We arrived back home in the US early Saturday morning! We had an amazing Girl SCout trip of Europe and saw absolutely everything! We were quite happy to be back home again though as we were missing toilet paper, decaf coffee with cream, tortilla chips and salsa and hamburgers! (In that order!)

The first part of our trip took us on a United Flight last Weds night from the DC Dulles airport to London Heathrow airport. Tom convinced me it would be better if we drove ourselves. We had a quicker flight with a strong tailwind-just about 5 1/2 hours. I would have preferred to sleep all night, especially since I wasn't feeling too well. But between dinner service and drinks and snacks, the very nice flight attendants kept us busy and awake. And the economy seats are so much smaller than they used to be! Hard to get a comfortable spot for sleeping. Although I did manage to get a very fluffy pillow! Overall it was still a great flight and we arrived in London around 9am, 5 hours later time difference than Baltimore and made it through a very long, hot customs line.

I guess we were the last one's to arrive. The rest of our Girl Scout Group was already there. Our group consisted of 50 girls and women from all over the country-South Carolina, Seattle Washington, California, and Nebraska. Ages ranged from a 10 yo girl to a Grandma. Most of the girls were around 15-16 yrs old. We all boarded our bus and headed to our hotel in Beckton, south of London. We checked into our rooms and grabbed some sandwiches at a local equivalent of Walmart. We then boarded the local train and headed into London where we switched to the tube to head downtown for a walking tour. Our first train ride was interesting as it ran above ground, operated by robotics-no driver! We got a great view of Olympic village and East London University, a local stadium for concerts as well as the marshes that run into Thames river. Our walking tour took us by Big Ben, Picadilly Circus, the National Gallery, London Tower and the Tower Bridge. We stopped for dinner near the London tower at an Asian restaurant and did some souvenir shopping. Then headed back to the hotel on the trains.

We were pretty exhausted. Unfortunately, Allison and I were stuck with the group's misfit mom and daughter as roommates. Very nice people from Nebraska, but constantly losing everything(including a close call with the passports). The daughter had anxiety attacks and spent more time in our room than her room. I could have paid more and roomed just with Allison, but she was hoping to spend time with the scouts and meet new people. She did meet a few girls that she enjoyed hanging out with but they never had the opportunity to share a room. And my roommate snored horribly. Although I was so tired it almost didn't matter.

The next morning after breakfast(which was mostly cereal, yogurt, juice and coffee(no cream), we took a bus tour of London. We drove over the Tower bridge and around the Tower of London. Next visit we will have to go in. Many of the places we visited, even cathedrals, charge an entrance fee so it can be quite an expensive trip. The Tower of London was used as a castle, fortress and prison where they currently keep the crown jewels. It hosted lots of executions  with lots of royal prisoners in the past. They also have their own ravens living on the grounds and it is said the kingdom will always stand as long as the ravens remain. We drove around Westminster Abbey and Westminster, Big Ben, #10 Downing Street, Harrods Dept store, The London Eye, with a quick walking tour around St Pauls(cathedral where Charles and Diane were married). We traveled through the neighborhoods where Shakespeare, Chaucer and Dickens lived. An American businessman rebuilt an exact replica of Shakespeare's Globe theater, including the open roof. Theater goers stand on balconies around the stage and have the opportunity to participate in the shows, just as they did during Shakespeare's day. We drove around the fictitious neighborhood of Sherlock Holmes, and the shady dark side of London including Fleet Street and the infamous barber Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper. There was certainly quite a dark side to London including heads on stakes as you entered the city and being buried up to your head in the marshes as the tide came in. The bloated bodies were known as Wappers(not the same as the ones at Burger King but gives you a whole new perspective). I learned that Wharf stands for Wharehouse At the River Front. And that the Romans settled London since it was conveniently located on a major river, but it was just too cold so they left. We also saw lots of spots where they filmed the Sherlock Holmes movie and tv series, and of course Harry Potter. Including the Millenium foot path bridge that was closed for several years due to poor construction. This is the bridge where the dementors attacked the pedestrians. We also saw the old train station used in the movies. And we saw quite a bit of the new, very modern London including the Mayor's Office kindly referred to as Darth Vadars helmet. We then stopped by Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards. Afterwards half of our group headed out by bus for a tour of Windsor Castle near Heathrow airport. The rest stayed behind for free time and a ride on the London Eye. Allison and I had decided to tour Windsor castle, home of the Queen Mother who was actually in the castle during our tour. Sadly we did not catch a glimpse of her or her dogs.  After lunch we did see Queen Mary's elaborate dollhouse, the castle tour and St George's cathedral-patron saint of England. Allison and I had the chance to have our photo close up with a royal guard and their bearskin hats! There was a bit of a mix up with transportation back into London, so we arrived to dinner late. Fish and chips in a local tavern. We had hoped to see a play-Phantom of the Opera, however the tickets were sold out that Friday night. Looks like we would have been late anyway. Just have to catch it in Baltimore next year.

