Happy Post Labor Day Weekend! Tom returned from Scotland with a very bad cold. He spent most of his time on the couch during the week. Except when he had to start working on his new online class for his PhD.He did bring home an awesome Scotland Starbucks mug(they don't make them anymore here in the US and we collect them from all the places we visit), so he had something special to drink his hot tea out of and thank Scotland for his cold.

Allison also started school on Monday the week before Labor Day Weekend. She had left back for Salisbury on Saturday afternoon after packing up provisions. She wanted to return to the condo and spend time picking up a few more perishable items and unpack her car. Much to her surprise, a new roommate also arrived to move in. Allison knew there was a replacement roommate already moved in for just a few months, Abbey. This was Cayley, a full time roommate which Allison was not expecting! She was not sure Cayley's loan went through or if she had time to fill out all the necessary paperwork before school started, or even before Sept 1, but apparently she was able to get everything in place to start on Aug 28. Cayley is a transfer student, a Junior studying Kinesiology, so she should be around for awhile. And both girls are interested in playing Ultimate Frisbee(a bonus for Allison). We are just happy we don't have to pay extra rent!  So Allison helped her new roommate move in(which wore her out) and spent Sunday resting up and actually starting some of her homework before classes began. The professors all send out their syllabus online before school starts so you can get a head start. Allison is taking 3 classes, all meeting at night from 6-9, M, Tues. and Weds. She was still waiting on her Accounting book to be delivered, so she really did not have a chance to get a head start on reading. Turns out the class was on Monday, but the book arrived after class. As it was, her Accounting prof would have liked to start class the week before. He was shocked to discover there was no class scheduled on the upcoming Labor Day!  He assigned homework anyway. Allison also has a Marketing and Information Systems class. She is happy to have all classes early in the week. She finished up on Weds night and came home Thursday for a long, holiday weekend. Turns out she needed to stop back into the doctor's office for another blood draw as they completed the wrong tests. Not exactly what she needed. But she was happy to have another break at home. Fortunately she was able to keep working on her homework as most of it is online. And it was nice and quiet at our house. She discovered her new roommate enjoys playing loud music on Alexa(and her roommate just discovered the joys of Alexa).

Scott still had 1 more week to go until school started. He was working on his math for the upcoming ACT. He also worked his last shift at the Roller Rink on Friday night(we think). They wanted him to come in one more weekend, but Scott was planning on starting his new job(again, we think). On Friday afternoon I took him for a fingerprinting screen for the After Care job. He also had to check up on his Catholic Church screening training which is still good until he turns 18 and then he will have to complete the adult training. So he just keeps gathering his paperwork and dropping it off at the school. Just no word on start date or schedule(or even if he is officially hired!). He was just looking forward to having a long break before school started. He even drove himself over to his friend's house one evening to start working on videos for their upcoming Television class. Scott really couldn't pick up his school supplies yet since nothing was posted. He did get his schedule which includes his last Engineering class where they spend the year working on a project, as well as working as a Teacher's Aide for one of the beginning engineer classes. Besides the Television class(he really enjoys making videos), he has Art 1, Math-Trig II/Pre Calc, Physics and English. He also enjoyed his last summer Boy Scout meeting where the boys have a giant water gun fight.

I enjoyed a picnic dinner at my Mom's place as they celebrated an early Labor Day Holiday. I also had a busy weekend scheduled. We were expecting visitors from California. One of Tom's previous Northrop co workers, Richard and his wife Debbie. They were in town for Labor Day Weekend to attend their daughter's preliminary program at Johns Hopkins. She is attending Grad school as a Research Biologist and they put on a "White Coat" ceremony for the new students. We have not seen Debbie and Richard for about 10 yrs. when they came to Baltimore and we visited Hershey Park.  We always have a great time visiting with them and were really looking forward to spending the day together. Unfortunately, the weather was miserably wet. We had planned on spending the day walking around the Inner Baltimore Harbor and a visit to Ft McHenry. But we did not want to walk around in the rain. And Debbie and Richard have visited the area in the past and had already visited our National Aquarium, plus lots of Smithsonian museums in DC which we also thought would be a good alternative. Really Debbie did not want to do a whole lot of walking since she recently had back surgery. We even offered her my Mom's scooter to get around, but we decided to just meet for dinner in Little Italy. Which worked out pretty well since Tom still had a cold and I was starting to feel bad too. We also discovered the two had turned vegetarian, so we needed to find something that fit their taste and they were waiting for their daughter to finish up some work in the lab. So they hung out in their hotel room during the day and we all met in the evening for dinner. They found an Italian restaurant which we had never tried yet. Their daughter's boyfriend also joined us. He recently moved from California having graduated from UCLA and was attending Law school in Baltimore. We had a great dinner and a wonderful 3 hr visit. And it was still raining when we left. They were flying out on Sunday with a stop over in Colorado to visit their younger daughter who had just started OT school. Yeah! Another OT in training.

