Happy Birthday Allison!  This week Allison celebrated her 22nd Birthday(at GS camp). She was off the entire week to Harper's Ferry, a small historical town located on the Potomac river where Virginia, W Virginia and Maryland all come together. I've been there with the kids in the past on a tour and to hike the Appalachian Trail. Scott and Allison also went there during middle school for a historical tour as this was a hot spot during the Civil War. This time Allison was camping in the tree houses with her traveling Girl Scouts.  The lodges are built on stilts around large trees. The tree trunk is actually inside the lodge!  I was glad she had a chance to camp there since I missed scheduling the outing to the tree houses when I had my Girl Scout troop. Allison enjoyed being out on the large river for a 6 hour tubing adventure, along with a hike along the Applalachian trail. Although it was quite hot and they did not get far. But the girls all really enjoyed their trip and camping experience.

Allison celebrated her birthday on a Thursday, July 13. I had mailed her a Birthday celebration box that was waiting for her when she got back to camp. I included  some  butterfly sugar cookies and a large Chocolate Chip cookie decorated with roses to share with all her counselor friends. I also threw in some flip flops and a bamboo mat to use at camp, as well as some birthday balloons. We were holding the bigger family celebration for when she came home.  That was easier said than done. She had planned on coming home on Friday evening after dropping off all the campers via bus and van. Allison was following the chartered bus full of girl scouts on their way down to Annapolis after dropping off girls closer to Baltimore first. Unfortunately she got caught up in tstorms and heavy downpours which slowed down their progress, along with a bus accident. Seems their driver took a sharp turn on a country road and caught a car coming the other way between the bus and a small cliff. So they had to wait for a police report, another bus and the tow truck to pull the car away from the bus. She then had to drive her van back to GS camp to drop off staff about 1.5 hrs north of our house. She called at 11pm quite upset and exhausted and very much wishing to come home for the weekend. So Tom drove up to camp and picked her up(right after he got back from picking up Scott at work). They did not get home until after 2am.

Friday was quite a long day for Tom as well. He had taken Scott off to his driving test in the morning out in Frederick MD. We found that this office had a simple and fair driving assessment-30 mins on the road. Scott had spent the entire week practicing driving with Tom, especially practicing backing up. They eliminated the parallel parking assessment and switched to a 3 point turn, including backing into a narrow space. Guess the DMV figures cars are coming with the built in automatic parallel parking, so why bother. I think it is crazy, but then again, Scott passed his test and is an official driver now! Congrats Scott!

As soon as he got home I took him back to the doctor to have his ear checked. He had finished his medication for an inner ear infection while at Boy Scout camp, but his ear was still hurting and now leaking. Turns out he had an outer ear infection too. So now he had ear drops for a week. Anything to get him in shape for our upcoming vacation. Then he was off to work.

On Saturday we enjoyed a trip to Hershey Park. Allison wanted to join us, so Tom picked her up from camp the night before. We had free tickets to Hershey that expired at the end of the month, so this was our only chance to use them. First Allison opened her Birthday presents and had a piece of Brownie Birthday cake. We then spent a beautiful day at the Park, not too hot, and the kids got to ride a few roller coasters, eat Hershey chocolate and shop for goodies. And Tom and Allison enjoyed their summer Chevy Test Drives and free tshirts in the parking lot. We even took Cookie along with us and she hung out in the "Barking Lot" kennel during the day. This way we were able to feed her dinner and take her for walks and potty breaks during the day.

On Sunday, Tom was up early in the morning to drive Allison back to camp. I was off to work for the day to get a head start on our upcoming vacation. Scott was just getting off work! I volunteered Scott to house and dog sit for our neighbors. They were headed to Wisconsin but did not want to travel with their Golden Retriever, Ellie. She is a very sweet dog, but extremely afraid of tstorms. They wanted someone to be around in case any storms rolled in while they were away. So for the entire week, Scott played, fed and walked Ellie during the day, as well as took in the mail and trash cans. And at night he slept at their house with Ellie in the basement on a mattress on the floor they set up for the two of them. Fortunately we only had 1 tstorm roll in during the day, so Scott kept Ellie company while she attempted to sit on his lap in the basement!  Scott enjoyed his house sitting job, but did not get a whole lot of sleep. Ellie gets up around 5am to go outside which was Scott's #1 job(besides security for tstorms), and then after she had breakfast, he would come home and go back to sleep in his own bed!  We also had back up during the day in the form of neighbors that checked in on Ellie and her water and food bowls which came in handy when we were gone to Hershey Park for the day.

