So no sooner did we get back from Williamsburg, it was time to repack for the kids to attend summer camp. Allison went off to Kids on Campus classes. I had planned on sending her to a high school orientation class, however, the class was cancelled, so I had to resign her up for a few other choices. She took a gaming class-learning how to make games on the computer and an arts class where she took an old book and made a scrapbook/collage out of it with a dragon theme. She really enjoyed that class. At the end the teacher made them all cake since she was a professional cake decorator. That was a nice perk too! I still wish they had the high school orientation class, but she will miss the next session when she is in Michigan with Grandma and Grandpa Bozyk.
Scott had the chance to attend cub scout camp this year since I found him a ride home from a neighbor whose son was also attending. Camp starts at 745am but ends at 3pm and I could never pick him up from work. So this worked out great. Scott loved cub scout camp. It was all about archery and learning to shoot a BB gun(his first time) and he is hooked. They also had a space theme and lots of science activities which he loved-a special guest presenter, making motors as well as cub scout activities like whittling with a pocket knife and woodworking. He wants to go again! And on Thursday evening, we were invited as a family to a cub scout picnic and had the chance to shoot the BB guns or do archery ourselves. Allison and Scott had the chance to shoot while Tom and I reloaded for them. They both did pretty good hitting their targets. Allison has also had plenty of opportunities for archery at GS camp. We stayed for the cub scout campfire and Allison helped Scott's den with a skit before we left.
I also had to run Cookie to the vet for her spay. Now we have a cone dog(cone around her head for 7-10 days so she doesn't chew on her stitches). Allison says we have a corn dog. And I had to fit her with a small tshirt so she would not scratch the skin off her sides. What a mess she is-no steps, no playing, no walks. She is pretty miserable but adapting to a cone. I just don't think our ankles will survive. She loves to run right into us. She goes for her stitches removal next week.
We ended the week with a trip out to Frederick for a Frederick Keys baseball game(Orioles Farm League) and our GS choir got to sing the National Anthem for Scout night. After the game(the Keys won by the way against Winston-Salem), all the kids got to run the bases(that took forever). And they finished the game with a wonderful fireworks display. I enjoyed the game and playing catch with the kids on the side lawns, and the kids loved the bounce house and the carousel and games in Right Field. They also hoped to catch a fly ball(Tom almost did). But Tom does not exactly enjoy baseball games. Especially when they fall on our 22nd Wedding Anniversary. We could have stayed overnight too camping on the outfield with all the scouts, but that wasn't in our game plan. As it was I had to drag the kids away from the neighbor's 3 year olds Birthday party(they weren't too happy either). And Tom wasn't much in the mood for celebrating our anniversary since he has a nasty case of poison ivy. We think he picked it up painting the shed and the deck. At least the shed and deck look terrific. And so does my patio furniture-we switched from green to copper penny colored. And we kept our promise of asking the neighbors over for drinks on the patio once it was all put back together. Unfortunately we were rained out. I was certain all the paint would wash off the shed and deck, but it all held. It has been hard to schedule anything since we have had rain almost every day. It just started slowing down and drying out, but at least my flowers are loving it.
We managed to spend some time at home on Sunday catching up with laundry and yard work. I tried to talk Tom into going to dinner but he was too busy itching. I did get him a gift certificate for Father's Day at a steak restaurant in Baltimore(along with 3 out of 4 Star Trek glasses from Burger King). Grandma Bozyk is in search for Spock(the glass that is). We will enjoy the steak dinner some other time I guess. Allison served mass Sunday morning. We also enjoyed shopping at the church yard sale-I got a box full of goodies for 5 bucks. Last time they had a sale I got a box full of books for $1. Guess I am set for summer reading!
And I think I have had my fill of Michael Jackson songs-first Ed McMahon, then Farah Fawcett and then Michael and to top it off the Infomercial guy died too! What a busy week in Hollywood.
