Allison as a Lego Block that wasn't. They cancelled Halloween!(at Scott's school)

So we survived the Frankenstorm known as Sandy just last week. We were pretty well prepared for anything. Our neighbor picked up some dry ice on Monday morning. Tom had extra propane for cooking on the grill(when it stopped raining).  And we had plenty of flashlights, lanterns and of course, batteries.

We were hurrying to get all the assignments done on the computer before the power went out. Including two of Allison's college applications. Schools were closed ahead of time on Monday. But Tom and I went off to work that day.

Both Tom and I were told to leave early from work on Monday, so I saw all my patients right through lunch and finished early. Both Tom and I left around 3pm when the wind kicked up. I spent the evening doing dishes and laundry, for when the power went out. Even though it rained and the wind howled for 2 days and nights, the power never went out. Shocking! It did flicker on and off quite a bit, and the house sounded like an old ship creaking. Sadly, I did notice some water on the kitchen floor and found that our ceiling was leaking! The wind was blowing so hard, the rain came in sideways and blew up under the shingles in the back of our house. The water came right into the ceiling of the kitchen!  Tom has been busy patching this week. But at least we kept our power on!

Not so for Scott's school. They did not get power until Friday. He missed 4 days of school, including their Halloween celebration and a Walk for the HOmeless on All Saints Day. Not to mention a whole lot of learning. Since most of the students had power however, the teachers sent out emails with requests for homework assignments. They had sent the kids home on the Friday before with all their books. So even though SCott was home, he kept busy doing homework(and a bit of computer gaming too). And we kept him busy decorating the house for Halloween on Weds. He did an awesome job and our house was one of the most decorated in the neighborhood(or so the trick or treaters told me).

On Halloween night, Scott went off trick or treating with our neighbor and his son. I was home passing out candy by myself as Allison had a make up Field Hockey game that night at 7pm in Annapolis. It was one of the county finals, so Tom went off to cheer on the team. Sadly the girls lost, so they ended their season. In some ways, Allison was glad to be done since she has been so busy and was happy to have a break.

She also missed out on the Kindergarten Halloween party at Scott's school with her internship. The teachers were all dressing up as lego blocks, so Allison spent part of her time off turning a box into a purple lego. Too bad. It was a very cute costume. But no way would she wear it to high school!

I also took her to a  presentation at our local community college to apply for an Honors program. They have an incredible program, but Allison is still pushing for a 4 year university. We also had a 3 hour girl scout choir practice Friday night as we prepare for the Christmas concerts that are up and coming in the next two months.

I was plenty pooped out on Friday as I volunteered to cook and serve breakfast to our Day CAre adults for our Dragon Boat team. AFterwards I helped out at work at the nursing home before heading over to the choir practice in the evening. And on Saturday I was up early dropping Cookie off for her yearly shearing. Her fur was getting so thick it was getting snarls, so she needed a complete shave. I think she feels much better though(and lighter). While she was busy getting shaved, I was busy undecorating the house from Halloween night. Tom and Scott joined me to cut the grass and rake leaves(Scott's favorite). Allison had to work that night. Before she left for work that evening, we both delivered some GS cookies to the neighbors. And we also decided to run out and see the new Disney movie "Wreck it Ralph"-very cute cartoon. The kids liked trying to spot all their favorite video game characters-and Tom and I tried to recall the names of the old video characters.

On Sunday, we were up early so Scott could serve the 9am mass, and then we sold GS cookies at the 1030 mass. Almost all my girls made it to the sale, so I had them sign a card for my Cookie mom. She had surgery for a brain tumor that needed removed on Thursday and was home by Saturday! We bought her a white orchid and Allison and I dropped it off with the card on Sunday evening. Allison had to work Sunday afternoon, after the cookie booth sale. At least she was off school on Monday and Tuesday this past week because of the end of her semester and Parent teacher conferences. Plus election day.

Tom lucked out and was able to get a day off of work due to the storm too. He kept the kids busy with computer and video games.

So we are back to our "normal" schedule. Until we had a second storm come through.........

It certainly has been a busy three weeks! For one, I was getting ready for a trip to Orlando, Florida with Tom. He was asked to present a paper at a conference last week at Disneyland. He wanted all of us to come along, but with school in session, it is a bit too hard to pull the kids out for a week. However, we did decide to take Scott with us since he would only be missing 4 days. Ha! With all the homework he had to make up, as well as working on homework/studying during the trip, you would have thought we had been gone for several months! Thank goodness for computer access. Right before we left for vacation, we had SCott's teacher conferences. Unfortunately, most of his teachers were completely booked by the time I checked the online computer access after getting home from work. We did manage to meet with two of his teachers who gave us assignments to work on while Scott was gone. And we decided to move Scott out of the 9th grade Algebra class and into the regular algebra program(he is in 7th grade). Tom and I just think the class moves way too fast, and we want Scott to have a strong grasp of the math rather than just race through the program. They tried to do the same to Allison, but she did just fine in her math classes by waiting one year. Of course, Scott is now complaining that the new math class is too slow and they are reviewing information he already knows, but I told him he could use a break in his homework load! And so can we! He should have no problem completing the 9th grade Algebra class next year in the 8th grade like Allison.

