropped off a few lanterns after work during the week. Friday night I brought mom home for dinner after dropping Cookie off at our friend's house for the weekend. Scott grilled us some burgers for dinner and we were able to sit out on the deck again and listen to the crickets chirping and watch the bats fly overhead.

On Saturday morning we headed out early to beat some of the DC traffic on our way down to Busch Gardens. Tom had Scott practice a bit of freeway driving as we neared the Richmond turn off. We lucked out with the weather-warm and sunny. A sharp contrast to the weather back in Ellicott City and at Penn U where Allison was playing Field Hockey. She was freezing-we were melting in the hot, humid weather. Amazing what a difference the weather can be like from just a few states away. We caught up with our friends, Dan and Gloria who also traveled down to Busch for the Halloween event. The scary mazes don't open until 6pm, so we caught a few spooky themed music and dance shows, had lunch, rode a few rides, had dinner and then got in line for the events. We made it through 5 out of 6 Haunted mazes before calling it quits at 10pm when the park closes. We were exhausted from running around the park all night to the different mazes but we had a great time. The park is not quite as amazing as it used to be when Busch Beer owned it. The new company is a bit cheap-decorations not quite as stunning, food is more expensive and smaller portions. The park used to hire staff from overseas in accordance with their European theme(Germans, French, British, etc). Now they just have anyone they can hire wearing Burger King looking uniforms from the '70s-orange and brown. But we have season passes and its a great deal so we keep going. We try to get our money's worth out of the place.

Last weekend Allison drove down to the park with her two roommates to enjoy the last day of Oktobeerfest. Her roommates had a great time on the roller coasters, and they all enjoyed German pretzels, beer cheese and Hard Cider. They would have liked to try the different beer tastings since they spent the night in a local hotel, but Allison needed to stay sharp to drive and she had her Field Hockey games on Sunday. It was just a nice break, and the girls got in on a discount with our Season Pass. We would have liked to join them too, but figured we were traveling down for HallowScream and that was enough.

I think we will try to go back one more night as Allison really enjoys the HallowScream and she would like to visit with us. She did have a  Sunday visit from her boyfriend Tyler this past weekend. They had planned on visiting the beach, but there was a big festival going on and they did not feel like fighting the crowds. Instead they enjoyed playing video games, going out to dinner and touring the new library building on campus. This past weekend Allison also traveled to Penn U on Saturday to play Field Hockey. She played goalie in one game and they won!  She is currently swapping out with another freshman goalie. This will probably be her last year to play Field Hockey. Next she will be playing Ultimate Frisbee.