Looks like I have some catching up to do!

So I ended up working Memorial Day. Turns out it was a very long day. My facility has had a complete turnover of administration, and they are asking the therapists to pick up extra patients by working with our residents, as well as trying to bring in more patients from various hospitals in the area. So I have been working long hours and extra days. One of our staff members was on vacation to Hawaii, so on top of everything we were short staffed. So it turns out I ended up working on Friday too, right after my morning exercise class. A very long week. I also attended a Boy Scout meeting on Memorial Day-parents meeting. I am getting ready to plan a Scout trip this summer to Six Flags with a camp out. Several years ago I planned a trip to Hershey Park. The boys chose the closer amusement park this year. This is a busy time of the year for scouting. Scott and I opted out of assisting with the Preakness Balloon Festival this year. My back was hurting that weekend, so I really did not think I would have been much help. The county holds an annual Balloon Festival each year in conjunction with the Preakness Horse Race in May. They moved the festival to the fairgrounds this year to accommodate more people. The scouts were going to be holding onto balloons that would give patrons a ride up. They were expecting 1000s of visitors this year. Turns out the weather was not the greatest, and if there is too much wind or rain, the balloons cannot fly. So I don't think they had quite as many visitors as expected. The festival runs from a Thursday to Saturday, morning and evening. Scott and I have volunteered both in the morning sessions and evening. I love the evening session the most when they light up the balloons just when it gets dark. I also loved that when we volunteered, we did not have to pay to get in or parking, and we got up close and personal with the balloons! Just not this year. My mom and I did enjoy watching the Preakness horse race that weekend with a surprise winner, Cloud Computing. No possibility for a Triple Crown winner this year though.

Allison finally came home on Memorial Day. She was able to help out with cooking, laundry and dishes, And Cookie loves Allison's company and walks during the day when Scott is at school and we are at work.  Allison also had a few projects to work on for herself. She made a dentist appointment, and then looked into summer employment. Unfortunately, all the offers for internships that Allison received were out of state, mostly in Virginia. Tom really did not want to pay for her to stay at a hotel, or rent another apartment just so she could work out of state. And most of the internships were in marketing or sales. Not exactly her interest. So she decided to contact the Girl Scout office again. They offered her a leadership position at summer camp, so she decided to take it. They wanted her to train as a lifeguard, but she opted out. She would have had to get to camp right away, and she still had some things to take care of while off work. They may be sending her out on some GS travel camps, so they need extra lifeguards, but not necessarily a must. At least Allison did not have to run around and get certified or have security clearance like the first time she applied for a counselor job. She was using her time off to organize a power point presentation for certification in Green Belt Management. She had attended a training program at Northrop that Tom helped facilitate in Management Training in the past.  Tom is a certified Black Belt and often hosts training programs for this type of management. Allison finished the class at Northrop about a year ago, and just had to put together a project afterwards. She completed a project in one of her classes and was busy organizing the data to present to one of Tom's coworkers. And she needed to get some shopping done for camp, as well as getting a hair cut. So she was a busy girl. Allison and I stopped into Walmart on Saturday while Scott was at work so we could pick up her supplies, as well as stock up on some more veggies and flowers for my garden. My new planter had arrived while we were in Salisbury and Scott assembled it on the back porch. I just wanted to fill it with lots of jalapeno pepper plants. I already planted my tomatoes out in the garden, and added a zucchini. And I just needed a few more flowers to fill my pots. So I should be done planting for the rest of the season. Now I have to start watering!

Allison took advantage of our beautiful weather by enjoying a bike ride with Tyler on Sunday. Afterwards, she was invited over to a cook out with his family. I had her bake some cupcakes to take along. Meanwhile, we decided to have my Mom over for our own cookout. Tom made some hamburgers and we enjoyed dinner out on the patio again after picking Scott up from work. My mom enjoys dinner at our house on the patio while listening to all the birds chirping, along with a few of our leftover spring peeper frogs. And now the cicadas. We had another bug explosion, but this one was 4 years early since it has been so warm. Cookie seems especially interested in the bugs, and actually ate 1 or 2! I was rather surprised!

We also enjoyed a night at the movies after Scott got off work on Saturday. Tom and I were looking forward to seeing Wonder Woman, but the kids were not as interested. So we split up and they saw Captain Underpants instead. They had read all the books when they were little, and found the movie to be very funny. And very short. They had to wait around for Tom and I since our Wonder Woman movie was 2.5 hrs long! I thought it was very good and did not notice how long the movie was since I enjoyed the story line so much.

Scott bought me a new planter for the deck for Mother's Day. Jalapenos here we come!