I wanted to leave for Florida on a Friday, but we decided to use the free day to pack, cut the lawn and meet with Scott's teachers. I also had to deliver food items to work that Allison sold as a fund raiser for her Field Hockey team. Tom and I had Friday off, as well as Scott since his school was having parent teacher conferences. It gave him time to start on his homework, as well as scheduling a computer play date with one of his classmates at our house. And in the afternoon, Tom and I enjoyed one of Allison's Field Hockey games, although they lost to a very tough team(but not by much!). Allison has been extremely busy. She also had two other games that week, piano lesson, attended the National Honor Society Induction ceremony for new members, and attended a GS council meeting, not to mention keeping up with school.

That was the main reason we had to leave Allison home. She had about the same schedule, plus work. We were very proud of her as she has never had to stay by herself for such a long time. She got herself to school, work and field hockey, plus took care of the house and the pets. We did get that dreaded phone call -at least we got a phone call-from Allison asking if she could host a sleepover pasta party for the entire Field Hockey team on their last game night! I think there is about 20 girls on the team. Tom and I just couldn't imagine all those girls in our house with no parental supervision. Allison then asked if they could just have the dinner at our house, but again, Tom and I did not want to be the parents responsible if something went wrong. And I was a bit curious why no one else on the team did not offer their house, even for a dinner. Or why the girls couldn't just go out for dinner. Tom and I were afraid that the girls on the team may have been trying to take advantage of Allison. Who knows, but we do know that Allison is a very responsible girl. And there was no party.

Meanwhile, the rest of us headed down to Florida. We drove since the airfare was so high. We arrived in Orlando on Sunday afternoon. After Tom checked into his conference, we toured our hotel. We stayed at the Disneyland Dolphin and Swan. We wandered over to the Disney Boardwalk next door and Scott took a quick swim in the nearby Disney Yacht and Beach resort(he had to try out the pirate slide). On Monday we all headed over to Epcot center to enjoy the Food and Wine festival. Each country had extra food booths but they charged around $3-$5 per sample. We decided to try food items we hadn't eaten before, but Tom and I did break down in Germany and had a bratwurst on a pretzel roll. Yum! Scott especially enjoyed his samples of escargot in France! And Tom and I shared a beer during the Air Supply concert in the evening(I'm all out of love). Plus we hit all the rides and Tom and Scott tried Mission Space for the first time. Tom said if the ride was any longer he would have barfed. We were sad though that the Test Drive ride was being remodeled and we missed CAptain EO(but we did catch that show in LA last year). WE also tried a new activity with Scott using a cell phone solving several Phineas and Ferb detective stories throughout the park-basically a scavenger hunt.

On Tuesday Tom was off to his conference and SCott and I visited Seaworld. We enjoyed feeding the dolphins and the sting rays and watching all 6 shamus splash and jump in their show. We just stayed half a day and then headed over to the Sea World water park. Thank goodness it was plenty warm down in Florida. We could have done without the humidity though.

Weds Scott and I took the transport boat over to Disney Studios. We have never been to that park so we thought we'd try something new. It is similar to the Disney CAlifornia Adventure in LA. They have some similar rides. Tom was busy presenting his paper at the conference. Scott and I had a wonderful time discovering this new park. I was just a bit annoyed that the Backlot tour was closed for remodeling. Now I know what they do on the off season. Scott loved the rock n roll Aerosmith roller coaster and the Twilight Tower of Terror. He said the ride was different than the one in LA. And I loved the Star Tours ride(they have 33 different videos so the ride is never the same I guess until ride number 34). And I wore my Neil Diamond tshirt and everyone kept asking me about the concert. 

Thursday we checked out of the hotel and traveled to Tampa to visit Busch Gardens. We have passes to Busch and Seaworld so we wanted to take advantage of our membership. I was looking forward to participating in the Howl O Scream haunted houses on Thursday night, but Tampa charges extra for their Halloween program after park hours. Tom did not feel like spending another hundred bucks especially since Scott gets terrified and won't even go through the haunted houses. So no haunted houses for me this year. Poop. But we had fun at the park. And Tom and SCott got to try out the brand new magnetic accelerated Cheetah Hunt roller coaster. Twice. And we watched the park vets work on a small antelope that was brought in from the field that was not doing well in their brand new clinic. We also enjoyed watching the elephants eat their way through a food obstacle course. Did not know elephants ate bananas and coconuts.

We stopped in for dinner at the Taco Bus highlighted on Food Network's show,  Diner, Dives and Drive ins. And then drove down to Venice to visit with Tom's parents. Friday we spent the day bike riding along the intercoastal bike path and enjoyed spotting the gopher tortoises. We rode down to Casperson Beach and were pleasantly surprised to see that the Red Tide had moved away. The week before most of the beaches were closed with lots of dead fish. But on Friday the water was warm, clear and Scott and I had a great time swimming and picking up shells and shark teeth. Tom enjoyed reading his book sitting on the new covered picnic tables. And we were all happy to see the new showers and facilities installed at the beach. They even embedded shark teeth in the new sidewalks! And Friday night we had dinner at Pops with Tom's parents at Nokomis beach. I also had time to visit the family at the local cemetery and drove by my parent's house for a quick check. I was just sad to hear that the dolphin Mooch died who used to beg for food scraps on the boats that traveled through the intercoastal waters near the Nokomis beach. Probably too many cheeseburgers.