On Saturday morning we headed to Hampstead, north of London for a visit at the Girl Scout World Headquarters-Pax Lodge. Lord Powell began the Boy Scout movement in England and his wife, Olave began the Girl Guides. Juliette Lowe met Lord Powell while traveling to England and began the Girl Scouts in the US. Pax Lodge or Peace Lodge was built in 1989 and was named after a vacation home of the Powells and built in honor of Olave Powell. It is a youth hostel with bedrooms and kitchenettes, meeting rooms and a patio/garden. We were met by several Girl SCout volunteer staff members from all over the world. We had a flag ceremony and sang The World Song(which Allison and I know from choir!), a pinning ceremony, tea ceremony, a tour of the building, lots of videos on the history of the building and the girl scout movement around the world and free time to buy souvenirs and swap patches.  If Allison was ever interested, she could apply for a free internship at the Pax Lodge and run programs for the visiting Girl Scouts for about 2 months during the summer. What a great opportunity to visit London! We had the whole place to ourselves that morning, and then headed out to a train station for the two hour ride to Paris.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Tom and Scott spent their first weekend alone doing yardwork. Lots of bushes to trim and Scott rebuilt our stone wall around the birch trees. They also had a boys day and SCott had a friend over for a bike ride. At night, his Dad came over and Tom set up a movie outside in the backyard on our projector. Scott planned on spending the upcoming week in computer classes at Kids on Campus summer camp learning how to make 3D video games and applications.

Here is a taste of our London tour photos-Big Ben, London Eye, Picadilly Circus,  Tower of London and Tower Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Westminster and Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Changing of the Guards, Windsor Castle, Pax Lodge and Girl Scout Pinning ceremony and tea ceremony along with our GS Tour Group. Waiting in the train station for our trip to Paris. I will send out info on our trip to Paris in my next blog(don't want to overload anyone!). Let me know if I got something wrong or missed something Dave and Sandra(the Bozyk family lived in London for a few years and I am sure they are expert tour guides!).
 Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Tom and Scott spent their first weekend alone doing yardwork. Lots of bushes to trim and Scott rebuilt our stone wall around the birch trees. They also had a boys day and SCott had a friend over for a bike ride. At night, his Dad came over and Tom set up a movie outside in the backyard on our projector. Scott planned on spending the upcoming week in computer classes at Kids on Campus summer camp learning how to make 3D video games and applications.

This certainly was a busy week and a half!

 Hope you all were able to get through my last blog(and maybe even the video!). Scott's choir was back at it last Friday singing during a Memorial mass at school. Tom and I were home, but opted out since we were busy getting the house ready for guests. Tom took on a few maintenance projects including painting our foyer ceiling from an old roof leak and changing out the bathroom faucet downstairs.

Tom's sister Susan and husband John arrived on Friday night. We took them along with Scott's boy scout troop to the Memorial service at our local military cemetery. Each year the boy scouts have placed flags in front of the headstones at the Baltimore National cemetery with a small ceremony following. This year it was just unbelievably cold! It was hard to stand outside very long with the cold wind blowing and we didn't exactly dress for snow!  Scott was a bit taken aback when a woman visiting her son's grave asked for his photo while he placed the flag at the tombstone. I told him that was what it was all about. Afterwards we headed to Olde Ellicott City for dinner and to get out of the cold. Only a few days earlier we had to turn on the AC when it was in the 80s and very humid!

Allison was recuperating at home last Friday night from a long week of finals and graduation rehearsals.They had to practice the ceremony at least 2 hours each day!  Unfortunately the Seniors had a pool party on Friday afternoon, but not much swimming. It was about 50 degrees outside! But the kids enjoyed themselves with a cookout and volleyball. And earlier in the morning they had an awards ceremony at school. Allison was given the Top Honors Student of the Year in the Teacher Academy program at school, complete with a plaque. Her Kindergarten mentor was very proud and so are we. But now on to Business school. She is just happy to be done with projects and tests. (Although we still have the Gold Award project to work on this summer which she got caught up on after finishing her finals).

