First week of May!  Tom finally heard from work and was offered a new position! He is so happy. He had to go in for an interview, and now has to let his current work group know that he is leaving. He is thrilled about the switch, but knows the current work group is going to miss him. But he will get a lot more done and enjoy his new position so much more. So he really does not have a lot to do until June when he officially switches over. Good for him since he can spend time finishing up his current online class.

I continue to stay busy with Girl Scout choir. After work last Weds, I participated in the introductory program for the yearly GS Delegate meeting. We sang 3 songs on stage prior to their meeting and right after the dinner. However, they were running late and we ended up singing about 30 mins after our scheduled time. No matter. We had time to practice. And while I was on stage, I spotted Allison's previous mentor, Jeannette Partlow from the Chemical company. Too bad the meeting had just started, I would have loved visiting with her.   We just exchanged smiles and waves. Looks like the next performance will be the end of the year meeting and nursing home performance. And probably at least 1 baseball game National Anthem performance this summer.

On Friday I was busy taking Cookie into the vet. She had been scheduled for dental work and to have some lumps taken off her back. The clinic had to reschedule since they had problems with their equipment. So this was the big day. I took Cookie in around 8am and she did not return home until after 5pm. The clinic was very busy-lots of surgeries. She did very well and came home with stitches in her back and missing two bad front teeth. Fortunately you cannot see the missing teeth, and the scars should heal up nicely. So I spent the day waiting for her to be done. Afterwards we were asked to keep her calm and feed her soft food along with antibiotics. Not as easy as it sounds. Fortunately she is really good about eating and no problem taking the pills hidden in cheese. But it was hard to keep her from jumping up on the couch, or even going down the steps outside to go to the bathroom. So we had to pick her up quite a bit and try to keep her from running around. And that was not easy since she weighs a good 25lbs. Very solid puppy.

On Saturday night, Tom was able to purchase a few tickets to attend the Hershey Bear Hockey game. He was able to get seats right on the glass next to the Hershey Bear team. He has been in the mood to catch an NHL/IHL Stanley Cup/Caldor Cup game live. We have been following the Washington Capitals, and their IHL team, The Hershey Bears, have been staying in the playoffs as well. We picked up Scott after work and our friend, John and headed up to Hershey. Unfortunately the game did not go well. The Bears lost 3 to 1, but it was a fun game and interesting to watch so close to the ice. But surprisingly, not comfortable.  We decided we need to stick with the Club seats from now on. The space was very crowded and the seats were small and cramped. Not good on our knees. Plus you really had to get up every time someone in the row wanted out(and there was a very large woman at the end of our row who kept getting up and down). Pretty much cleared out the entire row to let her through! And it made it hard to watch the game! But it was still fun.

Scott had to work all weekend, but that was not his only activity. He also took the SAT on Saturday morning. We thought it would be good to get a few tests out of the way his Junior year so he has time during his Senior year to retake them if he wants to/needs to bump up his scores. He missed the Boy Scout Appalachian Trail camping trip though. He would have enjoyed going if he had time, and if the boys weren't preparing for the 2018 Philmont High Adventure Trip. They have to practice hiking and carrying heavy backpacks. Instead, he is looking forward to the White Water Rafting trip and a Memorial Day weekend overnight camping trip at the fairgrounds.

 He has 1.5 more months of school left and he can't wait to be done. He is busy reading "Of Mice and Men" in English, and currently has a substitute teacher for chemistry as his regular teacher is off on maternity leave. And the Seniors will be leaving soon. So they are getting ready for finals. Which messes up Scott's class schedule since he has Seniors in many of his courses.

We have also been busy with our yardwork. I have been trying to clean up leaves from the plant beds, and Tom started cutting the grass and applying fertilizer. I had to transplant a few stray bushes, so lots of digging. It has been a crazy spring with freezing cold temperatures and temps in the 90s like mid summer. So the plants have had quite a change in their normal schedule. My magnolia tree did not blossom at all this year. All of the blossoms fell off in a freeze. But the cherry trees did very well and the neighborhood was beautiful with all the blooming pink and white blossoms, along with the dogwoods. This year was the best bloom I have ever seen on my lilac bushes, and the iris are going strong as well as my pink clematis flowering vine. The forsynthia did not do well this year(the yellow flowered bushes) and not as many daffodils. A lot of plants started blooming early in February with a warm up, but it got colder in March with the snow storm, so it was too harsh on the early bloomers. DC sneaked out a Cherry Blossom festival this year, but we did not have time to go down there. We even missed the annual kite festival in April. Just too busy.  And the critters are all busy-momma bunny is back in our yard. I am sure she has a family under our shed as usual. And most exciting, I have baby bluebirds again in my nesting box. And we are enjoying all the different types of birds attracted to our feeder including gold finch, cardinals, blue jays, doves and chickadees to name a few. I think the one thing everyone could skip this spring is the pollen and the allergy symptoms!