I guess the visit took too much out of me. I caught Tom's cold and ended up on the couch all day Sunday and into Monday, Labor Day. I was planning on attending the Renaissance festival with Allison and Scott and his friend Matt. Instead, Allison drove the group and they had a wonderful time at the festival. They even dressed for the occasion, Scott in his kilt and Allison as a fair maiden.  Allison even ran into some GS counselor friends at the event so she gave them the tour and pointed out the best shows.  I am glad they had a great time.

We were also busy watching Hurricane Harvey while it barreled through Houston. I was very glad to hear that my two brothers, Dan and Dave and their families that live in the area were all safe and dry and with power. I got a few phone calls from family out of state and friends asking about the boys. And what a way for them to celebrate their 59th Birthdays!  Certainly memorable. Happy Birthday Boys!

On Monday I had planned on going to work, but since I was feeling so bad I decided to stay home. I had just enough energy to make a big batch of chili to pack up for Allison at school(she needs iron!). And I threw some ribs in the crock pot. We had already invited the neighbors over for dinner and everyone was coming!  At least they were all bringing side dishes, and Allison was a huge help and made a couple batches of brownies. Scott also helped out by cutting the lawn. And both of them ran errands for me all day. Turns out we had a great dinner and visit with the neighbors and of course Ripley, our friend's cavachon-a last celebration before the end of summer. I thought everyone would sit out on the patio, but there is just not enough space. And I decided not to bring my mom since I did not want her catching anything Tom and I were fighting. (The neighbors are a lot tougher). It was nice to hear about their trips to Hawaii and New York City. And it was nice to have Allison home since she did not have class on Monday. Instead she headed back to school on Tuesday morning as we all went off to work and Scott started his first day of school

!

Well, Tom's trip to Scotland was delayed by one day. He had to fly from Baltimore to New Jersey first, but they kept having a delay in the New Jersey flights. He missed his Sunday flight and rescheduled for Monday. So he was back home for one more night.

 This year school does not start until after Labor Day weekend in Maryland. No so for Allison however. Her grad school program started at the end of August as usual.  She just had one more week at home to get ready to go back to school. Fortunately she is already moved in and just needed clothes and food packed up. The difficult part has been trying to find a replacement roommate. Jen graduated last December and her lease was up after August. Also, Allison's other roommate, Helena was going to be away for the Fall semester studying in Paris. So they needed to find replacement roommates to cover the cost of rent. Allison and Helena have been looking for replacement roommates since last Spring. They have had multiple offers that fell through. I also signed them up for a roommate search website that had a couple of nibbles, but still no one committed. Now it was coming down to the wire. Helena managed to find a girl to take her room until January when she returns. One down. Looked like we had another full time renter, but she was waiting on a school loan to sign the paperwork. Oh no.

In the meantime, Allison enjoyed visiting with a few of her college/high school friends before going back to school. I also kept them busy during the week while Tom was gone. I took Scott and  Allison out shopping at the mall on Monday night and out for dinner. I had a bridal shower at work on Tuesday and needed to do some shopping. Earlier in the day we all enjoyed the solar eclipse! How cool was that! Of course, I was at work, so I did not get to sit outside all afternoon, but did run in and out of the building several times over 3 hrs to watch the ordeal. The kids were at home enjoying nature's show. I know my niece, Stacey and her husband even traveled down south to catch the full effect of the eclipse. The best thing was that during our visit to the Osh Kosh Air Show this summer, we picked up official eclipse glasses at the NASA display. Little did I know how popular the glasses would be, and such a shortage. I wish I would have grabbed handfuls of the glasses! I could have sold them on Ebay for big bucks! Turns out I was the only one at my Nursing Home that had glasses, along with a maintenance worker, so we passed them around to the staff to enjoy. It was amazing watching a black shadow move over the sun. At peak eclipse, it got dim, like a rain shower was coming, but it did not last long. Very cool. Allison and Scott had glasses, but Allison also made a shadow box to catch a view of the eclipse. The glasses were so much cooler!