And closer to home, I was disappointed to hear my company pulled out on a deal to purchase land for a retirement community right around the corner from our house. I was hoping to get on board with the new rehab dept when it opened. Guess that won't be happening. Mr Erickson's company is short on cash these days. Looks like he will also be selling his property in Charlotte NC and St Louis Missourri, if not Chicago and Texas. Very sad. So far they still have plenty of work for me here. We'll see what the Obama administration does to the Health field. And Tom has been busy with work too(that's always a good thing!).
So this week Allison is trying out Field Hockey camp(so far she loves it) and Scott is back this summer to the Y camp. He loves it too. That is good for us!

Happy Father's Day! Looks like we plan on a bike ride and swim at Matt and Di's house. We have been spending a lot of time over there lately. We were just there last night picking up Cookie(they were pet sitting while we went to Busch Gardens/Williamsburg) and we celebrated their son Jacob's graduation from High School and his 18th birthday last Sunday. Of course, we had to run off in the evening to sing the National Anthem with the GS choir at Ft McHenry. Does not look like we made National news(not sure anyway) and they skipped the flyover(bummer). But it was a beautiful evening to sit out on the bay and listen to all the inspirational music, watch the parade of flags put on by the Scouts and we enjoy the fireworks afterwards. We actually sang 3 songs ourselves. FYI -Ft McHenry was the location where our country fought off the British during the war of 1812-they tried to take the country back from us after the Revolutionary War. Francis Scott Key was watching the battle and came up with our National Anthem-Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hail at the twilights last gleaming. Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh say does that star spanlged banner yet wave, oer the land of the free and the home of the brave. The british war ships were shooting cannonballs at the fort and we fought them off all night and into the next day. The original flag that flew over the fort that day is on display at the Nat History museum in DC-remember we saw it at Christmas Dave and Sandra and kids? They always hang a replica sized flag over the fort on Flag Day-it is huge. And every flag day they celebrate with music and fireworks. I think it is amazing to visit places in our history rather than just read about it. Which brings us to our recent GS trip to Williamsburg VA. Our girls agreed that a trip down south at the end of their CAdette year would be fun if we included a stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. It is usually incredibly expensive, but we got a discount scout rate so we could afford it and we used our cookie money/fund raising money to pay the cost. The girls had a great time at the hotel-it has an indoor water park and an outside pool. My coleader and I also brought along our boys so they had a fabulous time as well. Our plan was to visit historic Williamsburg-that is the country's first capitol intil it moved to Philly and then DC and it was the capitol of VA until it moved to Richmond. So it is a pretty big city. They have lots of people dressed in period costume with different jobs and all the shops are open and show how they made books, medicines, pastries, wigs, guns, etc. The homes are open for tours, including the Governor's palace-lived in first by the British governors until we overthrew their govt, and then run by the colonial Americans. Thomas Jefferson lived in the palace when he was appointed Governor as well. He also attended the College of William and Mary -the second oldest college in America(Harvard is the first). And we toured the Capitol building-beautiful all brick building where they governed the state and country. Lots of famous Americans hung out in Williamsburg including George Washington, Thomas Payne, Thomas Jefferson and even Benedict Arnold stopped in to talk us citizens into giving in to the British rule. We spent the day touring the city and watched the reenactment plays and earned a GS patch. We also spent a day at Busch Gardens-even they have a GS patch! And we received a patch from our stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. Most of my girls had to leave early since they had a confirmation meeting to attend on Thursday night. I had Allison get her homework done early with her high school partner, so we stayed a few extra days so we could go to the Busch Water Park. Tom joined us for a few days so we could go back to Busch Gardens. We also had tickets to the Ripley's Museum(the kids really enjoyed that). And Scott and Allison were playing an interactive video game/scavenger hunt at the GWolf Lodge, so we went back Sat afternoon so they could slay the dragon and the troll and save the princess. Since it was Father's Day weekend, they had lots of extra activities going on, including a visit from the Star Wars group-lots of storm troopers, and even Darth VAdar himself! Overall a very fun and action packed week for the girls. We may have to go back sometime to work on the other patches in the historical areas including Norfolk and Jamestown.