End of April and Tom was spending another week working in LA. Mostly the San Diego and Palmdale area. He actually is interested in changing work groups and has put in a request for a transfer. At Northrop, you basically have to quit one job and interview for another position at the same company. So he had interviewed with another group and was waiting to hear if they could cover his school expenses for his PhD.  In the meantime, his current work group found him something to keep him busy.

Scott was back to working very hard on his last semester of school. He did very well with his report card bringing home all A's and a B. Way to Go Scott! He has been working so hard at school and with his other activities, including working at the roller rink. He had one more training class for work at night and I dropped him off while I went to visit with my mom. I had not seen her since before Easter and decided she needed a hair appointment. The last time we were together, Scott and I were enjoying an Easter brunch at her place.

So when the weekend rolled around, I took her in to see our favorite hairdresser on Sunday evening. On Saturday evening, I had picked Mom up after dropping Scott off to work and brought her home to enjoy a steak dinner out on our deck. The weather was incredibly hot and humid for one of the last days in April. Mom seemed to enjoy sitting outside listening to all the birds singing as well as a few of our spring peeper frogs chirping in the backyard. On Sunday I was able to take her in for a hair appointment. I had a busy Sunday however. I started it off with a drive north of Baltimore to the Bel Air library. Our Girl Scout choir was asked to sing for a children's program. The children's librarian read a book about Girl Scouts and we sang. It was a very nice library, especially the kids area. Last weekend I sang with the Girl Scouts at an Outdoor event for Earth Day. I passed on a few other events we sang at over the last couple of months including being invited to sing "God Bless America" for the Baltimore soccer team. The Baltimore Blast hosted a Chinese soccer team in a world championship here in Baltimore, but I just couldn't get into watching a soccer game. Also, the choir put on a musical written by one of our parents. They put on a musical last year, but it is a lot of rehearsals, especially during the week, and I just did not feel like putting in the time. So I go when I can.

Our last weekend in April turned out nice. Good thing for Allison. She traveled up near Girl Scout camp to attend a weekend camping trip for the Frisbee teams. The teams all get together every year for a camp out and frisbee tournaments. This year the girls were lucky enough to stay in cabins with flush toilets, showers and cots. Good thing since Allison was not feeling very well. Looks like what ever has been going around finally caught up with her. But she managed to survive camp food, just not a lot of frisbee playing. She did win a tournament frisbee though!  And then she was back to school on Sunday. She is quickly coming to an end to her Senior year and graduation. She was happy to finish up one of her big projects this term-she helped put on a free baseball clinic for the kids in Salisbury with a few classmates. Now she is mostly studying for tests and finishing up presentations. And she will be attending Grad School come August for her MBA. However, she has not heard back from any companies yet on a summer internship opportunity. She is still eyeing Girl Scout camp as a counselor if all else fails.

Scott is also looking forward to the end of this year. He is hoping this last semester will be as successful as the previous one. I did strongly encourage him to attend After Prom. He was not interested in attending Prom, but the kids are allowed to go to After Prom even if they do not attend Prom. It is a big, Up All Night party with lots of food, activities and prizes held at our YMCA. Allison went twice during her Junior and Senior year after attending Prom with friends. Scott was not interested in the dancing part, or dressing up in his tux, but he did agree to attend the party with his friends. Tom was back in town Friday night, so he was able to drop him off Saturday night at midnight. Scott had worked that afternoon, but was up and ready to go party. He actually had a great time, especially with his friends and one of the moms working the event took him and a few other kids out to breakfast at 5am when the party got out. Fortunately he did not have to work on Sunday and was able to get some sleep before hitting the books.