On Tuesday night I took Scott and his friend out to the movies. AMC has a special $5 Tuesday movie special, so we decided to go see the "Annabelle Origin" movie. It's a scary movie series about haunted items, specifically Annabelle which is a large doll that is haunted. There have been several other movies with Annabelle making an appearance, including "The Conjuring" which is based on a real story. And the couple that collect and store the haunted/possessed itesm. We thought it would be fun to go out and see a spooky movie in the theater. For $5 bucks we had nothing to lose. The theater mostly had high school students-a bit of a jabbery crowd and of course, flipping through phones before the movie started. I really thought we were going to have a problem when one of the adults had to yell at the kids to settle down before the movie began. Turns out it was the most fun we have had at the movies for a long time. Most of the high school kids were terrified and screaming and yelling at the movie screen for the stupid actors to stay out of the scary rooms! Of course that did not happen. It was your typical scary movie actor mistakes and very funny. We never laughed so hard. And we enjoyed our $5 dollar popcorn and soda combos as well!  It was so fun going to the movies in the middle of the week, but it made for a late night and a long day at work afterwards.

The next evening I was running home to attend a Driver's Training class with Scott at school. Parents and students have to attend a training class for new drivers planning to drive themselves to school. So we completed the class and picked up the application. Scott still had to pick up  his placard early Friday morning which he did on his own at school. He actually got there early, but the office was not sure when they were supposed to start selling the placards(yes, the kids have to pay for parking at the high school since there are so few spaces). By the time the office opened, several more families had showed up and they rushed the door. Scott still managed to be #11 in line, but he was #1! We are just happy he got a placard since he plans on driving himself to school every morning and then to his new job(at least that is the plan). He is really looking forward to his Senior year at school. He has some fun classes mixed with science and math classes. And this week he kept up his math studies with the ACT tutor. The clock is ticking.

On Friday I was also busy running errands. I took Cookie in early to the groomers. She needed a shave since it has still been so hot. And she also needed a break from Ripley! Our neighbor's finally returned on Weds from their Hawaii trip to pick up Ripley. We love having her, but she is a bundle of energy! I spent the rest of the day at my swim class, picking up medical forms for Scott's new job(we hope) and dropping him off to his roller skate job. I also went with Allison for a medical check up for her anemia. She needed to give more blood for testing. We keep filling her up with lots of iron rich foods!

I also stopped into the grocery store to pick up some items for the Boy Scout Parent picnic on Saturday. We have a decent crop of tomatoes this year, so I thought I would slice some up with mozzarella cheese and balsamic vinegar, sprinkled with fresh basil leaves. So I needed supplies. I was going to make zucchini bread, but sadly my one and only zucchini did not survive the hot sun and rain storms we have been having. Not sure who/what ate all the others.  So on Saturday I made up a plate of tomatoes and spent the evening visiting with the other Boy Scout parents. Our big discussion lately has been  BSA's plan to add girls to the Boy Scout program. I attended a parent meeting and watched a video from the BSA discussing the plan to add girls to the Cub Scout program. Afterwards I filled out an online survey with my opinion on the whole idea. The scouting program has been losing members, and the BSA reports they are getting feedback from boy scout families that they want to include their girls in the program. I am not so sure about that. I think parents are becoming lazy and just want to drop off both the boys and girls to activities at the same time. They certainly gave us that impression in the video. Anyhow, after watching the video, we were asked to fill out an online survey asking us if we thought adding girls to boy scouting was a great idea. Needless to say, I am not sold on the idea. But that is a discussion for another blog. On the other hand, the scout parents ate up all my tomatoes at the picnic!

By the time I got home from the BS picnic, Tom had returned from Scotland. During the week, he mailed us some souvenirs. Scott really wanted a kilt to wear to the upcoming Renaissance Festival.  Tom actually stopped into a shop in Edinburgh called "It Dam Near Kilt Him" to pick up a black kilt for Scott. Tom ended up mailing the items home since it was more cost efficient. We couldn't wait for him to return and we peaked at our packages early. Turns out the Kilt was actually made in Taiwan, and the two shawls he bought for Allison and myself were from China.

 I guess I shouldn't be surprised. If you come to America looking for something made in America, you will probably find the items are all made in China too! Scotland apparently is no different. I did really enjoy my thistle earrings and Scott is still very excited to wear his kilt to the upcoming festival! Not sure what he 'll be wearing underneath however!   And Tom's view of Scotland? Very similar to a wet, poor man's London, England. Looks like it mostly rained there,and he visited a lot of very old, stone buildings. But his favorite had to be the bag pipers(not). Don't think we will be rushing off to Scotland.