So now both kids are done with school. Scott finished 3rd grade with As and Bs on his report card. He also had a Bday party to attend last week while Allison and I sang with the GS choir at the nursing home next to the GS headquarters. We finish our year singing to the residents and then receive our star pins for participating in different choir events. We have another event scheduled next week as we are singing the Nat Anthem at the Frederick Keys baseball game. It is a local team, so you can sit out on the grass in the outfield and watch the game while the kids ride the carousel.
Looks like the hockey season is over-Sadly I have to put away our Red Wings flag since Pittsburgh Penguins took the Stanley Cup(that was a sad game). We managed to be the place where the neighbors accumulated to watch the series. We have a neighbor who is a big hockey fan originally from Traverse City, so we all cried in our beer together. But it was not a complete wash out since the Hershey Bears won their series. Tom and Allison even went up to Hershey last week to catch one of the games-right in the middle of severe weather. Hail storm and everything. I think Tom's car has a few dings. They even had an F1 tornado touch down that evening south of Baltimore. We have had more than enough rain out here this spring soon to be summer. Everything is growing like crazy.
Now we are starting summer camps. I have to go pick up Scott's tshirts for Cub Scout camp this week. And we have to get started on his summer homework assignments. He will probably keep up with the karate. Allison is going to squeeze in a few more piano lessons in between going to summer camps and classes. She also had to complete some extra training at church to help out with the Confirmation program in the fall. This week she will be taking classes at Howard County Comm College-a computer game maker class and an art class. I think the computer class will help with her Confirmation presentation. Her volunteer hours also count for High School requirements. Thank goodness.
So Happy Father's Day and Happy First Day of Summer! Happy summer solstice(longest day of the year!). Thank goodness-I need extra time! Kathleen and family

So now we have a new grad ready to start High School at Mt Hebron in the fall. Allison will be attending the public school. I missed getting her up to Field Day this week. I guess they gave the new incoming students an orientation on their sports teams and extra curricular activities.
We had a wonderful ceremony Monday night. I took the day off to take Allison to rehearsal in the morning. We also had lunch with one of her friends and her mom and afterwards I had my hair cut and highlighted. I managed to get a little packing done for our camping trip this past weekend-I had to pull out all the sleeping bags and cooking supplies. I also needed to drop off medical papers to our doctor's office to be filled out for summer camp, and then drop off brownies to school for the reception and wrap Allison's gifts. I bought her a hard cover year book and a silver graduation charm. Tom got her a phone so we can all text each other. She and her friends have been busy sending each other emails all week. Allison and her friend Jenna were the only two left in her class of 60 without cell phones. We just did not see a big need, but I want her to stay connected at the high school level, in case she needs to get a hold of Tom or myself while we are at work. She will be starting school at 730 and getting out at 230pm, and she may have to walk home from school if the bus doesn't stop near our house. I really don't want her walking all alone. But driver's ed is still a few years off-and that is even scarier!
The graduation ceremony was more of a summary of their last 9 years together. They passed out a few more awards as well as the diplomas. Allison was not allowed to play Pomp and Circumstance on the piano-the principal said it wasn't Spiritual music. Oh well. We did enjoy when they called all the kids up in front of the church and gave a summary of each year they were in the school-special events, who their teachers were, what the kids loved doing-all the way from Kindergarten to 8th grade. Allison was called up for Kindergarten and first grade, and then she had to sit out for 2nd grade since we went to Boston, and then they called her back up for 3rd-8th. It was quite a walk through memory lane-especially the discussion about 9/11 and how all the parents came running to pick up the kids. My parents were staying with Allison and Scott at that time since Tom and I were in England. They did not know what to do, but they contacted the school and decided to bring Allison home right away. Most parents did go pick up their children that day. We also missed out on another terrible event-the DC beltway sniper. The kids were not allowed outside the whole year-no recess outside, no afterschool activities, no Halloween parade. We were in Boston when that all happened and were grateful when they caught him before we moved back to Baltimore. Alot has happened in the past 9 years.