So Easter was over.  We really did not get to spend a whole lot of time with my mom on the holiday. Scott and I did enjoy an Easter brunch with her at Sunrise the weekend before. The facility always does a nice job entertaining the residents and their families. Wish we could have stayed longer, but Scott had to get to work that day.

And Tom finally had to get to work. He was asked to fly out to California for a project at the last minute the week after Easter Sunday. Work was trying to decide if they should send him to Florida, Texas or California, and LA won. Although he did not spend much time in LA. He was all over southern California. So that left me to run Scott around to school and work.  I was busy working too. A few of our staff members were sick and on vacation, so I came in on the weekend to help out. Meanwhile, I have been fighting colds and stomach bugs myself all spring. I am sure all the running around did not help.

Scott was still attending employee training every Tuesday night, so I needed to give him a ride. He also had a scout trip scheduled for the upcoming weekend that he was looking forward to attending. It is the yearly Bike and Hike scout trip and this year was scheduled at Gettysburg, PA. Scott has ridden around the large park before and really enjoyed it. He also liked the campground since it accommodates horses  and the boys usually tent next to the stables and they were a fun distraction.  There were only a few boys from Scott's patrol camping, and Scott volunteered to cook. However, one of the new boys in the patrol is vegetarian, so Scott had to learn a whole new way of cooking. On Thursday night, he and I went out grocery shopping for vegetarian meatballs and sausages. Scott actually did a good job planning a menu and picking out vegetarian food items for his spaghetti and meatballs and pancakes and sausage. So on Friday I packed up his camping gear and food while he was at school. One of the patrol members mom gave him a ride up to camp. They were only staying one night, so I would have to pick up Scott on Sunday.

In the meantime, Allison was headed home for the weekend. She had a frisbee tournament scheduled at the University of Maryland. She decided to stay with us for the weekend. Usually the girls on the team bunk down in one of the team members's family houses. Allison opted not to volunteer our house for 30 girls. (She knows what fun I had last time we hosted and one of the girls had an asthma attack and had to be taken to the hospital).  But really, I wouldn't have minded, but I needed to get Scott to camp. I did not really have a lot of time for cooking and cleaning for 30 girls. But I was happy to have Allison home for the weekend(even a little bit). On Friday, she stopped in to have dinner with Tyler on her way home. Then she was up early Saturday morning and off playing frisbee.

Sadly, Saturday turned out to be a rotten day for outdoor activities. It rained and poured all day long. In Pennsylvania, Scott's group cooked breakfast under a tarp, and then postponed their bike ride until the afternoon, hoping the rain would let up. In the morning, they toured the visitor center at Gettysburg. Scott has been there before, so nothing really new. After lunch, they went out on their ride, but it was in the cold rain. Scott's group was led by a mom who did not want to ride through the Gettysburg park and did not want to take the boys along the road to access the other trails since it was raining and she was worried they would get run over. Also, a few of the boys in the group were not prepared for bad weather(contrary to the boy scout motto Be Prepared) and they were wet and cold and wanted to quit. So Scott did not enjoy his biking trip as much as he has in the past. At least it stopped raining around meal time, but he burnt his garlic toast, so he was not too happy. And the vegetarian scout decided to sleep in Scott's tent since the other boy had gone home with his mom, and all he did was complain that the tent was dirty inside. Mind you, he had his own tent he could have slept in. Scott does not mind tenting alone with a bit of mud and leaves. So Sunday morning Tom drove up with me to pick up Scott early. Of course the weather was beautiful on Sunday.

Allison's frisbee games were also put on hold on Saturday morning. The teams usually play on the Fraternity lawns, but the groundskeepers did not want people running all over in the rain. So the games had to be moved to another field farther off campus. Some of the team members got lost on their way to the other fields. Then they put the games on hold since it was raining too hard. There really wasn't anything to do while they were waiting, but Allison and a few girls managed to locate a small aviation museum near the campus to walk around in while they waited for the rain to let up. She finally got through her games and headed home for dinner. On Sunday, she was also up early and off to another day of frisbee games before driving back to school. Sadly the girls did not win one single game on either day. But they do love playing. Tom, Scott and I were headed back from Gettysburg and stopped into Frederick, Maryland for a Papa Murphy pizza. The 'bake your own' pizza shop closed by our house and Frederick was the nearest store, 30 mins away. We ordered two to have later. When we got home, Tom packed and was headed back to LA. Scott unpacked all his Boy Scout equipment and started on his homework. I was off to participate in a Girl Scout sing a long at an Earth Day event with our choir in the afternoon. Thank goodness the rain stopped since this was an outdoor event.