Now we were planning for our last weekend trip together as a family before the end of summer. We signed Scott up for an ACT math tutor for the week, so he was keeping busy doing geometry all week. He also had a job interview for an After School Aide at his old elementary school, Resurrection. One of his old school friend and fellow scout whose Dad is the Vice Principal at the school also works there. Scott inquired about a job opening earlier this summer and they did not have any spots available. But apparently one came up. Scott would prefer working as an After School Aide since the job is closer to home and the work schedule is better. He would not have to work weekends, and the shift usually runs for 3hrs right after he gets our of school. So he went in to interview and picked up the application to fill out. So we think he has the job? Guess we will find out.

Allison finished up at work camp(and feeling better) and returned home on Weds after closing up camp. She had a wonderful summer working as a counselor, but wished she had not gotten ill with anemia, along with a stomach virus. She was sorry she missed the outing to Hershey Park with just the counselors, Holiday week at camp as well as the Appalachian Trail week long hike and camp. But overall she loved visiting with her counselor friends, and especially seeing the girls that travel from overseas to work at the camp. She also enjoyed sharing goodie bags with her fellow counselors all summer and building long lasting friendships.

Now she was home trying to get ready to go back to school-ordering books, packing clothes and resting. But not for long.

We decided to take a quick trip to Williamsburg and to include my Mom. It turned out to be a bit crazy. Tom was already out of town for the week in Chicago on business. He was also trying to schedule a trip to Scotland for work on top of everything. Plus he was thinking about taking all of us, but I just didn't see it happening. His business trips are usually last minute affairs. Too hard to schedule airfare and time off that quickly. We were also dog sitting for our friends who were off visiting Hawaii. They were not expected to return until the following week. We thought we could ask our next door neighbors to watch the dogs for us, but they were headed to New York City. So we had no choice but to take the dogs with us on vacation!

So we had to find hotels that allow us to have dogs. Most hotels with suites were already booked, so we opted for the Hampton Inns. Tom was looking at going to Scotland on Sunday, so we could not stay long. We decided to head out on Friday after picking up my mom, packing her suitcase and scooter, along with our suitcases, and the dog's supplies/cages/food and started out on the road. We prefer traveling to the eastern shore and down to Virginia since there is hardly any traffic. Except it takes longer to get there. No matter. Tom prefers driving with no traffic  for a few hours more vs sitting for hours on the DC beltway. We stopped overnight near Virginia Beach. It is interesting sleeping with dogs(they don't always sleep). Mom and I shared a room with Cookie, Tom and the kids had Ripley. Cookie got up early in the morning as usual(around 5am) for a potty break. At least the hotel is very accessible and easy to take the dog out for a walk. It had rained all night, and we were expecting on and off showers during the day, mostly in the afternoon. After breakfast we headed to Busch Gardens. We dropped both dogs off at the on site kennel and decided to spend the morning at Water Country USA. We were all in our suits and managed to find a shady spot under a cabana with an overhead fan. It turned out to be very hot and humid but we missed out on the rain showers. Everyone enjoyed lounging in the shade, reading and resting and Scott and I caught a few rides. I even got Mom's toes wet in the pool at Hubba Hubba Highway. Sadly, it was Allison that started feeling ill-seems the heat was just too much for her. She took a break in the air conditioned medical center while we packed up and headed over to pick up the dogs late in the afternoon. We would have dropped her back to the hotel and visited the Amusement Park, but we had booked a hotel nearer our house in Richmond. Turns out when we picked up the dogs, we saw that the Park was filled to capacity. They have Saturday night concerts and that was the only reason we figured it was so full. So we really weren't missing out(it is too crazy when the Park is packed and miserable when it is humid). Instead we drove to our hotel, unpacked, got Allison and the dogs some dinner and rest, and Tom, Mom, Scott and I headed out to the movies. We found a very interesting movie theater near Richmond-an old factory turned movie theater. Very cool. We watched "The Hitman's Bodyguard". A bit crazy and violent(dark humor). Not exactly sure Mom appreciated the dark humor as much as we did. It has the same actor that plays the Deadpool character, Ryan Reynolds, so that is all I could think of while watching the movie. Same type of humor, a little less violent than DeadPool. And the popcorn was very good with a lid on the bucket so it does not spill! How cool is that! Popcorn Tupperware.

Anyway, we switched dogs for the night and Mom and I had Ripley. The rest of the family swore she was a much better sleeper than Cookie. I just did not want to keep waking up Mom. Turns out Ripley was not much better. She whined most of the night-I got her a bowl of water and that seemed to help. But Mom kept waking up and turning off the AC. So not much sleep that night either. I needed a vacation from the vacation. At least it was an easy ride back. We did take a potty break near DC and discovered a fabulous Italian bakery. We had to pick up some provisions for the long trip back. We also stopped at an outlet store to pick up some Khaki pants for Scott's new job(we hope).