Scott was busy this past week finishing up his big Social Studies presentation on Madagascar. He downloaded his power point presentation, but when he got to school it did not work! Fortunately Tom was able to email the presentation to the teacher, plus Scott had the written report to go along with it. At least he did not have to present. So he is wrapping up just two more weeks of school. He was also busy last week with his Patrol Leader meeting on Monday night and Boy Scout meeting on Weds night. We couldn't get to swimming though since we had some thunderstorms rolling through. We made up the lesson on Saturday morning instead.

I finally got hit with paperwork for my new job which I needed to turn in the following week. Our whole new rehab team starts on June 3rd with orientation the Saturday before. I also finished up my dental appointment with the endodontist. All in all I put in 9 hours of dental treatment, but I am not sure if she was able to make a difference. Now I need to go back next week to cap it off with the dentist. Oh well. I tried.

Over the holiday weekend, Scott went off with the boy scouts for an overnight camping trip to our local fairgrounds. The boys worked an electronic swap meet-assisting with parking and setting up/cleaning up sales booths for which they get paid.  The boys had a terrific time digging through electronic odds and ends too. I volunteered to drop off Scott camping and to his swim lesson while Tom took Susan and John in to Baltimore for a tour. They visited our submarine and The Constitution, the 100yr old tall sailing ship docked in the harbor, as well as some souvenir shopping. Allison was off working, and when she got home we headed back to Olde Ellicott City for a Ghost Tour. The weather was a lot nicer and the evening stroll around olde Ellicott City was a lot of fun. Until we were all scared silly by a cardboard box that rolled down some alley steps(all by itself!) right in front of us. Until the guy taking out the trash caught up to it!  That gave us a good laugh. As usual, the ghost stories are fun, but the history of the town is even more interesting.

On Sunday we took it easy at home. I had to drop off Cookie to doggie day care since we were headed out of town for a few days. Sunday afternoon, Tom and guests visited the electronic sale and picked up Scott. Scott spent the rest of the day finishing up studying for some upcoming tests and then passed out for over 12 hours! We also enjoyed watching the Indy 500-interesting finish. On Memorial Day we all headed down to Williamsburg, VA. We decided to visit Colonial Williamsburg and turns out military personnel and family were admitted to the shops and town for free! What a great deal for Susan and John since John is a retired Marine. We bought our tickets and enjoyed the afternoon exploring historical Williamsburg. I think Scott most enjoyed making bricks with his feet and buying colonial root beer! Afterwards we had a great chinese dinner buffet and spent the night with Tom's travel points covering the hotel costs. On Tuesday we headed over to the Water Park. Scott missed out on a field trip at school that day, but we decided our field trip was more fun! There was hardly anyone at WAter Country and the weather was pleasant. We felt like we had reserved the whole park for ourselves! We had a great time on all the rides and floating down the lazy river. We left early in the afternoon and enjoyed a game of putt putt golf before heading home in the rain.

Weds was Allison's big day!

Scott went off to school in the morning and I had to run over to my new workplace to get tested for TB and drop off paperwork. The graduation ceremony was at noon, and Allison had to be there by 11am. We got great parking in the nearby mall as all the high school ceremonies are held in our outside theater. It was already getting pretty hot, but we were nice and cool under the canopy with the monstrous ceiling fans. The high school band provided music as well as the Senior choir and they managed to pass out 4oo student diplomas in just over an hour! All in all it was a very nice graduation ceremony. Allison is wearing her NHS sash as well as a double gold cord for being in the top 5% of her Senior class(so about 20 kids out of 400 had the highest GPA). Way to go Allison! Apparently they do not have Valedictorians or Salutatorians anymore(GPAs have gotten very complicated with all the different levels of classes). So after the ceremony the kids have to turn in all their sashes and cords(they don't get to keep them). And we were off to lunch. I then needed to get home to complete an online computer training session for my new job, and Tom and Allison went to pick up Cookie and SCott. Scott had some homework to finish and after dinner I took him over to his boy scout meeting. Tom, Susan and John had a tour of Allison's high school.

It was wonderful having Susan and John visit over the holiday weekend and help celebrate Allison's big day.  Thanks everyone for all the great cards and gifts! Since Allison is now done with school she has been keeping busy with thank you notes!  Susan and John got up early and headed out to spend the day at Gettysburg in PA before heading home to Indiana on Friday. Thanks again for visiting!