Another busy week for the Seitz family.

So Scott was finally on his Spring Break in the middle of April. He still had to go to work, but we did not sign him up for any sessions during the middle of the week. Tom and I still had to go to work, and he did not have a ride. Scott did have to start his training classes on Tuesday night.  But then he worked his regular weekend schedule.

Actually, if he had to go to work, Tom would have been able to drive him. Turns out, Tom has not been very busy at work since the new year began, so he has been spending a lot more time at home. His team has been reorganized, so he has not had many projects to keep him busy. Instead, he has been focusing most of his time and energy on his schoolwork. Which is good for his schoolwork. But he also has spent time working on projects around the house. Not so good for me as it usually means more cleaning on my end.

Like he cleaned out the pantry, cabinets and the freezer. Which made it tough to locate items I was searching for(I have my own system for organizing which makes it worse since I am usually the one who spends the most time in both places!). Then he decided to trim more branches off the maple trees along our street. He managed to get two trees trimmed and after he cut up all the tree branches, he left a huge pile of logs and twigs that ran the entire length of our house! And that was only 2 trees! Naturally, the county won't pick up plant debris unless it is packed up in recycle bags. So it took several weeks to sweep and bag tree limbs and branches, and Tom finally had to pack up the big logs and take them to the recycle dump. Plus I am still raking up leaves from under the bushes from last fall! I wish Tom felt compelled to spread the rest of the mulch sitting in our driveway from last year. We had way too much. He did decide to take on all the lawn care himself this year including spreading fertilizer and crabgrass killer. And since it has been so much warmer this spring and so much earlier, he has started to cut the grass since it is growing out of control. Then he decided to change out our front door screen. He put in a new storm door that has just a half screen up top. It looks OK. Mainly Tom was worried about the full length door screen that we already had getting pushed in/out by the pets and visitors. At least I put him to good use getting my flat tire repaired on my van.

Since he was interested in transferring to another department,  he interviewed with a previous work group and  is waiting to hear back. He just needs the manager to agree to continue to pay for his PhD. I hope he hears from the group soon! I really don't need any more new projects to clean up after!  As it was, I put in extra hours at work. One of our OT's was feeling ill, so I ended up working for her on Friday. On Saturday we were planning on traveling to Williamsburg after Scott got off work, so after I dropped him off, I stopped in to visit with my mom. I wanted to drop off her Easter basket since we were going to be out of town on the holiday. She loved her new shirts, Easter sweet treats and the Disney bracelet we picked up for her during our Florida visit. I also dropped off some hyacinth bulbs in full bloom. I couldn't stay long since I needed to get back home and pack the van. I also had to drop Cookie off to our friends for the weekend.

We felt bad that Scott didn't really seem to have much of a Spring Break. So we decided to take him to Busch Gardens on Easter Sunday. Allison wanted to join us, so she met us in Williamsburg Saturday night. After Scott got off work we headed down to Williamsburg  Saturday night and all stayed overnight at a local hotel. It was fun spending the night together, and we decided to check out our Easter baskets that evening since we wanted to get an early start at Busch Gardens the next day. I teased the kids and told them I hid their Easter baskets somewhere in the hotel(yes, Allison got another Easter basket). I couldn't help myself. I had packed a few extra treats from my trip to Philly that I included in everyone's basket like chocolate covered pretzels for Allison and Old City Coffee for Tom. For Scott it was coconut covered chocolate "bunny tails". I treated myself to a few Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit figurines that I bought from one of our neighbors the week before. I had a Royal Doulton collection started when I was young, and was excited to see someone in our neighborhood parting with a few statues that I hadn't seen before. Plus they are sugar free!