Hope you all had a Happy 4th of July! I can't believe the year is half over already!  Here we are in the middle of summer. Both of the kids were gone for the first week of July to Scout Camp.

Scott worked on the 1st of July at the Roller Rink, but I had to take him into the doctor Saturday morning to get his ear checked. He was having pain in his ear and last summer he spent vacation at Hilton Head with an ear infection. We did not want to have a repeat performance at scout camp, so I took him to the Kaiser Urgent Care. He spent the next 10 days on antibiotics for an inner ear infection. Allison had been ill for the first two weeks of GS camp, but was feeling much better. She was able to come home Friday night for a much deserved break.

Scott was off to Boy Scout camp Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, this camp was not too far away-just the north end of the Chesapeake Bay which is about 1.5 hrs drive. All the boys arrived at 1pm to set up camp. This was the first year the boys were scheduled for camp during the holiday week. They took the early week since part of the troop is headed to Jamboree in W Virginia at the end of the month. Since Scott has finished all his required Eagle badges, he was able to pick out a few activities that were just plain fun. I talked him into kayaking to start off his day. He was not crazy about the idea of kayaking, but ended up loving the experience. The boys paddled their own kayaks, so lots of freedom and lots of getting wet. (another reason to have his ear infection treated before camp).  I tried to talk him into the Jet Ski badge, but he did not want to have to ride with another scout. And he already completed sailing and motor boating, so kayaking worked out just fine. He also signed up for a few badges he wanted to try over the years and just never had time including Art, Pottery, and Graphic Arts. These badges were especially nice since they were indoors which worked well when it was extra hot and very rainy. And he took his bike to camp which made it really easy to get around. On the 4th of July, the boys parked their camp chairs on the shore and watched fireworks all over the Bay. Scott brought along some patriotic music on his phone to accompany the show. On Saturday morning we picked him up, along with his very wet and smelly clothes, tent and sleeping bag and headed home. He had a really wonderful camp experience this year(and no broken arm!). On the way home we decided to drop in on Allison who was still up at camp over the weekend. She had to stay over for a short Mommy and Me camping program. She was so surprised to see us pull into the campground! She gave us a tour(I have not been up to GS camp in a few years) and we even ran into our neighbor's daughter who is also a counselor this year for the first time. We wish we could have stolen Allison and taken her out for breakfast or lunch, but the campers were already arriving.

Allison had come home Friday night before the holiday week for a much needed break from working at Girl Scout camp. She had spent the week running around assisting with multiple stations, although archery is her favorite. She helped run a week long camp for girls and a weekend camping trip for a Mommy and Me event before coming home for a few days before the holiday week. Allison found herself assigned to bus driver, responsible for driving down to the Baltimore area to pick up scouts to transport them to camp and then back again for drop off as well as shuttling the staff needed to monitor the campers. She is learning to navigate the freeways in large, Ford extension vans that the camp just purchased. I sent her a goodie box with an extended rear view mirror!  She was looking forward to sleeping in her own bed, washing her clothes and eating red meat! Unfortunately, she did not plan an unexpected meeting with her boyfriend Tyler on Saturday morning before the holiday week.  He decided he just was not getting enough face time with Allison, especially with her being gone during the summer to GS camp and then leaving for school again in the fall to complete her Masters. So sadly they broke up. Allison was of course sad, and mad, but a bit relieved that she does not have as much pressure trying to schedule visits with a boyfriend, especially with her upcoming school year which will prove to be challenging.  Plus she is still trying to find another roommate to take Jen's place in their condo which is turning into another challenging event. I had planned on taking Allison out to celebrate her graduation with Grandma Bozyk on Saturday night, but she wasn't exactly in the celebratory mood. Instead, our family all headed out to see an outdoor movie at The Wine Bin in old Ellicott City-Air Force One with Harrison Ford(or as Allison puts it, with Han Solo). The kids never saw the movie, and they really liked it. We packed up wine and popcorn and even our neighbors joined us for a very crowded viewing. It was a lot of fun although incredibly hot. I will have to reschedule Allison's celebration dinner with Grandma.