Enjoy my photos of graduation(Allison getting and gotten her diploma!), Scott with the Boy Scouts placing flags at the Baltimore National Cemetery for Memorial Day and a few shots of our visit to Williamsburg(Governor's Mansion, Martha Washington's carriage, and Allison tries her hand at the hoops-hours of entertainment). 

Another incredibly busy week! I am glad I survived! Last Thursday we said goodbye to Tom's sister Susan and her husband John. We really enjoyed their visit and Allison especially loved having extended family members at her graduation! The two of them headed off Thursday morning to spend the day at the Gettysburg Battlefield and town in Pennsylvania before heading back to Indiana. We made sure to send them off with Maryland Berger cookies and Milwaukee pickles(in Baltimore?). Nothing but the best.

Scott was still in school, but Allison was available to help me food shop and decorate for her neighborhood graduation party last Sunday. We postponed Scott's swim class since he still had a lot of projects to work on as his school year wrapped up this past week. Allison spent most of last weekend working and going to her piano lesson. We also dropped off a gift to the piano teacher-a mini flag with music notes that we picked up in Williamsburg. Allison's teacher loved it so much, she won't leave it outside. And all the other music teachers want one. I spent my last free week taking care of some last minute dentist and doctor appointments before starting my new job.

I actually stared my new job last Saturday. The whole team came in to get familiar with the clinic and the computer system. We are mostly a whole new staff. Some people are experienced with work in a nursing home(like me) and others are not(and were overwhelmed). We took over from a contract rehab team, so they packed up all their belongings and left us with a big mess. My new boss was busy setting up computers and a printer and trying to walk us all through the new system. I started Monday and made it to Weds. On the way to work WEds morning I almost blacked out while driving, so I decided to take the day off and go to the doctor. She decided to send me to the neurologist, who is trying me out on a different blood pressure medication. He said I should have acclimated to the medication in just a few weeks and I have been having problems since I started taking lisinopril in February. I am always dizzy, tired and was having severe muscle spasms in my right hand. Not sure why the cardiologist or my own physician could not recommend trying a different drug. Now I am on a beta blocker(slows your heart down and good for blood pressure, migraines, anxiety, etc. ). I just started taking it Friday night and I already feel a bit better. I just did not want to start a new medication so close to the Europe trip, but maybe this will turn out to be a good thing!

 I was busy at work last Saturday morning; Allison was off to work too, and SCott was at a Boy Scout Troop planning event for the upcoming year. When we all got home we headed over to our neighbors for their son's graduation party. Allison's party was on Sunday. We girls spent Sunday preparing the food. We made about 20lbs of pork, chicken and meatball kabobs, layered green salad, and 2 rice casseroles. Along with appetizers and dessert. And there was nothing left after the party! EVeryone said they loved the meatball kabobs the best, along with my rice casserole. And noone had ever seen a layered green salad before. Must be a Midwest thing.  I think they most enjoyed eating Allison's graduation cake with her face on it! (See above photo). Since we had plenty of dessert,  we had cake left over and I was able to take some to work to share with my new rehab team.  The sad part was that we were all ready to host the party outside, complete with a volleyball net and outdoor grilling. As the first guests began to arrive at 6pm Sunday night, so did the tstorms and the downpour. And that wasn't even Tropical storm Andrea. We enjoyed that rain all day Friday. Oh well, instead it was video games indoors and grilling under an umbrella. As a matter of fact, since the beer was out on the deck, that is where all the men hid, under the big table umbrella! All the neighbors were very generous to Allison, and she has spent all week working on thank you cards!