We had a wonderful day at the Amusement Park. The kids were most excited to try out the new wooden roller coaster and the day was absolutely gorgeous. 90 degrees but not too hot or humid. Although a bit too warm for this time of the year. It was amazing how green the trees were in Virginia. It is only 3 hours away, but it seems like a completely different world. We topped off our end of Lent celebration with ice cream sundaes. Sadly, it was time to get back home, so we parted ways with Allison. She had driven herself down the eastern shore and wanted to head back to school before it got too late. She had a 3 hr drive and our ride home took about 5 hours because of traffic. Fortunately, Tom and Scott did not have to worry about getting up early the next day since Tom still did not have much work and Scott had Easter Monday off. Lucky guys. I was back to work.

At least Scott was able to move forward on his paperwork for his Eagle project during his time off. He finished all the paperwork for his Eagle notebook during his Spring Break. Then he was able to have his notebook reviewed by his Eagle coach and the Scoutmaster during the scout meeting while he was off from school. Next step is to have a Scoutmaster conference. This is the time when the scoutmaster quizzes the boys on all the knowledge they have learned since they started scouts, including such  info on first aid, knot tying, emergency procedures and the history of boy scouting. Pretty much involves memorizing the boy scout handbook. Looks like he won't have time for that until after school gets out in June.  

The first week in April we celebrated Tom's Birthday(again). We had taken him to a Hershey Bear Hockey game with a stop over at the Chocolate Factory. It was fun checking out all the new Easter candy at Hershey. Allison was back at school having ended her Spring Break with a stopover at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA, So Scott and I took Tom out to dinner after getting off work and school. We took Tom out to Maggiones-his favorite Italian restaurant where he celebrated his big day with chicken parm and a slice of tiramisu for dessert. Afterwards he opened his gifts at home. Besides a few Star Wars and Dr Who tshirts as well as a Green Bay Packer shirt for our upcoming summer trip to Wisconsin, Tom bought himself another smart smoke alarm for the house. We also invested in a new vacuum, but we could not decide on which one, so now we have two Shark vacuums. One for upstairs and one for downstairs. Scott picked him up a video game to keep Tom busy in between class assignments and Allison sent him a wine glass printed with the chemical symbol for alcohol.  I also signed us up for a Distillery tour on the eastern shore, right near the Bay Bridge. After the tour you receive a bottle of their vodka. I thought we would take our neighbors for a day out on the eastern shore. The distillery is in a very cute, Victorian town and afterwards we thought we would drive down the coast and visit a few other historic cities like St Michaels. That area is known for their wineries and historical towns. Should be an interesting and fun excursion. Just need time to schedule the trip!

Sandra Bozyk also celebrated her birthday this first week in April. Happy Birthday Sandra!  Dad Bozyk would also have celebrated his birthday on Saturday, April 8th.

On Saturday we were dropping Scott off in the morning to take the ACT college entrance exam. He is also scheduled to take the SAT, but the midwest states,  like Western Michigan,  prefer the ACT. We also heard from Western Michigan concerning their out of state tuition. In order to increase their admission numbers, they have dropped the out of state tuition by 50%! A big incentive for us. Scott is interested in the Western Michigan Manufacturing Engineering program and they are one of the very few Universities that offers that program in the US. Also, if Scott finishes one year of school there, then he will be considered an in state student and the price drops even more!  So he started his Spring Break by taking an exam. Unfortunately for him, we had no travel plans during his time off the following week. But he was happy that his school semester ended before Spring Break, so no real homework. Except he planned on spending his Spring Break wrapping up his Eagle Scout project report.

I had a few activities scheduled during the week myself after I got off work. I had signed up for a Writing Class. I have wanted to write a few books and need some guidance in how to get started. This class offered by our Parks and Rec program looked perfect. Unfortunately, not enough people signed up and they cancelled the course. Maybe it was for the better since I really did not have much time to squeeze in another project right now. And the class was supposed to start Tuesday night and run for the whole month, so it would have delayed Tom's Bday celebration on the first night. On Thursday night I made my way over to north Baltimore after work, in the pouring down rain, to visit with a new accountant for my mom.