Saturday we had to head home. Our drive was delayed through the Orlando area as the police shut down a section of I-4 to escort some debutant or politician-probably to Disney World. Tom would have loved to have made the entire drive in one day and night, but I needed a break, so we stopped along the way in North Carolina. By 3pm on Sunday, we were back in Baltimore. Plenty of time to unload the car and do even more laundry! Allison was off to GS choir practice. 

This week Scott has been busy catching up with his schoolwork. And Congratulations to Scott. He finally finished his Second Class Rank in Boy Scouts after his scout interview. He also had a great check up at the dentist! No cavaties. Allison had her first Regional Field Hockey game and they won. ON to the semifinals.

As you may have heard, we are having a small Noreaster/Hurricane/Tropical Storm next week. School has already been closed. I still kept my original plans of having the neighbors over for a small Halloween party Saturday night however. So on Friday I headed out for some party supplies. That was when it was announced that we were under a State of Emergency. The lines got a lot longer and everything was flying off the shelves including batteries, water and toilet paper!  The gas lines were long too. They sold out of ice and propane gas by Saturday afternoon. The kids were told to bring home all their books in case they get stuck for a week or so out of school.

Our party was a lot of fun on Saturday night. We enjoyed chili, brats and Koegel vienna hot dogs from Michigan. But the highlight of the evening were the games. I had a request to repeat the Pictionary game. Last year we had to guess Scary Movie titles. This year I had them guessing scary Musicals. Although some people think Musicals themselves are scary. It is hysterical watching people figure out how to draw titles of the Broadway shows. Most of my guests did not or could not believe that some of the shows were actually musicals-like Titanic. After recuperating from that activity, I had them play the Taboo game where they have to get their team to guess a word without using key phrases listed on the cards. That was even tougher than the pictionary game! Especially after a few beers or glasses of wine!  It was a lot of fun and easy to put together. I did not put up as many Halloween decorations though since the news is recommending everything be put away for the storm. At least the spiderwebs won't blow away. And I had less help since Scott and Tom went off on a 10 mile Boy Scout hike. And Allison had to work and then went off to her own Halloween party Saturday night. She also had an early start with her piano lesson in the morning, followed by volunteering at a kid's neighborhood Halloween parade passing out candy with her Field Hockey team.  She also put in some National Honor Society volunteer hours on Friday when we both volunteered at a Haunted Hay Ride. haunted house and served up Allison's head when she poked through a hole in a table after I pulled a cover off her. I guess we did  a pretty good job with our skit as they asked us back on Saturday night. But we had other plans. I did try to get my girl scouts to join me but no luck. They all were involved in band and had football games to attend.

I did pick up my girl scout cookies this week however. I also found out that my poor cookie mom who is going in for brain surgery next week got in a car accident last week. She broke her hand and was bruised and burned from the airbags. Poor baby. So now I am taking over cookie sales and distribution.

And our Sunday schedule was changed all around. Tom and I were supposed to enjoy a Temptations concert at Charlestown Sunday afternoon with our neighbors. It was cancelled due to the hurricane. Allison was called into work to help out with a Halloween party, so I took Scott and a neighbor friend and we all went rollerblading too. Afterwards I dropped Scott and his friend off at a neighborhood kids party(like I used to have). Sounds like the same challenges I have had-54 kids in one house and someone got hit in the head and needed stitches when a toy was thrown. Glad those days are over for me! We adults were actually invited, but Tom and I opted out. Glad we did.

I also attempted several times to early vote, but the wait was over 2 hours on SAturday and Sunday. They are closing the early polls after tomorrow. Guess I have to wait until Election DAy. 

So I hope we are not out of power for too many days. Tom and I will still have to work, if we can get there. They may even postpone Halloween. We had to run out to Home Depot to buy spray paint so Allison can turn herself into a Lego block for the Kindergartners Halloween party(when ever that will be). She seems to be enjoying her internship-she has been teaching the class lessons at least once a week. They especially enjoyed her lesson on the bat, Stella Luna. Well, we are off to fill out college applications before the power goes out from Frankenstorm!

Enjoy the photos-Halloween in Disney, The Dolphin Hotel at Disney, Air Supply at Epcot, Sea World, RocknRoll Rollercoaster by Aerosmith at Disney Studios and Cheetah Hunt rollercoaster at Busch Gardens. Casperson Beach(new facilities), Gopher Tortoise on the bike ride and Allison in the Haunted House.

It turned cold and rainy this weekend. We started off wearing shorts on Saturday morning and switched to sweatshirts and sweatpants by Saturday afternoon as the cold front came through.