 Since I missed work on Weds, I had time to stop into Scott's used uniform sale at school. I was not able to find him much, but I did get to sell alot of his old clothes. I also sent him off to his end of the school year swim party  with a veggie and fruit tray. He had a great time at the pool until he scraped the top of his head on the bottom while kicking off the side. Looks like he tried to scalp himself! Hope that grows back. On Weds night I dropped into Pizza Hut with the kids for a GS dinner fund raiser and to drop off end of the year paperwork. And then Scott and I headed out to his BS meeting. It was a bit hectic since he had to help plan for the upcoming Whitewater rafting trip this weekend. After much confusion, the boys and parents made plans for transportation and hauling up the gear along with meal plans. And the boys squeezed in a boy scout meeting too.Tom and I had planned on joining SCott this past weekend but we decided to go biking while the rest of the troop rafted. Tom said he has had his fill of paddling the rapids. Plus he spent this past week in San Jose, CA and did not get home until 2am Saturday morning. Scott had taken off Friday after school with his friend and his mom for the campsite near Pittsburgh. We joined Scott's old troop in that area when they went caving. We had also visited Frank Lloyd Wright's house, Falling Waters and had the tour. It is  a very pretty area in the woods with the huge river running down from the hills. I had planned on Tom and I traveling up on Saturday and biking and then returning Sunday. Apparently Tom did not get the memo. He scheduled his upcoming trip to Chicago next week with an early Sunday morning flight. He thought we were just going up Saturday afternoon for a bike ride along the river on the paved bike paths. I thought we were camping overnight as well(hence the term camping weekend). I really did not feel like a 4 hour drive to bike an hour and then 4 hour drive back. So we skipped the whole thing. Meanwhile, Scott only fell out of the raft once, but he wished Tom had been at the helm instead of one of the other Dad's who is a bit high strung(along with his son). Scott did enjoy jumping into the freezing cold river off a big boulder though. I am just glad he did not scalp himself again! Although this group does make the kids wear helmets. Thank God.  And I was happy one of the school mom's was there with him and her son. She always sends me a text and photo to let me know how he is doing.

So he just got back and is washing off the river water and drying out the tent. Tom is packing for Chicago after cutting the lawn, and Allison is headed out to GS Day Camp to start setting up the archery range for the summer programs. I also had Tom work with her on figuring out a system to mount her bird models to the trees at the Nature Center this weekend. She will probably be teaching her bird class in July for her Gold Award project.  SCott I am sure will spend the rest of the day playing video games, and I have started packing for our European tour. Tom ordered me some Euros from the bank for tipping our tour guides. And I had to call Easy Spirit to find out what happened to my sandals I ordered two weeks ago(no one knows).  I also went into work half a day Friday and Saturday to make up for Weds. Although the staff is all putting in 9 hour days right now trying to figure out the new system. I think we are almost there.

Now if I can just start feeling better! I have too much to do to be feeling like crap.

So Scott finished school on Friday and brought home a nice report card. He is looking forward to a few summer camps at the local community college, boy scout camp and golf camp. Plus I may squeeze in a Parks and Rec camp for kayaking and biking with an overnight. And he only has 1 summer book report due. Allison is looking forward to her upcoming Salisbury University Orientation next week, Girl Scout camp, our GS trip to Europe and our Girl Scout trip to Michigan at the end of July.

Before you know it, school will be starting again! Kathleen

I think the kids are getting too comfortable having me around the house. They were very excited that I spent some time baking last week. Of course it was not just for them. I had forgotten to pick up a dessert for our last GS Leader's meeting, so I whipped up some chocolate chip banana muffins. Naturally there were some leftovers for the kids. Then I made Lemon Pie bars for donation to the school for a Vera Bradley Bingo night for volunteer hours. And naturally there were leftovers. I hope they don't get too comfortable with this situation.

So Happy Post Cinco De Mayo. And apparently Saturday was Star WArs day(May the 4th Be with You). HaHa. That is only if you understand the lisp. And I just wanted to make sure I wished Dad Bozyk a Happy Birthday(which I believe I missed in my blog in April-too many April Birthdays!).

We are well on our way to Spring. Lots of rain and warmer weather and lots of sneezing and grass cutting. Tom had to cut the front lawn twice this past weekend-long and wet. Scott and I worked on the backyard-I kept having to restart the mower for SCott since it kept stalling out in the thick grass(I like to cut it a bit shorter than Tom). I also spent the dry days last week raking and bagging leaves out of our flower beds. And I put in a few new plants and of course tomatoes. So lots of digging and raking. I was pretty sore. But I am a glutton for punishment. On Saturday morning I went to drop Scott off to participate in a Boy Scout conservation project. The troop planted over 400 trees at our local landfill. Next thing I know, I am helping to dig those 400 holes(I am a sucker for helping out). It may not have been so bad except Maryland is known for our lovely clay interspersed with rocks and roots (and a bit of trash at the land fill) which did not make digging holes quite so easy. I was just grateful I could walk on Sunday! We started at 9am and Scott and I had to leave around noon. They still had about 1/4 left to plant and the troop was dwindling. At least we got pizza and donuts out of the deal! And SCott completed a conservation project for his camping merit badge.