Usually Allison has to head back to camp on Sunday morning to welcome the new scouts for the upcoming camp week, but because of the holiday, they had a short week scheduled. However, they decided to have the counselors come up on Monday to complete two days of training before the campers arrived on Weds. So Allison had Sunday off and decided to drive with us to drop off Scott. His Boy Scout camp is located near a cute, small town, so we stopped in after dropping off Scott to enjoy some ice cream and a stroll through the gift shops and antique stores. On Monday she was headed back to camp to finish up the training. The girls did take some time to enjoy a fireworks show too on the 4th. And Allison also brought along her downloaded patriotic music to play along with the firework show that they caught at a local school. I have trained my children well! Looks like neither one can watch a firework show without accompanying patriotic music!  I think it was all the BSO concerts we went to with the pomp and circumstance and 1812 Overture with fireworks that we so often attend at each year. Unfortunately, we missed it this year. The concert was scheduled on Monday night, the 3rd.  We had such a great time last year, and even brought Tyler along. But this year, both kids were at camp, and of course, Allison was no longer dating Tyler. So no concert.

 Since the kids were both gone during the 4th of July week, Tom and I decided to take Monday off and visit the distillery on the eastern shore with our neighbors since I had bought Tom a tasting and tour. We enjoyed lunch out at an Alehouse just on the other side of the Bay Bridge before visiting the distillery. It was a very interesting presentation on how they distill whiskey, vodka and rum. And we had the place to ourselves. After a few samples we were given our own shot glasses and a bottle of vodka to take home. It was a very nice outing. The distillery is named after an old sailing ship, The Sloop Betty. The original ship carried wine from Spain and was captured by Blackbeard's pirates in the Chesapeake Bay. The plan was to sell the wine and steal the ship. Instead, the pirates drank the wine and sunk the ship. Silly pirates. The distillery hopes to get a liquor license to sell mixed drinks and bring in Food Trucks to expand their tourist industry. We will have to go back. Plus it is on the way to visit Allison at school(works for us).

I decided to work on the 4th of July. I get paid double time, and Tom and I did not have any special plans. I spent the evening walking Cookie and watching the DC Fireworks and show on tv. Never have been brave enough to travel to DC for the fireworks show in person. I was holding off for my fireworks show at the Frederick baseball game on the following Saturday night. It was scout night, and our Girl Scout choir was once again asked to sing the National Anthem. And they have a great fireworks show right after the game. I worked from Tuesday to Friday and was very busy. I finally squeezed in an outing with my Mom on Friday night. We enjoyed seeing "Mary Poppins" at the High School with the County Theater players. They did a terrific job, even had Mary Poppins flying across the stage! And Mom got to sing along!

Saturday morning was our outing to Boy Scout camp to pick up Scott and visit Allison. Saturday night was the Frederick baseball game. Scott stayed home and did laundry. We took our friend John D instead. Sunday we had our neighbors over for dinner after I spent the afternoon at our GS choir director's house filming a training video. Lots of  GS activities!

Just catching up on the end of June.  Scott was enjoying his time off school. He spent his time cleaning his room and his turtle tank. Also preparing for Boy Scout camp. He has pre requisites to complete for his upcoming badges, so he finished up the research. Now he just has to pack. He is just so happy not to be studying!  Before he heads off to boy scout camp though, he is going to be volunteering at Cub Scout Day camp. He needs volunteer hours for his Honor Society in school next year, as well as his Tech Honor Society. He is happy to be scheduled to work the Science and STEM station. This year's theme is bugs. On Sunday afternoon, we headed to the fairgrounds where they hold the day camp for training. That lasted about an hour, and it gave Scott extra time to practice his driving there and back home. Tom also took him out driving during the week. His driving test is scheduled for mid July. We also are practicing parking and backing up. I still cannot believe that they eliminated parallel parking as part of the test. I guess they figure newer cars are doing it for everyone, so they don't need to learn! Crazy! Of course, we all try to avoid parallel parking if we can, even though we know how to do it.

Scott wanted to enjoy some of his time off, so he invited a few friends over on Friday night(thank goodness he did not have to work). He even offered to cook for his friends, so we picked up some burgers and chips on Friday afternoon and he grilled out. He had a few friends over Friday night and after dinner they played video games and watched a movie. It is weird that he has friends that can drive themselves over to our house now. Scott kicked them out at 10pm though. He did not want to entertain too late into the night!