We returned to the area early enough in the afternoon to drop off Mom, unpack the van and repack Tom for his trip to Scotland. I spent the rest of the day doing yardwork with Scott and laundry! My favorite.

A Big Happy Birthday goes out to Sarah Seitz(Eric's wife). Also, Congratulations to both of them as they announced that they are pregnant and due in February(same month as Eric's Birthday!). They bought the cutest Green Bay Packer baby clothes when we were on vacation! Can't wait to meet the newest Seitz member. And another Big Congratulations to Sarah as she was recently hired for a 4th Grade teaching position in Indiana. Way to Go Sarah!

Now we were into August and still so much to do. Scott started off with a full week of ACT class preparation. I signed him up for a half day tutoring class at our local community college. The class focused on the math and science section which are the two areas   that Scott needs to bump up. Actually, he mostly needs to bump up his math grade so he can start college at a higher math level and be engineering ready. Besides the class, he was busy studying on his own with a program that Tom downloaded. Plus he had the opportunity to practice his new driving skills as we had him drive himself to class every day. Both good things.

We were also busy with Boy Scout meetings the past two weeks, preparing for the upcoming camping trip and visit to Six Flags Amusement park. I was getting rather frustrated as the scouts were asked to plan cooking activities to complete requirements for rank advancement or for their cooking or camping merit badges. Unfortunately, we had more scouts wanting to cook and not enough scouts signing up to go and eat! Scouts are supposed to cook for at least 3 fellow scouts each.  So we were trying to organize a camping trip along with a trip to the local Amusement Park. I managed to find a nice KOA campground very close to Six Flags. We got 50% off discount tickets to the park. Surprisingly, we did not have many scouts or adults sign up. We ended up with only 10 scouts out of a huge troop of near 75, including our Venture Troop and Cub SCout Pack. I was very frustrated. I had a lot of upset parents wanting their sons to attend and camp only, just to get their cooking done, but this was also supposed to be a fun trip to the Amusement Park. I also only had a few adults(primarily Tom and I) sign up, and even our Scoutmaster had to back out since his mother in law was ill. I think Tom and I ended up eating some of the cost of this trip. We headed over to the campground on Friday afternoon. At least it was close. Tom was expecting to cook for adults, but it was really just the two of us. We had another couple that took pity on us and the mom ended up camping one night(her first time camping) and her husband camped Saturday night. Tom and I were sharing our large tent on the other side of the campground, so they pitched their tent with the boys on a group site. The boys all arrived early in the evening, made their dinners and cleaned up before it got too dark. Unfortunately, we had a few that forgot their tents, so Tom had to make another run home to pick up a few extras. Tom even decided to cook us a few steaks that evening and I tossed some potatoes and corn on the cob on the grill too. Scott became the acting Sr Patrol Leader since the actual SPL was unable to attend the event, . So Scott kept track of the progress for all the boys, shared several meals for those cooking, and then he joined us for a grilled steak dinner too!  We had hoped to to enjoy a bonfire that evening(I brought s'mores), but it started to rain and even tstorm. We quickly discovered that our large tent and Scott's small tent were not very waterproof. We quickly threw some tarps over the top to help keep out the rain. The boys had also hoped to spend the evening swimming in the campground pool, or playing yard chess, ping pong or pool, or even bouncing on the giant trampoline. Instead, the campground staff put on a candy bar bingo game under the pavilion right next to the boys campsite. Unfortunately, no one else in the campground brought candy bars(except me)so they just played for fun and then showed a movie outside. It kept the boys entertained, and they stayed dry under the pavilion.

On Saturday morning we did not have to get up too early. The park opened at 1030 and it only took about 20 mins to get there from our campground. So the boys had plenty of time to cook breakfast and get dressed and ready for our big day. I even had time for a shower! And fortunately the rain stopped. It made for a long night and little sleep though. Everything was damp. Not to mention the guests that kept arriving during the night and the noise and lights as they were setting up their tents. We ended up with a few Michiganders right next to our tent(quite the partiers) on their way to an outdoor, all day concert at Pimlico. We packed up our boys and headed to the Amusement Park. We split up and Tom and I had the younger boys. They were a bit hesitant to go on rides, but did try a few and enjoyed every minute. We then took a break in the middle of the day to join up with our other group at the water park and have lunch. Then it was off for more rides and a few shows. It was just terribly hot and humid. It was a good thing Allison did not join us. She had come home to rest after a long week at Girl Scout camp supervising girls at the reservoir. She thought she was going to get some rest while the girls swam, but she kept busy since the other two counselors were not feeling well.  So she was a bit burned out.  I had wanted her to quit the week before, but she figured she could manage one more week. And then she had to head back for a few days to help clean and close up camp. I had a few extra tickets for the park from people that did not show up, but did not find any takers. We actually ended up with only 8 boys, which actually made it a little easier to supervise.