Over the past year and a half I have been struggling with my parent's previous accountant from West Bloomfield to finish up the 2015 taxes so I could send in the 2016 taxes. Mom and Dad used the same accountant for many years when Dad started having trouble organizing all his information(and was actually starting to show signs of his dementia). So Gary Morof had been doing their taxes for several years before I moved Mom and Dad here to Maryland. When I was in Michigan organizing the move, I sat down with Gary and the financial advisor I had hired to go over Mom and Dad's finances which was incredibly helpful. So when they moved out of state, Gary was fine with me sending all their paperwork and completing their taxes from out of state. It appears that there was a hiccup in the paperwork when my father died and Gary just could not get it together. I never received the 2015 tax return(still have not received anything from Gary). Even though I spoke with him multiple times on the phone and he swore the taxes were done. Just seemed to have difficulty sending me anything. Just promises. So Tom found an accountant here in Maryland that came highly recommended from some of his co workers at Northrop. I was instantly pleased with the outcome after our first phone call. I had gathered up 3 years worth of paperwork(I made lots of copies), and during our face to face meeting he was able to figure out what was going on and completed the 2016 tax return in 1 week, right before the deadline! Now he has to go back and figure out what went wrong with Gary's 2015 return and fix it. I still don't know if Gary actually finished the taxes, but I have never seen any paperwork or received a bill. So I would say No. And still, I have not heard back from Gary. So if you are looking for a tax accountant and you are in Michigan, DO NOT HIRE GARY MOROF from West Bloomfield. Complete lack of professionalism.

On Saturday, after picking Scott up from his ACT test, we stopped in and picked up Mom Bozyk. She needed a hair appointment since the facility hairdresser was out on medical leave, and Mom kept missing the substitute hair dresser. The substitute was coming on Thursday only and Mom is usually out at the Sr Center that day. So I got her an appointment at our Hair Cuttery after we had lunch and did some grocery shopping while she was there. Her appointment ran late, and we had an Eagle ceremony to attend. One of Scott's fellow patrol members had completed all his requirements and was receiving his Eagle rank. The scouts run the ceremony pretty much the same way and Scott's Eagle coach recommended that he attend  one to be prepared for his own. Plus this was one of Scott's patrol members, so we wanted to be there to support him. The ceremony ran late and so did Mom's hair appointment, so afterwards I  picked up mom and dropped her back off to her place.

I needed to pack up a few things since we decided to travel to Salisbury on Palm Sunday to visit Allison for the day. Tom had her new car registration tags to put on the license plate and we thought it would be a good driving practice run for Scott. It is a 2 1/2 hr drive and includes a long drive over the Bay bridge. I also wanted to drop off an Easter basket to Allison and her roommates. I usually include some extra snacks for when they are on the road playing Frisbee. The girls were at school this weekend to attend the Frisbee Team Alumni Party on Saturday night. So on Sunday after mass we packed up the car and headed to Salisbury. The girls loved their Easter baskets and it was such a nice day, we decided to go for a walk through the Canal Park and the Salisbury zoo after lunch. We brought Cookie, and she was not allowed in the zoo, so we took shifts watching her in the park. Cookie was fascinated with the geese, all busy guarding their nests. We left Cookie at the girl's condo with the roommates while we went to lunch and they quickly fell in love when she snuggled on their laps. Too bad the condo does not allow pets. We did not stay long since Allison had studying to do, and we wanted to stop into the outlet stores on the way home. Scott needed some more pants for scout outings and he really likes the Columbia sport pants that turn into shorts. Just like scout pants(only cheaper!)

I went in to work on a Sunday the last week in March to get a jump on my work week.  I also had to pack for my upcoming trip to Philly. One of the other OT staff members was attending the conference, but we were not traveling together. She had friends in Philly that she was visiting, as well as attending a Bon Jovi concert with her family on Friday night. So we traveled separately. At least we ran into each other a few times during the conference and enjoyed having a lunch break together. We also visited briefly with our previous Rehab director who was also attending the conference.