I did not join him at his last boy scout meeting during the week though. He and the troop were practicing working with a hot air balloon in a field across from the church where they meet. Scott and I signed up to volunteer for the Hot Air Balloon festival coming up for the Preakness(second horse race after The Kentucky Derby). Which we watched over at Dan and Gloria's house. That is a whole lot of prep time for just a few minutes race. Guess the whole day party factor works for those attending. Our balloon festival is in honor of the horse race, but is held just down the street from our house at the local golf resort. I have always wanted to go see all the balloons at night when the light them up, but I have been either too busy or the weather was bad and it was cancelled. Hopefully SCott and I will get a chance to see them and help the ground crew.

So while Scott was in balloon training, I attended what I thought was going to be my last GS meeting. I even had to make a little speech about how wonderful the girls are, and how they've grown, and how happy Allison will be not to have me bugging her about extra activities and dragging her all over! But it seems I managed to volunteer for a Juliette Coordinator position-I will be an online GS Leader for single girls that want to be in scouts but don't have a troop. I figure I can handle activity coordination via email since I do it all the time! 

After digging holes and planting trees on Saturday morning, I had to run Scott over to golf after he took a shower. Then his friend Sammy invited him to go see Iron Man. Tom and I were also invited to dinner and the movie, but we had plans on eating with our neighbors in honor of Gloria's birthday. INstead, Allison caught up with the group after she got off work. She was hoping to spend time with Sammy's older sister, but she had to go see a cartoon with her little 5 yr old brother(mom thought Iron Man was a bit too much for him). Instead, Allison enjoyed her company during dinner out. Scott was looking forward to Mexican, but the restaurant was packed and they ended up with pizza(again).

Speaking of packed, Tom still wanted to see Iron Man and made plans to go see it Sunday morning with our neighbors. Little did he know how complicated planning an outing can be. He first picked an early morning movie, but the neighbors were at church, the next movie was 3D and none of the neighbors wanted to see it. Now we were getting into the afternoon, but by the time we arrived, the movie was sold out! Looks like the neighbors made it in though. We did not buy tickets online since we already had passes(not sure we could have used them anyway). And Tom did not want to spend all afternoon at the movies since he wanted to cut the grass again. Oh well, maybe next week. Instead we ran some errands at the mall.

He had just arrived home from LA early Saturday morning where he spent all week busy working. Sorry he did not have any free time to visit with you Mike on this trip. Maybe some other time. He never knows how busy his schedule is going to be. He left again on this past Monday for Salt Lake City.  That is pretty much his schedule for the next month.

So it is a good thing I am so available to run the kids around. Scott started up his swim lessons again. Allison has been busy wrapping up her senior school year with lots of projects and tests. She just completed a spanish video commercial at Starbucks with some friends and is working on what looks like a Mouse Trap game for physics. She also had to compile her research on testing methods for the kids at school and put together a poster presentation for the upcoming Research Fair where she will present her findings. By the way, no big difference in testing kids with paper /pencil vs electronically. So I spent one evening gluing down all her charts and graphs and photos while she typed up her research paper. She was also very busy at work this past weekend-lots of birthday parties at the roller rink. She is really looking forward to being done at work and school.

I was also enjoying the extra time and flexible schedule by attending the weekday masses. Turns out I picked the morning of the Feast of St Joseph. The Homily talked about our work life. Looks like I'm on the right path with my upcoming job. I just got all my blood work back for the new work place. Orientation to follow. I also was getting back to my pool exercise class but caught a terrible cold from the kids which slowed me down. At least I did not have to take sick days!

Here are the Boy Scout photos from our tree planting session. I am in the blue sweatshirt; Scott is standing in front of the wheelbarrow with our shovel. Also some shots from their hot air balloon session.

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I just bundled Scott up in my snow pants so he could go out and take Cookie for a walk in the snow. It is really coming down. Tom is out snowblowing our driveway and the neighbors.  I was scheduled to participate in the Baltimore Mayor's parade with the GS choir this afternoon, but I really did not want to deal with trying to drive and park in northern Baltimore in the middle of a snow storm. And then try to get home again. This evening it is supposed to turn into sleet. Scott is hoping for a snow day tomorrow or at least a late start. If you caught the Ravens game, you could see what kind of snow we are having. The parade would have been fun, but not in this weather!