By 7:30pm we were pretty much done with the park. It stayed open until 9, but it took about 30 minutes to get the boys out to the parking lot. They were busy buying souvenirs near the front gate. However, a very large storm was brewing on the horizon. Tom had left about 30 mins earlier with Scott(he wasn't feeling too well), and another scout to head back to camp. They were already getting blasted by the tstorm. We managed to get to our cars and down the road before it hit. We decided to stop into a pizza restaurant for dinner along the way and wait out the storm. When we arrived, the storm had passed but everything was pretty wet and sandy from the campground. The other parent's tent actually flipped over in the wind, but remained staked to the ground. Scott and the other scout reset the tent before we arrived. And since the rain had stopped, we decided to try and get a campfire going. Scott managed to keep the wood dry enough with a tarp the night before, so the boys lit a fire and we enjoyed our s'mores and some jokes(and completed a requirement for one of the boys). Even though the tents were still soggy and damp, we all managed to sleep much better that night(even us with our Michigander neighbors returning around 2am from their all day outdoor concert).

On Sunday morning of course it was absolutely beautiful. We all got up early, the boys cooked their last meals, washed their dishes, packed their tents, picked up trash and were ready to leave by 9am. Moms and Dads starting rolling in. Tom cooked breakfast while I packed up. And the boys had time to play yard chess while waiting for their rides. Tom and Scott headed out since Scott was scheduled to work that afternoon(we brought separate cars).  I decided to get some grocery shopping errands done on the way home at Costco(and gas). Allison had already headed back to camp to start cleaning.

So we spent the rest of the day unpacking wet, sandy tents and doing laundry. I was planning on picking up my Mom for dinner, but after my shower I passed out on the couch and was done for the weekend!

So we returned home from our trip to Wisconsin on a Saturday afternoon. Just in time to unpack the van and pick up Cookie from our friends. I spent Sunday doing laundry and we decided to have my Mom over for dinner. We had brought back quite a bit of fish from our trip, so we grilled it for dinner. However, Mom and Tom opted for the natural casing hot dogs we bought at Usingers. It was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed dinner on the patio while looking at the photos from our trip. It was also nice to have Allison home with us. She usually is off to Girl Scout camp by Sunday. I asked her to stay home an extra day and stop into her doctor's office for a check up before returning to work.

Frankly, we would have preferred if Allison quit for the summer and spent her time recuperating from her anemia. It really took a lot out of her. But she was determined to finish the summer(and she said they were desperate to have her come back to work). So on Monday morning we dropped into the doctor's office together for a quick check up and bloodwork. Unfortunately, we would have to wait a few weeks for an iron level report. And Allison was feeling up to returning to work, so off she went.
She spent the week visiting Pennsylvania with her travel group. The girls visited several factories including the UTZ and the Herr's Potato Chip plants and the Turkey Hill Ice Cream Factory. They also stopped into an Amish Market. And the trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to Hershey Park. Allison seemed to manage the work load, and she made sure to buy hamburgers whenever she could! Not to mention taking iron supplements twice a day. But I think she was pretty wiped out by Saturday, especially after her trip to Hershey Park. She was happy to come home over the weekend, do laundry and rest up before heading back to camp on Sunday.

Allison's Pennsylvania tour inspired us to take a trip up to the Turkey Hill ice cream factory on our own. Of course we included my mom. We decided Sunday was a good day for a road trip. We purchased tickets for the ice cream making class ahead of time online per Allison's recommendation. Turned out to be a good thing as the tours sell out. We arrived around lunch and sat outside on the patio enjoying a pizza from Pizza Hut before our tour began. We had some time to kill before our class, so we wandered around the 'factory' while enjoying lots of different free ice cream samples. They don't actually have tours of the factory, but a tourist building that covers their ice cream making process and lets you try out their products, including ice cream and ice tea. We did sit in on an ice cream making class though and were given a pint of vanilla ice cream with instructions to add any flavoring we wished. Each of us tried something different with flavoring, toppings and even fillings like gummy bears, chocolate chunks, peanuts, granola, cookie pieces, etc. They had a whole wall of fillings to choose from! It was way too much ice cream to eat, but you really could not take it home! It was quite an experience, but we could have done without the masses of crying kids!