And on Saturday he was off to work in the afternoon. I picked him and my mom up after he got off work and took both to the hair salon. Scott got a summer hair cut and mom stayed longer for a perm. Meanwhile, Scott and Tom picked up one of our scouts who was attending another Eagle celebration near our house. The boy needed a ride home and I promised his mom that we would help them out.  She is always doing us favors and giving Scott a ride when he needed one. Since it was getting late, I picked up dinner for mom at Burger King at dropped her off to her place around 8pm. Tom ended up inviting our neighbors over for drinks and dessert later that evening out on our patio. They had us over  when I got back from Ocean City so we owed them one. We tried sitting out on the patio, but there were a lot of bugs. A screened in porch sure would come in handy. So we made it an early evening.

Before heading over to Scott's scout training on Sunday afternoon, we spent the day working outside in the yard. Tom was busy cutting the grass, and Scott and I spent the day trimming trees and shrubs in the backyard. We have a couple of trees that grew branches over our neighbor's fence, and I wanted to trim them before anything broke off into their yard. Or fell and broke the fence for that matter. Scott did the trimming and cutting, and I did the clean up.

Allison did not get to come home for the weekend. She had spent her first week up in camp training, and this past week the first summer campers arrived. Before the week long campers showed up, she worked a Mommy and Me weekend camping trip. Unfortunately, she started feeling ill. Turns out she was sick to her stomach for about two weeks. She seemed to have developed a stomach virus and it really got in the way of work. She spent two days sleeping at the nurse's cabin in the air condition. She was also having problems with her allergies. She stopped into a Patient First clinic during a break over the weekend to make sure it was nothing more serious. They gave her some anti nausea pills along with Benadryl for her allergies. Allison and the rest of the family has been taking allergy medication for years, but not usually Benadryl. Allison is not used to it, and she ended up nodding off during arts and crafts, dragged her feet on the hike and finally fell asleep next to the swimming pool. Fortunately she is feeling so much better and has been enjoying the camp food once again. Since she did not make it home the first weekend, I sent her off a care package.

The last week in June I ended up taking off work on Tuesday. One of the girls at work wanted to switch days off with me. Turns out it was June 27, our wedding anniversary. I spent the morning at the dentist with my mom. She had more dental work that needed done and I had my yearly cleaning. I also had taken Scott to his dentist appointment the week before early in the morning before going to work. We are keeping the dentists busy!  Mom and I enjoyed our day out together. First the dentist, then lunch and shopping before I dropped her back to her apt.

I had to pick up Scott. He had started working at Cub Scout Day Camp this last week in June. It is an early start. The boys have to be to camp by 7:30, so I was dropping him off before work at the Fairground and getting home early. With plenty of time to get to the parent's scout meeting on Monday evening. On Tuesday night, Tom and I decided to celebrate our 30th Anniversary with dinner out. I had a gift certificate to the Iron Bridge Wine company that we have been wanting to use. The restaurant is in a small house and always incredibly crowded. They put out a Happy Anniversary card for us at our table and gifted us with two glasses of champagne. We enjoyed cheese, sausage and cracker appetizers, steak and salmon dinners and chocolate creme brulee for dessert along with a glass of wine. Tom bought me some pearl earrings to mark our 30th. I mentioned that pearls were the old gift and diamonds were for the new tradition. Tom is old fashioned.  He also had to get home to pack. He had an overnight trip to San Diego for work and had an early start on Wends morning. On Weds night there was a scout meeting. I am busy putting together our August camping trip and outing to Six Flags. On Thursday night I dropped in on Mom for an early 4th of July BBQ at her apt. We all sat outside and enjoyed burgers and hot dogs, chicken and ribs. It was quite tasty. They also had a musician playing patriotic songs during dinner. On Friday night, Scott was back to work after a long day at Cub Scout camp. He enjoyed his time, but was pretty worn out. He spent most of the week making fidget spinners(not exactly the bug theme we thought it would be). Fidget spinners keep the kids occupied(if you haven't seen them) with a small triangular top that sits on your finger while you spin it. They are ideal for kids with ADD. Scott and I thought it was hysterical that they made so many when they were banned during his training session before camp started.  He spent 3 days building fidget spinners with hundreds of cub scouts, and then they switched to catapults and paper airplanes. The adult Scout Leaders were very grateful for all of Scott's hard work.

By Friday night, he was worn out and not feeling well. When he mentioned his ear was starting to hurt, I quickly made him a doctor appointment for Saturday morning. I did not want him going off to Boy Scout camp with an ear infection. And I did not want a repeat of last summer!