My work week went by quickly and on Thursday morning I was headed out the door to drive up to Philly. I was hoping to drive up early enough to check in and attend a few conference classes before the end of the day. Unfortunately, my GPS took me on the scenic drive through Philadelphia and with rush hour traffic starting, I ended up checking in a bit later than I wanted. Tom was able to check me into a hotel right across the street from the convention center where the conference was being held. It is fascinating staying in the city. My hotel lobby was off the street, but the actual hotel rooms were 17 stories above the main lobby. It was built on top of the parking garage. And the dining room and bar were actually on the top floor with a beautiful view of downtown along with the swimming pool and jacuzzi. After I  parked in the garage and checked in to the hotel, I walked across the street to the Convention center. This is the biggest building I have ever been in for a conference. It took at least 20 minutes to walk from one side of the building to the other. So you had to schedule travel time into getting from class to class. Along with taking several escalators up and down on 3 levels. I checked into the conference and picked up my badge and workbook. This year the conference celebrated our 100th year as OTs. It turns out it was the biggest conference in the history of AOTA conferences(American Occupational Therapy Association) with over 13,000 OTs in attendance. Our theme focused on the next upcoming 100 years and incorporating technology into our rehab programs including use of robotics. That was the focus on our opening lecture. They also put on a big show for the upcoming OT Ball on Friday night. I think I am getting too old for this! They had an opening band(very loud) and all the OTs were throwing around beach balls and started a congo line.  And the conference hall was so packed, there were no more seats left! I stood in the back for the hour long program. Then enjoyed hors d oevres with the opening of the Exhibit hall. Lots of booths set up by different companies selling lots of products and showing off new inventions and OT gadgets.  I had been on my feet for 4 hrs and was pretty worn out when I walked back to the hotel. I got myself a glass of wine and sat down with my conference schedule to map out the next few days. The conference decided to try to be more environmentally sound by posting their conference books online. You could get a paper printout of the conference schedule, but not until you checked in. That is a little late to figure out your days. So I had printed out a schedule ahead of time and read it over when we were in Florida(in between watching March Madness basketball games). Now at the conference I just had to pick the classes I wanted to attend and make sure I had a schedule that worked. They also eliminated the registration for each class and all handouts. So it was basically first come first serve. I found out on Friday morning when I sat down in my 8am class that there was not enough space for all of us in this huge building to attend all the classes, and they actually had to shut the doors. Ridiculous. Especially since the building was huge. For some classes they were able to quickly set up video and stream the class in another room. Obviously the organizers did not plan very well for the huge attendance. They did put a disclaimer on their workbook that stated you might not get into a class if the room filled up so they recommended you arrive early. Great. The difficulty was running from one class to another with limited time in such a big hall, with so many people. Just standing in line for the bathroom was interesting. Or to buy a drink or snack. Instead, I would drop into the hotel when I had a break. A lot cheaper and more convenient since I brought my own snacks and had bottled water and coffee from the hotel. So Friday was a busy day attending classes, visiting booths in the exhibit hall and I stopped to have lunch with my coworker. Fortunately there were lots of restaurants in the area, but the most interesting place was the Reading Market. It was right next to the Convention hall and was filled with all different types of food booths. And absolutely packed! You had to go at lunch since it was closed during dinner.  We managed to find a seat at a seafood diner and enjoyed Fish and Chips on our Lenten Friday before heading back to more classes. That evening, I attended the OT Ball on my own. The celebration was included in the price of our conference. It was held in the Convention hall and took up half of the building. They had a live band playing and lots of OTs dancing in a huge room with a huge stage. I enjoyed the music,  appetizers and drinks while watching the crowd and chatting with a few young OT students. I then enjoyed some desserts while listening to the Jazz band in a quieter spot while people watching. They had caricature drawings and photo booths set up. I was just surprised with all those OT people I never spotted anyone I knew. I was also disappointed that my alma mater, Wayne State, did not have a reunion going on. I see Western Michigan held one and I thought about crashing it!  It was amazing to see all these OTs together in one spot-mostly young students and some of the really old OTs. I guess that will be me one day! Looks like I am getting there,  especially since I quit around 9:30. I had to get up early for my last day of classes and needed to pack up. Naturally I had gathered a whole lot of freebies at the exhibit booths. I even bought myself a few estim machines to use on myself and the family(gives an electrical stimulation to those aching muscles and sore joints). I use the machines at work on my patients since I am certified, and have had the treatment myself especially for my sore hip, and I have always wanted my own system. I just cannot believe how small the unit is and how powerful. Can't wait to try it out!