Tom and Scott spent the weekend camping. They enjoyed a Boy Scout 100th anniversary camping weekend that brought out about 10,000. There were only 4 boys from Scott's troop and 3 adults, but the place was packed with cub scouts and boy scouts. They had to be bussed into the camping area, so Tom brought our big tent to put all the boys in together. Tom slept in a small hiking tent(but didn't actually sleep much). He said it was too noisy-coughing, snoring and crying.  And that was just the adults.  But it sounds like they had a great time with their activity packed day on Saturday. Scott had the opportunity to horseback ride, mountain bike, play games, make and shoot off a rocket, watch  police dogs in action as well as police robots, meet a race car driver, listen to stories about indians, look at a display about the Hubble telescope, play with Lego Robots, practice leatherworking and participate in a bridge ropes course. All in one day. And they finished the evening with a Battle of the Bands concert, fireworks and Laser light show. Even Tom spent his day trying out of few activities including bridge building out of paper and cardboard to support a human. Tom said by the evening, most of the boys were falling asleep and freezing cold, so they watched the fireworks and laser light show from the tent. And Scott finished off his last 1st class requirement on Friday night-telling direction at night by looking for the north star.

Tom and Scott had to rush off after work on school on Friday, so Tom had the car packed up on Friday morning. I had to run and get SCott's scout pants from the dry cleaners on Friday morning so he would have some long pants to keep him warm. I am glad I did. It sure got cold. I also managed to get to my swim aerobics class on Friday morning and cut the lawn. I would have enjoyed watching all of Allison's field hockey game on Friday afternoon, but I had to leave at the half time to pick up Scott so he would be dressed and ready  when Tom got home to go camping. I managed to watch the first half of Allison's game and it was very exciting. They played a tough school and managed to win!

When Allison got home, we both went out for Mexican food and then just passed out on the couch watching Harry Potter. (AFter I walked the dog and had Allison try to sell a few more boxes of Girl Scout cookies). Our pre sales ended this weekend. We are saving up for a trip to Michigan next summer(with a stop over at Cedar Point)!

Allison's team lost their Field Hockey game to a fairly easy team on Monday, so they were happy to get a win on Friday. Just 4 more games left in the season! 

Scott is busy with his school's Lego club which now meets twice a week, as well as choir which meets in the morning before school. He also had a boy scout meeting on Tuesday to attend. Allison and I were busy with the start of our Girl SCout choir season. We attended our first practice this Sunday afternoon. I have also been keeping Allison busy with filling out college applications. I just wish all the schools asked for the same essay. At least Allison has been working on essay writing in her English class. So far we have all her paperwork/computerwork filled out, money sent for transcripts and SAT scores and teacher/counselor recommendations requested. Now she just has to fill out essays. And thank goodness her applications are not all due on the same day! Her time is limited as well, especially now. She put in a two session shift at the skate center, working from noon until 1030pm on Saturday. (More spending money for Europe next summer).

Before she left for work, she had a piano lesson. And we both took Cookie up to church for the Blessing of the Animals on the Feast of St Francis. It was fun seeing how all the dogs interacted during the prayer service. And I was even recruited to complete a reading and the responsorial psalm.

I had high hopes of getting a ton of activities done over the weekend, but spent most of my time at the hair salon trying to get some new highlights put in(getting ready for Florida!). So I had to hurry up the rest of my chores including some shrub trimming, grocery shopping, banking for girl scouts and tried to get my appraisal letter for my new ring(the jeweler never sent it). I tried to even get Cookie a trim, but the dog salon was all filled. So I broke down and trimmed Cookie's nails and fur around her eyes so she can see! I also started the work week off by attending my Girl Scout Leader meeting.

Now we are getting ready for our trip to Florida. I don't like pulling Scott out of school, but he is only missing 4 days. Allison is staying home on her own. She is just too busy to miss anything. We also decided to switch SCott's math teacher. We do not like when the school pushes the kids so far ahead. If Scott stays on this track, he would finish Algebra 1 and Geometry before high school. We prefer he just finish Algebra 1 by 8th grade. So he is going into Allison's old math class when we get back from Florida. What a relief that will be.

 Here is a shot of cookie getting blessed by Fr Warren!

 

This certainly has been a nice first full week of fall. And the leaves on the trees have started turning. I am not ready.  Saturday was the Mt Hebron High School Homecoming. I started the morning with the kids at the neighborhood parade. It actually starts up at Scott's school, so we love going to the beginning. Especially since the kids on the floats love to throw candy! And since there are not a whole lot of kids at the start of the parade, SCott usually makes out quite well. It is better than Halloween! And he has started a tradition of following the parade up to the high school on his bike so he can still collect the goodies.  He came home with a small backpack full of candy! He was in heaven.
Then he was off studying for his math test.