Instead, Scott and I volunteered with his boy scout troop for a 5K run raising awareness for arthritis. The Jingle Bell Run has been going on for many years here in our local park. I know a fellow GS troop used to run it every year. Scott and I were out the door by 6:45 am  Saturday morning to help with set up and parking. About 3,000 runners participated so it was a bit hectic getting everyone parked and giving directions. We stayed for the whole event and helped clean up. I was pretty tired and sore and cold. It felt like SCott and I walked the whole course ourselves several times as we ran back and forth between our parking lot and the registration area. Fortunately we did not have all the snow like today. I really enjoyed seeing all the creative ways the runners dressed up for Christmas, including their dogs! Lots of dogs participated as well. Too bad Cookie couldn't have joined us but we were busy working. And of course Mr and Mrs Claus were there as well! This was the first time Scott's Troop helped out and they did a great job. When I got home I had to call into work to see if they needed me. Fortunately they did not so I got to take a nap! Normally we would be helping serve pancakes at the Breakfast with Santa program at Scott's school. We skipped it this year since Scott could not use his volunteer hours for scouts or his confirmation program. Our pastor has moved the confirmation program to high school, so Scott has to wait until next year. Sucks.

Meanwhile, Tom was home busy getting up the last of the Christmas lights on the outside of the house. He had hoped to do all the work on his Friday off, but it rained all day. I finished cleaning up a few piles of leaves that enjoyed hiding in our bushes near the front door. I also started putting up decorations in the house including working on the tree.  I still have a bit of work to do in order to get ready for our neighborhood party next weekend.

We also hosted a few neighbor boys on Saturday night as we cheered on MSU against Ohio State. How wonderful! Tom and I were in LA the last time MSU went to the Rose Bowl. I enjoyed going to the Rose Bowl parade that year. I also had to put out my MSU flag-I think it helped! We still have our Rose Bowl tshirts-hopefully we will be able to get new ones this year!

While Tom was sitting in the rain on Friday, I was off to my yearly doctor appointment. Looks like I am plenty healthy except for my blood pressure issue. I am back on the last drug I was taking since it bothered me the least. I hope it works. If not, we may try adding a drug. How annoying.

I also picked up our family Christmas pictures except they made a mistake and gave me 4 poster sized family photos! So I had to redo the whole order(Tom and I thought it was too expensive!). I also had to get my refund. At least our Christmas photos are done so I can start my cards. I also tried to do a bit of shopping but it was very busy on Friday.

Especially when we started out our morning celebrating St Nick's Day. We decided to give our stockings on St Nick's Day-mainly because we had so many Christmas items like our ornaments and earrings/tshirts that we wanted to enjoy before the holidays. Allison got her stocking last weekend. Tom, SCott and I enjoyed our special surprises. Tom got me tickets for the whole family to enjoy The Blue Man group in January when Allison is home. Tom missed the show last time they were in town and I told him it was worth seeing. Tom was busy opening lots of Star Wars and Star Trek ornaments. Scott loved his root beer and hard candies. And we actually won a few bucks on our holiday lottery scratchers.

We also enjoyed a  School Christmas concert at a fund raiser at Barnes and Noble for Scott's school. The kids sounded great and they have added some latin pieces and more harmonizing this year. Scott was also busy this week with his lego club as the tournament is coming up next weekend. He was just happy he did not have to sit through his religious boy scout badge as the other kid was busy. I do keep Scott busy with his badges! I want Tom to work on the Home Repair badge with him. Scott did some soldering at his meeting on Weds towards the badge. He also is finishing up his pets badge. And Tom is the Engineering counselor so Scott will earn that badge in January at the Naval Academy along with the electronics badge.

So I need to get back to Scott-he has a few tests and a paper coming up this week and needs review. He did bring home a very nice report card but was just shy of getting into his school's Nat. Jr Honor Society(they have stricter requirements than the public schools).

Here is Scott singing with the choir and after volunteering at the Jingle Bell Run

Allison is busy at school with finals. She will be done on Thursday and will head home for a long break on Friday. She said the school is on quiet lock down. She wants to be done and back home.

Well this was certainly an interesting week. Naturally, I was having trouble with my blood pressure and missed work last week. I started on a higher dose of my medication, but by Monday, I was leaving work early again. This time I ended up at the doctor's office on Monday afternoon. They decided I was fine. My doctor wanted me into the office for a real appointment, not just a blood pressure check. But they could not see me until Weds morning. Instead we decided I should stay home a day. Except my doctor couldn't decide if she should recommend I take it easy or stay busy. Naturally I stayed home from work on Tuesday and kept busy! Meanwhile, Tom and I were going to split Monday night meetings, but I just was not up to going to either a school meeting for SCott, or a Boy Scout parent meeting. So Tom opted to attend the meeting at school to discuss use of IPads which Scott's class will be starting with soon.