On Saturday, our entire family enjoyed dinner out in Olde Ellicott City. Afterwards, Scott and Allison headed home(Scott was practicing his driving). Tom and I joined our neighbors to watch "The Manchurian Candidate" 1950 version in black and white outside at the Wine Bin. We had a great time sipping our wine and munching popcorn while watching the movie in the store parking lot. And surprisingly I really enjoyed the movie. I know they did a remake, but I never saw that one either.

On Friday, Scott and I spent the morning touring the Uof Maryland Baltimore County campus. They have quite an extensive engineering program and the school is up and coming in the technology field. Scott is still very interested in Western Michigan, but we thought it was a good idea for him to see other campuses and compare other engineering programs. Now he just needs to kick up his ACT score.

By the way, I let July pass me by without wishing Nicholas Bozyk a very Happy Birthday! So Happy Birthday Nick!

On Saturday morning we woke up in Green Lake Wisconsin in time to head to town for a fishing license and a cup of coffee. Scott and I joined Dad Seitz, Eric and Sarah Seitz, Mark and Linda Seitz for a day of trout fishing. In Wisconsin, we not only had to purchase a temporary fishing license, but a Trout Stamp as well. Dad Seitz chartered a pontoon boat and captain, along with his grandson to spend the day trolling along Green Lake, fishing for trout. And we were not disappointed. We pulled in quite a few trout-about 30 lbs worth!  It was a wonderful way to spend the first day of vacation. Meanwhile, Tom, Allison and Mom Seitz were running errands and picking up provisions. We all met up in the evening for dinner out. Stacey and Matt arrived later in the day. Unfortunately, Susan and John were not able to join us this year and stayed back in Florida.

On Sunday morning, we were all up for church and brunch in town. We spent the afternoon on a bike ride with a visit to a local winery. In the evening a few of us tried a dip in the lake. I blew up a few floaties. The lake is very weedy, and our beach had a sharp drop down to the lake, so you had to climb down a ladder from the dock. The water temperature was perfect. On Sunday evening we enjoyed eating a portion of our fish off the grill. I think this was the first time I had trout-a bit like salmon. Tasty.

On Monday, our family headed out to Stevens Point brewery with Mom and Dad Seitz for a taste testing, along with a stop into a local dairy for squeeky cheese curds. After lunch we caught the SpiderMan movie.

On Tuesday, the whole clan headed over to Osh Kosh for the famous air show. We were certainly amazed by the extent of this event. The fairgrounds are permanent, with an air museum. Once a year, pilots from all over the world converge on the fairgrounds with their lightweight planes, experimental planes and historical planes, including bombers and bi planes. Every day there is a different air show and lots of things to see and do, including exhibits from NASA, Ford Motor Company and plenty of food and "AS Seen on TV" sales booths. We had a wonderful time walking around the fairgrounds, checking out all the amazing planes and helicopters. Scott even located a Western Michigan tent advertising their Aviation school. He had a chance to talk to some of the student representatives about the engineering program and even got free Western tshirts!  It was even more exciting to sit along the runway and watch the air show. We even got an extra taste as most planes flew over Green Lake.

On Weds our family took to the lake and the road. Allison and I took my double kayak out for an hour long paddle down a small estuary off Green Lake. Tom and Scott meanwhile biked a bit around Green Lake. We were amazed at quite a few large estates along the lake. And we were all amazed at the wildlife in the area. When we arrived we pulled up to the house surrounded by deer, an owl, rabbits, raccoons and during the day we spotted wild turkey and lots of cranes. Apparently the SandHill Crane spend their summers in Wisconsin. And Allison and I spotted deer, geese, carp, cranes and witnessed an Eagle and an Osprey in flight, attacking each other. Turns out the Osprey was protecting a nest of fledglings. Very cool.

On Thursday we packed up and headed out to Western Michigan. I wanted to take a drive up north and swing through Northern Michigan with a stop in Charlevoix. But we had limited time and too far to go. So we traveled south with a stop over at the German village in downtown Milwaukee for lunch. We also picked up some sausage and cheese at the Usinger sausage factory. We then made our way around Chicago and over to Benton Harbor for the night. On Friday morning we headed to Kalamazoo and a visit for Scott to Western Michigan. We arrived in time to speak to an admissions counselor, right before a presentation at noon and a 2 1/2 hr walking tour of campus! We actually went on a tour before and sat in on a student presentation, but this was so much more in depth. And it was very helpful to speak to an admissions counselor about the engineering program. After our tour we were starving, so we went into town for lunch at the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange. We just had enough time to run over to the Engineering campus to pick up the syllabus for the Manufacturing Engineering program, and a quick peek into the labs. While standing in the hallway, one of the professors came by and let us in for a personal tour and to speak to Scott about the engineering program. Turns out his sister lives in Ellicott City. We also ran into a student from Columbia Maryland, the town next to ours. His Dad works for Southwest airlines, so he said he often flies home on a non stop from Grand Rapids to Baltimore. Good to know.