Tom, Allison and I decided to watch the Homecoming football game. Allison has not yet seen a football game at her school and we all thought she should see at least one before she graduates next year. I realized I had never seen a high school football game either. I was always too busy playing basketball in high school and the seasons overlap. So we headed up to the school in the afternoon and enjoyed Chick Fil A sandwiches and a very exciting game. Mt Hebron usually has a losing team in football, but this seems to be their year. So far the boys are undefeated, and they played an exciting game on Saturday, winning 29 -0. And Allison was happy to hear that the Seniors came in first for Spirit Week. She had fun dressing up each day last week for a different theme -costume day, Spirit day, wacky tacky day. She even missed her internship so she could attend the pep rally on Friday afternoon. She also finished selling pizzas for her Field Hockey fund raiser. Now back to cookie sales.

And she had her own games to worry about. Her Field Hockey team played twice last week. The girls won both games, but more excitedly they beat the number one rated County team on Friday! And Tom was off work so he was able to go see the game.   She also received her official letter approving her Girl Scout Gold Award program! More work for her. At least she had some time to celebrate by attending the Homecoming dance. We had picked up a great dress last year and she still did not have a chance to wear it. So she was looking forward to going to the dance, but could not find anyone to go with her. Most of her friends were going as couples. I checked with our neighbor's daughter and Allison ended up tagging along with that group of sophomore girls. She said she ran into a group of seniors while she was there though and had a lot of fun dancing with all of them.

She also had Weds. off school(more jewish holidays). So she spent the morning at her internship, and I took her to the University of Maryland for a college tour in the afternoon. I don't know who had more fun-Allison or myself. Uof MD reminds me of MSU in a way. Both schools started out as agricultural schools and have been around for over 100 years. The campus is huge and surprisingly hilly. Lots of trees and squirrels. We had a 2 hour walking tour of the campus and even caught a flash mob dance on the main green. We visited a dorm room, the athletic fields and stadium and most of the main buildings that house the different programs. And we had to rub the mascot's nose for good luck. Yes it is a turtle or Terrapin(Maryland native turtle) and he is good luck for all the students. We also paid homage to a few graduates including Jim Henson of the Muppets, the UnderArmour president and the CEO of the Washington Redskins. Not sure if Allison would be as interested in such a large, competitive school. Of course the business school is very popular and has limited enrollment. But we are working on an application. And we did enjoy milkshakes at the school dairy which reminded me of State.

While Allison was off dancing Saturday night, Tom and I headed over to our favorite wine store in Old Ellicott City to watch one of our favorite college movies-Monty Python and the Holy Grail -the last outdoor movie of the season. We picked up Boston Market and a bottle of wine and enjoyed a cool night out repeating all the favorite movie lines. We are definitely getting old-Tom fell asleep at the end of the movie. He had spent all his free time on Saturday spraying the siding on the whole house with an anti moss/algae/mold spray. We get enough rain and heat here to grow plants on the side of the house! So he basically powerwashed the entire house with lots of moving and climbing our big ladders as the siding is in difficult to reach places. While he was cleaning, I was busy trimming the shrubs and raking leaves(that time of year again). We never did get to cutting the lawn until Sunday, and we still have shrubs to trim.   I broke down and put up a few outside Halloween decorations but I am certainly not  the first in the neighborhood. And by the time I got around to trimming shrubs on Sunday, it had started to rain/tstorm.

Since I took Allison on the college tour on Weds I had to work a half day on Friday. I would have just taken the whole day off on Weds, but I had to teach a class on low vision at work to the residents in the morning. I did get to my swim class again on Friday morning though, and still had time to go out to lunch with TOm since it was his day off. We like to try new places when we get a chance, so we headed to a small diner near my place of work. We decided it was ok, a bit pricey for the amount of food that you get though so don't think we will be rushing back.

(Here are a few shots of the Homecoming parade-Scott and his friend Jack are busy collecting candy. Also University of Maryland Terrapins-good luck turtle and Jim Henson and frog(notice the connection? Also a shot of the college green-not exactly the Red Cedar river, but a pretty good substitute. As Allison says, at least the fountain isn't shut down in the summer due to high pollution levels. )  (Allison enjoys a milkshake at Uof MD and off to the homecoming dance)






The kids had a busy week with extra programs to fit in. Scott started his Lego club in school. Tom would like to help coach, but can't get to the meetings at 3:30-right after school. Last year he took the kids to the competition since the teacher in charge was out with a broken foot. Scott also had altar serving yearly training. And Scott has been working hard at earning his next level in boy scouts to achieve 1st class rank. He just has one more requirement to go-telling directions at night using the stars. But every night they meet has been cloudy, so he has not been able to get to that requirement. But he did memorize what he needed for a safe boat trip. He also spent the weekend baking a loaf of bread from scratch. His school had the ingredients donated to provide a loaf of bread to the homeless-one loaf per family. So he baked a loaf of bread and also treated us to cinnamon rolls.

I also scheduled a girl scout meeting on Thursday night to see what the girls would like to do this year-their last year as scouts. I decided to just have a bonfire and make s'mores since we had lots of marshmallows and chocolate left over from the boy scout camping weekend and we had some extra wood that needed to be burned. However, it was very warm and 100% humidity so I was sweating around the fire. And then we had a thunderstorm. At least our meeting turned out well. I still think it is funny that the girls drive themselves to the meetings now rather than having their parents drop them off. 