Allison was coming home for Thanksgiving break on Tuesday. I still needed to wash her linen and straighten up her room from when she moved out in August. I had also started storing suitcases in Allison's room, so I had to find them a new home. Plus I was busy baking Scott a coconut cream pie for his Birthday on Weds. The only thing I did not do was wrap his presents since Tom had bought him everything online(mostly video games) and I did not know what to wrap!

Instead, I have been busy putting together Christmas stockings for the upcoming St Nick's Day celebration. I had been busy Christmas shopping last week. I wanted to put together a care package for Allison for her upcoming finals, as well as give her some items to decorate her room with for the holidays. I picked up a small tree and decorations for her windowsill, as well as Christmas stockings for her and her roommate(complete with Girl SCout cookies of course). She also picked up a poinsettia with Tom at Home Depot on a shopping spree. And she has some sticky gels for her window-snowflakes, snowmen and penguins that can stay up through February.

I was a bit worried about her driving home this past week since our winter weather started early. We actually had some snowflakes coming down on Weds. But she did a great job, and she had some company. She said the drive home was a bit hectic though since it was raining/sleeting and there was heavier traffic and a few accidents. And she has that very long Bay Bridge to negotiate. Only .4miles shorter than the Mackinac Bridge. At least her drive back to school was sunny, dry and uneventful on Sunday.

So Allison was home on Tuesday afternoon. I made ribs for dinner. We celebrated Scott's 14th Birthday on Weds night after I got home from work and my doctor appointment. We had dinner out and then opened gifts and enjoyed coconut cream pie.

On Thursday morning I asked to see a movie since I was planning on working on Friday. We left early for the first showing of Hunger Games on Thanksgiving morning. Sadly, we missed our neighborhood Turkey Trot. But the movie was really good, and then we had plenty of time to prepare dinner. Tom and I had invited our neighbors over for dinner, but they weren't sure of their plans or how I would be doing, so they opted out. Our friend John was still planning on coming over for dinner, so I decided to use the time as a training session for Allison. I walked her through all the side dishes-stuffing, baked potatoe casserole, green bean casserole and crescent rolls. Tom was busy using his early St Nick's Day gift-a new rotisserie for our grill as he cooked the turkey outside. It turned out great and we had tons of food. Sadly, by the time I sat down to eat I wasn't feeling good and I had to go take a nap while everyone else enjoyed their meal. I managed to make it down to the recliner chair that evening to finish my plate but that was about it. We were supposed to go over to our neighbors for dessert and the Ravens football game, but I could not get up out of the chair. I had just started a new blood pressure medication per my doctor's orders and it was getting the best of me. I did enjoy watching the RAvens game though.

I had to get up early Friday to go to work. I dragged through the day and put in a full 8hrs(much to my disappointment). We were supposed to have dinner at some friends but again I was too tired for the company. Instead we all stayed home and enjoyed leftover turkey casserole. Tom also put his second early St Nick's Day gift to work-an electric carving knife. The last one we had finally gave up after 26 yrs.

On Saturday we were up early and out for our family Christmas photo opp. at Target. Always a busy time. After lunch we did not have much time until we were back on the road with our friend John, headed to Hershey Park for a hockey game. We enjoyed an evening of Hershey Bears Hockey and they won! And Scott and I snuck out a little early to run over to the Hershey gift shop for our free chocolate samples and to do some gift shopping. And to enjoy the Christmas lights and decorations. Scott wants to go back and go into the park next time.

Sunday after Scott served mass we took Allison out for breakfast. Happy First Day of Advent. She then came home and opened her St Nick's Day gifts and packed up her car and headed out. Scott really enjoyed having Allison home to keep him company playing video games. I think Allison just enjoyed sleeping in her own bed. She did manage to get a paper written and a book mostly read over the weekend. She only has one more week of classes and then finals and she will be headed back home again! Tom managed to get some Christmas lights up on the house while I undecorated for Thanksgiving. And then there are the leaves!

So I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving Break. The football games were crazy, the company was wonderful, the food was plentiful(especially all the pies). A Very Happy November Birthday to Scott and Sheila Bozyk. Lets see how I survive December!