So I packed up my car on Saturday morning and checked out before heading over to the conference. I also enjoyed my complimentary breakfast every morning in the hotel thanks to Tom.  I attended a few classes before running into my fellow coworkers and we took a lunch break together. Back to the Reading Market. This time I stood in line for Philly cheesesteaks. I also picked up a few extra to take home to Tom and Scott. Afterwards we had to pick up some ice cream at a Philly favorite, Bassetts, Ice Cream since 1861.  I heard about it during an opening OT ceremony with a story from Al Roker. He is from Philly and gave a video Welcome speech and recommended a cheesesteak and ice cream. He also thanked OTs for our program which helped his autistic son increase his participation in all types of activities including improvement with school work and sports. I also went Easter Bunny shopping for some goodies for the family's Easter baskets. There were lots of candy shops-chocolate covered pretzels are big in Pennsylvania. Actually pretzels in general are a big hit. My coworker and I searched hi and low for a bag of pretzels but no one sold them by the pound to take back to our staff. Instead, she traveled to a local bakery the next day on her way home and picked up a huge bag of soft pretzels and mustard.

I missed out on a few events while visiting Philly. I was hoping Tom and Scott could have joined me. We have driven to Philly in the past with visits to the museums, zoo and of course the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. We would have loved to all be together, but Scott had a busy schedule back at home. On Thursday night he was inducted into the National Technology Honor Society at school. Not a lot of kids in this group, but plan to be busy organizing a Science Fair as well as other activities at school. And they meet during school, so no extra time needed to join. Just dues payments!  So Tom accompanied him to the ceremony on Thursday night. Scott also had to work, and on Saturday evening he had his yearly Boy Scout swim test to complete for upcoming summer scout water events.

I also missed out on the yearly high school Viking Fest dinner. It was scheduled on Saturday night, and even though I arrived home from Philly in time to attend, I was just too pooped to party!  Maybe I will try again next year. Then on Sunday I went off to dinner and a Christian concert with a fellow co worker. Last year, Allison and I joined my coworker Ann and attended a christian rock concert during Allison's spring break. Allison was already done with her spring break and was sorry she missed her favorite christian rock n roller, Steven Curtis Chapman. I sent her lots of photos and a small recording of his live music.  Now I was officially worn out.

Allison was already back at school, but traveled down to Virginia Beach for another Frisbee tournament the weekend I was in Philly. She called me Friday night from a restaurant on the eastern Maryland shore since the Bridge had been shut down in Virginia Beach. There was a tornado that touched down nearby and the state police had to close the bridge.  It was raining pretty hard in Philly during our conference and a bit chilly, but Allison ended up with the really bad weather. And Allison kept asking me if it was Sunny in Philly(Always Sunny in Philadelphia is one of Allison's favorite shows, along with her roommates). Not Sunny when I was there!

Dad Seitz celebrated his Birthday this week. Glad we were able to celebrate in person when we visited him in Florida!

Meanwhile, back in Baltimore, Scott was holding down the fort. His biggest challenge was keeping Cookie and Pika engaged. He managed to get himself back and forth to school, which was especially challenging in the mornings since we turned the clocks back. It was very dark in the morning, so he headed out with a flashlight. He was going to ride his bike, but it was pretty cold and rainy. And it turned out he had to deal with a snow storm on Tuesday! Finally, a snow day and a half! In March! So he really only had to get himself to school on 4.5 days out of the week. And on Friday, Allison came home for her Spring Break. The two of them had a great time on Saturday night when they invited Tyler over for a video game and pizza night. Scott spent his day at a Boy Scout leadership class.  Overall though a great weekend for the two of them without the parents. We kept in touch during our trip though and sent lots of photos(just letting them know what they were missing). It is quite an experience going on vacation without the kids!

We would have loved to have taken them with us, but their Spring Breaks were just not on the calendar. Allison was off for her Spring Break the week after we returned home. And she really couldn't miss school-she had too many projects and tests scheduled. Plus, the weekend we left she was headed up to Atlantic City for a frisbee tournament. We told her to get out and try her hand at gambling, but she said she was too busy with frisbee. And freezing!  The weather was getting pretty chilly with the upcoming snowstorm. They actually had some snow on the ground already. 

And Scott was very busy with school(on the days he went anyway). He would have participated in his Robotics tournament on the following Saturday, but he was already scheduled to attend the Boy Scout leadership program which lasted all day. Since I did not know what our schedule looked like, I did not sign him up for work. He probably could have put in a few hours since Allison was home to give him a ride. But I think they enjoyed spending time with each other instead!