Thanks for all of the family members and friends that participated in our Walk Around the World contest at my work. I will turn in our miles this coming week. 

Well, thank goodness last week was not quite so crazy while Tom was away. At least no one broke anything!

Tom had to fly out to LA last Sunday. Sounds like he had a very nice week. He got done a day early so he spent some time visiting Solvang for pastries and wine tasting. He even had some extra time to take my brother Mike out for a birthday dinner at Cheesecake factory and stopped into his condo to recaulk his bathtub. Tom returned home Friday night after catching the landing of the space shuttle in LA while he was sitting on the runway in his plane. He sent me a photo shot of the shuttle landing from out of his plane window.

Meanwhile, I was getting a yearly check up at the doctor's office on Friday. I was trying to hurry to catch Allison's field hockey game. She usually has two a week. They lost their first game that week, but won the game on Friday afternoon and I got to watch Allison play. I also had time on Friday to get back to my exercise classes. The YMCA finally opened up the swim classes for drop in rather than preregister, so now I can just attend the class when I want. So I loved getting back in the pool, but the chlorine did not do much for my breathing while I finish up my antibiotics for my sinus infection.  Scott was also off of school on Friday, so I kept him busy with homework. He would have preferred to travel to Busch Gardens with Tom, but sadly Tom got home too late. Allison was off of school on Monday(love those Jewish holidays), but she had to go into work. Good thing she can drive herself!

Instead of visiting Busch Gardens, we decided had to use our tickets to Hershey Park so off we went on Sunday and we all had a great time. SCott rode every coaster, including two new coaster rides. He completely wore himself out. We even took Cookie and she waited for us in the dog kennel during the day at the park. We had a great time eating chocolate(we are all set for Halloween). And a very nice addition-Allison and I heard a concert from Megan Hilty-the star of the tv show SMASH and she plays Glinda in Wicked on Broadway. She sang with her piano player who was excellent and he also sang a duet with her too. And we even caught a tap show and thought of Stacey! It was a wonderful way to spend the first full day of Fall.

I also was kept busy last week with Allison's Back to School Night. I got a chance to meet all her teachers-they are all very nice and involved. I also had to run off to pick up some items for Allison's Pasta Party and a work party for me. On Thursday we had a goodbye luncheon for one of our staff members that took another job. I picked up lunch for our out patient staff as well as a gift card(Starbucks of course to collect more city mugs). Allison just needed cookies for her Field Hockey team dinner. Thank goodness for Sam's club. I just got there with 15 mins. to spare. And the gas station was surrounded by cops. Don't know what happened, but I figured that was the safest time to get gas! I also took in a pan of Tom's ziti to work and the staff gobbled it down. And early in the week we had a staff team building meeting. Our boss bought us all chinese food and we spent a few hours getting to know a few new staff members and playing team building games like Taboo and Jenga. It turned out to be a lot of fun. And it was nice to spend time with the whole staff since our boss is stepping down next week.

I had plenty of time to work off all those goodies while doing lots of yardwork on Saturday when it was nice and sunny. I even got Tom to finally top my Rose of Sharon bush which has turned into a tree. He even got busy trimming our neighbors cherry tree too which turned into a neighborhood project while I was cutting the grass.   

Sending out a Big Happy Birthday to Mom Bozyk. She said she enjoyed a good, fried chicken dinner as a birthday treat.

Here is Allison in goal during last week's Field Hockey game. Also a few shots(from you guessed it)Hershey Park. The kids love the swing ride.  And we enjoyed Megan's(Glinda's) concert. 

Welcome back to Mark and Linda Seitz who enjoyed what looks like a fabulous trip to Hawaii(but I am sure I would not have been brave enough to get on that helicopter for a tour!).
 
 See you next week! Kathleen

Naturally I cannot have one relaxing week with Tom gone. I was still feeling sick-dizzy and nauseous so I finally decided to make a doctor appointment on Friday when I was off from work. I ended up having to make two appointments since Scott managed to break his cast while pushing up from a table and I needed to get him in for an xray and to determine if he needed the cast put back on or if it could be removed permanently.

So there we both were on Friday afternoon in our separate exam rooms. Turns out I had a sinus infection so I am on a nice, safe antibiotic(No Cipro!). Just Amoxicillin. And boy do I feel so much better. Scott turns out healed up in 4 weeks so they did not have to put his cast back on. But his arm has been pretty sore. He was just so excited to get the cast off!

I managed to survive through the week even though I wasn't feeling well. Scott actually did not feel well either and asked to stay home on Tuesday(after I had already dropped him off at school). I just turned around and took him home and called to let school know he wasn't going to make it. AT least he did not miss much since they had Back to School Night and no homework. He did miss laser tag with the boy scouts that night though which he was a bit disappointed about, but he ended up sleeping all day. Guess he needed a break.