We traveled to Ohio for an overnight, and then back to Maryland on Saturday afternoon.

This week in July we were busy getting ready to go on vacation. Scott finished up his house and dog sitting job when the neighbors returned on Tuesday night from their trip to Wisconsin. On Weds night we dropped Cookie off to our friends after the Boy Scout meeting for our upcoming trip.

Now it was our turn to get ready to head to Wisconsin with the Seitz Family. I had gone in to work on Sunday to get a jump on packing. We were loading up our bikes and the double kayak on the mini van, so I knew I had my work cut out for me to get the car packed before Tom and Scott loaded on all the toys. Besides clothes, I also had to pack up some snack goodies and lake toys. I had a busy week at work, but enjoyed having all day Thursday to do laundry and pack.

Tom was happy that he had completed his recent online course and had the rest of the summer free. He had taken an accelerated course, which meant a lot more paper writing and research in a short period of time. And it included a few group projects which makes it a bit tougher since you have to chase down the rest of the people in your group and make sure they are getting their work done on time. But he liked getting it done in a shorter time period. He plans on looking into more classes like that one.

He also finished up a project that he was working on outside. I have wanted to put in a few pathways through our outdoor flower beds by laying down a few slate stepping stones. Unfortunately, the stones are usually very expensive and very heavy. I can't just run up to Home Depot and drop a few in my cart. I looked into ordering online with delivery and you usually have to get a large amount. I am not building a patio. Then I looked into ordering pea stone-just something to lay down for a small pathway. Tom was not crazy about that idea. One of our neighbors gave up and filled their beds with stone rather than mulch and I guess Tom did not like the look. Plus I wanted brown and he wanted black so it would blend with the mulch. So instead he bought a make your own cobblestone path mold, mixed up cement and formed gray slabs of cobblestone pathway. Then he filled in the cracks with brown sand. Exactly what he did not want. So I encouraged him to search out gray colored sand which he found, replaced the brown and it really looks nice. He experimented on the side of the house, in case it did not come out, but we both like it and he plans on making a path for the front of the house. (Now if  I can only  get him to put a bit of a curve in the path!).  I just need to stay away from yardwork because I always manage to get poison ivy! At least now I know how to treat it. And it cleared up pretty fast this time. At least that is all I had problems with-I almost picked up a snake when I was cleaning up a pile of leaves on the driveway. When will I learn!

                                                                                                  Tom's cobblestone pathway

Congratulations also goes out to Allison who officially received her Green Belt rank in Management from Northrop Grumman. Her project was approved and she received her certificate and Green Belt pin! Awesome job Allison!

Her summer seemed to be going well working as a Unit Leader at Girl Scout camp, except for her occassional stomach flare ups. She had spent the week before vacation traveling to Amusement Parks. They visited Six Flags which is south of our house near DC. Even ran into the Obama's daughter, Melia. No photos allowed, but the Girl Scouts had a quick chance to speak to her. They finished off the week with a trip to Hershey Park. It was incredibly hot that week. Allison was having a great time, but she started to feel very strange/ill and took herself to the nurses station at the Hershey campground. There they took her to a Patient First clinic, did some bloodwork and then sent her to the Hershey Milton Penn State Hospital because it appeared she was anemic. They ran lots of tests on Allison and decided she was still just anemic, probably from poor diet. Not enough red meat and iron in her diet. Meanwhile, this was Thursday and we were hoping to get on the road after she got off work. She was released from the hospital, released from work, drove home after stopping to pick up some iron pills and transferred to our van with her dirty clothes to hit the road again Thursday night.

                                                                   Loaded van

                                                                                                     
                                                                                                             Green Lake House

We made it about 5 hours down the road and stopped for the night in Ohio. The next morning we were back on the road, traveling across Ohio, Indiana, around Chicago, Illinois and finally we stopped outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We needed some provisions for our trip, including iron laden treats for Allison. Finally we had dinner at one of our favorite Midwest fast food restaurants, Culvers. They have great fried chicken dinners, fish and chips and patty melts. But most importantly, they have frozen custard! Sadly, we were too full from our dinner to make room for dessert.

We arrived in Green Lake late Friday night and quickly unpacked the van.