Allison however had to attend the BAck to School night for the Kindergarten class for her internship on Tuesday night. She has been traveling to Scott's school for 2 hours every day to work with the kids. She finds them very fascinating, but she drew the line when one of the boys asked her to wipe his bottom after going to the bathroom! Scott happened to be nearby that day and she tried bribing him, but he wasn't going to go there either! Allison keeps thinking she would prefer teaching high school students. Or perhaps the Business program is looking more promising. We spent some time together filling out college applications this weekend after I attended the College Night program at her high school. They encourage the parents to look over the admissions process and applications to see if the kids missed anything. It is getting quite difficult to get into schools these days. The University of Maryland takes in  around 20,000 applicants a year and only accepts around 10,000. They also have to delay start of school from the fall to the spring since there are so many students.  So right now Allison is working on her biography for her teachers as she has to have two recommendations from them and a letter from her counselor for each school she wants to apply to. She is also working on her college essay(as well as keeping up with her homework, working at the skating rink  and playing Field Hockey).  The team had two games last week. They won their Friday game but lost due to a penalty shot on their Tuesday game. She also enjoyed a Crab Dinner and Dance for the Seniors at the high school on Weds night. She had her fill of crabs, crab cakes, roast beef and corn on the cob. I don't think she will want to graduate!

Tom and I were sorry we missed her games. But I was at the doctor's office with Scott on Friday and Tom was off cooking for the Boy Scouts for their camping weekend. I did enjoy playing Field Hockey on Thursday night as the parents usually have a tailgate party and Parent vs Kids Field Hockey scrimmage at the start of each year. I had fun playing defense(just wish I had been feeling better). I also had to buy food for the tailgate party, and drinks for a luncheon we had at work in which we hosted our medical staff. Our doctors had never been to our out patient rehab clinic(in the past 25 years or so). We decided it was about time they showed up so we bribed them with food and it worked.

Scott and Tom had a Boy Scout camp out on Friday night and the troop hosted a few Cub Scout troops. On Saturday they ran a few stations for the cub scouts-teaching them some skills including fire starting and knot tying. Tom made way too much food on Friday and we both had to haul food and camping supplies to the campground Friday evening after the doctor appointments. Allison was busy working at the skating rink that night. So I ended up staying for dinner with the boy scouts and took all the leftovers home. I have 4 huge bags of ziti in the freezer and an extra pan in the fridge, plus lasagne, lots of veggies and salad. Should come in handy at work for pot lucks.

Tom had just returned from Dallas on Thursday night, so we kept him busy on Friday and Saturday. Besides the camping trip, Tom set up an orienteering course for Scott so he could finish one of his requirements for 1st class rank. (which he did). He also made a useful tool only using  lashing to hold it together which was another requirement.  When the boys got home, Tom was busy working on Allison's car. She needed new speakers since hers were damaged by her goalie bag in the trunk. And she needed new floor mats, windshield wipers and they had already replaced her tires. Then Tom discovered that his computer monitor is dead. That is another issue.  I also had him working with Scott on his math homework since Tom was flying out again on Sunday. This time to LA.

Sunday I kept both kids busy with homework. I also kept Allison busy selling Girl Scout Cookies! Our last year. Let me know if anyone feels the urge to buy a box or two. Or make a donation to our US troops. We went selling one last time down our street. I was surprised to see that no other girl scouts had come down the road yet on Saturday evening. On Sunday the little girls were out in full force, but I think we managed to get most of the neighbors. I am not very helpful when I go out with Allison since I usually spend all our time chatting with the neighbors. I even sat down and had a beer on the deck with a family whose son is heading off to work on ships in Alaska this Friday. They were celebrating him getting a real job. But Allison managed to get through a few more houses on Sunday. After I took her clothes shopping. She discovered that she cannot just wear jeans and tshirts to her internship, so we had to pick up a few more dress pants and shoes.

Now I hope to survive another week with Tom gone. 

I almost missed my brothers' birthdays this month. A very Happy Birthday wish to Dan and DAve who celebrated their 50 something birthday on September 2nd, and another Happy Birthday wish to Mike Bozyk who keeps getting closer to 50 on Sept 10th! 

Sorry, no photos this week. I was too busy to take pictures!

Kathleen

How we did Not Spend Labor Day Weekend:

     We did not go to Busch Gardens this year, even though we had a 4 day weekend(almost). Allison still had school on Friday, but Scott was off. And Allison did not have to work. Last year she had to help clean up the Sports Center over the Labor Day Weekend, but this year they had everything done ahead of time. Allison also did not have any Field Hockey games or practice, so we could have gone away without missing a thing.
  What was missing was Scott's ability to ride anything at Busch Gardens. And they did not schedule a big, end of the season concert like they have in the past.
    We tried to reschedule activities since everyone was free and available, but then the weather did not cooperate. We had remnants of Hurricane Isaac for the past week which included extremely hot temperatures, scattered rain and thunderstorms and 500% humidity. Not much fun.
   We wanted to go to Hershey Park on Sunday, but instead we had scattered tstorms. Sadly, they would have allowed SCott on their rides, even with the cast. We decided to try to attend the Renaissance Festival which sadly was not as enjoyable since the weather was so miserable. It was not terribly comfortable sitting outside watching shows in the drizzle and humidity with no breeze. But we did manage to enjoy eating a few items on sticks(everything tastes better on a stick). Including chocolate covered frozen cheesecake. And Allison shot a few arrows, Scott threw a few hatchets and I found a lovely tapestry to hang in the foyer. Tom managed to get himself into a comedy show without even trying.

We decided we needed to have some fun over the weekend since I went to work on Saturday. In the morning we took the kids to the library to get them passports. Finally.

On Monday Tom wanted me to visit the one and only Sony store in nearby Virginia to pick out a replacement television for the one we gave my parents. With football season here he wanted to have every opportunity to keep up with the games. He tried a Samsung but we did not like the picture. Instead we settled for a Sony the same size as our current tv. He needed me to pick out the set with the best color. So far everyone that has seen the new tv loves the picture. Including Tom.

The Sony store was in the Tysons Corner Mall which is gigantic. We had to drive around in the parking structure to pick up our tv, but they brought it out to us so it was easier than it looked. I am just glad we did not have to carry the big box around while we shopped and had dinner out!  Tom really wanted to take advantage of the tv specials through Northrop so we saved some money on the set and got a free Play Station to boot. Like we need another gaming system. Anyway, now we can enjoy that bright Purple Raven color. And that is how we spent Labor DAy Weekend(besides cutting the grass in between storms and rain showers, cleaning out gutters and trimming tree branches).

We are also enjoying watching the bright Orange Orioles color as our baseball team is just under one game from the NY Yankees in the Eastern division.  Boy were there a lot of New Yorkers in town this weekend for a 3 day game fest.

Baltimore has been crazy lately with the sports legends. Ravens are off to a pretty good start. Orioles are ending their season on a high note. Michael Phelps and a few other Marylander Olympians were visiting Baltimore today(monday). I wondered if Michael was up to the challenge of swimming across our bay or harbor. SAdly they had a also had a viewing at our Football stadium this past Saturday for Art Modell who gave Baltimore a football team when he moved the Cleveland Browns here and renamed the team the Ravens. They had Art's casket out under a tent on the football field so everyone who wanted to could come by and say bye. Crazy.  And it was deathly hot out on Saturday.

I should know since I spent the entire day, from 6am until a giant storm rolled in around 4pm paddling a Dragon Boat across the harbor(8 times in 4 different races). We have to paddle down across the harbor and then race back. Our team did pretty well this year. We made it through 4 races out of 6. The best we have every done. And this was my 5th race held every two years. I started back in 1998 with St Agnes. I missed a few years in between with our move to Boston and before I started working for Erickson. We did not win a Division, but we did take 3rd place for the Hat Decorating Contest.
Hey, it was something. I can't wait until 2104! I just hope I can survive that long.  On Saturday I was burnt to a crisp and my foot was killing me. We were invited to our neighbors for dinner. I made it through appetizers and dinner and then took myself home and went to bed with a cold cloth on my head and a hot pack on my foot. Plus I think now Scott and I have the same flu/allergy symptoms that we just can't seem to shake.

My family was not able to join me on Saturday for the races since Allison had a field hockey tournament instead. And it was terrific that they won the entire tournament(and the games count towards their season). And they were tough teams to beat. Tom and SCott stayed during the day to help out with the concession stand.

And on Sunday we headed out to the Comic Convention in downtown Baltimore. SCott made himself a costume from a character in his computer game. It looks like a big, green PEZ dispenser. He did an awesome job but was sad he did not win the costume contest which we stood around for several hours waiting for him to strut his stuff. He entered the contest with his friend Sammy who was also dressed very much like a robot. All the kids loved their costumes and asked for photos. Just like last year with his Zombie Mario. I think Scott would have had a better chance at winning if he had entered by himself instead of in a group with his friend SAmmy as they only had two winners for that category. But the boys wanted to stay together. Oh well, everyone enjoyed the amazing costumes and picking out comic books.

So the kids were back to school and a busy schedule. I enjoyed Scott's Back to School Night last week and chatting with all the moms. Scott has an incredibly busy schedule. He also managed to work on another requirement with Tom at his Boy SCout meeting(demonstrating  lashes). Once again, we missed the camping weekend to Assateague Island. One day I will get there and see the ponies on the beach. I hope the boys survived the big storms on Saturday night. Looks like DC was hit worse.

I also had my first Girl SCout Leader meeting this past week. It's Cookie Time! 

So we will keep on packing our schedule with lots of activities and schoolwork.

Tom is off to Dallas TX this week(I hope I make it without collapsing or breaking someone again!).

And much thanks to the angels that are now working on some repairs at my parent's house. They got started on assessing the damage to their sunroom this past weekend.

Enjoy the photos of the RenCen festival-snacking on turkey legs and crab cake pretzels, archery and axe throwing. Down at the Harbor for the Dragon Boat races and our winning hat(Michale Phelps against the Dragon)! Scott and Sammy as MineCraft characters. Scott's eyes lit up and he made a hissing noise. Plus he walked around the whole hall with his arms tucked inside. He was pretty worn out.