Allison did get to do a reading for the ceremony-of course my video camera died at that point, but fortunately Tom had Allisons pocket flip video camera and he recorded it for me. We also had a very nice reception-pasta dinner this year donated by one of the families that own a restaurant. And more than enough dessert-we ran out last year. But no coffee station(I supplied one last year when Allison and I volunteered to work the reception). It was nice to not have to work the party for a change. We had dinner and chatted with all the families while they played a slide show put together by one of the parents. They gave each kid a copy, and a copy of the videotaped Teacher-Student basketball game and a nice clock with a photo of the class. We found Allison a stuffed high school mascot-a little viking in a graduation gown and cap to put at her table place setting. By 9pm we were all pretty pooped and left. Scott still had the week left and half of this week before he is done.
The week went by pretty quickly-Scott still had some homework, but mostly he was done. I had to pick up some teacher gifts for Allison, and Scott decided to give his teacher, Mr Will an upside down tomato planter and a tomato plant(we want to know if it really works). I guess Mr Will is into gardening, so we thought that would be a nice gift rather than a certificate for Starbucks. (Mr Will loved it.) Allison spent the week trying to help me get ready for our camping trip. She had some seashells and hats to decorate as well as working on an assignment for camp. Friday night we took off camping with the Girl Scouts. I had to work Friday since I stayed home on Monday. It rained all last week and it was a bit tricky packing the van in the wet. I also had to fit 5 people in my van along with all their clothes, sleeping bags and pillows, food items and flashlights. Amazingly I got everyone in and we headed out to BroadCreek=the Boy Scout camp just north of us and south of the GS camp. We showed up around 830pm and the check in station was closed. We headed over to our campsite but the platform tents that were supposed to be there were not. So I was driving around a dark camp getting stuck in the mud and completely lost. Finally we parked and went to search for all the girls-this program was for Kindergartners to Sr High School girls. We found everyone outdoors at the dining pavilion and located a campsite. We had to unpack the van at the top of a hill and carry everything down a muddy hill. Of course the tents were full of bugs and slugs and most of the cots were broken. We finally put together a sleeping tent for the girls and myself and my co-leader and got some sleep.
Saturday was packed with activity. We got up early to make our own breakfast. Every campsite had a small cabin with a full kitchen, so I hooked up my coffee maker and my electric skillet. Allison requested pancakes and bacon, so we began to make pancakes and noticed I did not pack the spatula. No worries, I would just ask to borrow a fellow GS Leader's spatula as she was busy making pancakes at her tent site. Forget it-she did not want to share! What sisterly love amongst the Girl Scouts. So we made our own. I had my coleader cut out a square from a paper plate and I added a fork for a handle and voila! Survival of the fittest. Necessity is the mother of invention(but I would have shared my spatula). I also heard mumblings that I was cheating with my electric skillet. I did not know it was a contest. After a dramatic breakfast we headed over to our first class. The theme was Oceanography so we had lots of classes and activities based on water. The girls learned about salinity in the ocean, tides and waves, fish and creatures that live in the Chesapeake Bay, they also swam in the pool(freezing cold), fished in the pond(caught nothing), did archery, climbed the rock wall, and rowed a boat around a small lake while Sue and I paddled a canoe. All this before dinner plus they participated in a scavenger hunt for pirate coins all around the camp. We did well until we came across a ravine marked on our map with the only trail closed off due to erosion. We told the girls they would never place coins down in a dangerous area-boy were we wrong. The girls finally discovered another path down the steep cliff and recovered the coins. My favorite part was watching Allison row a canoe backwards across the lake to retrieve coins on the island. They managed to come in 4th out of 8 teams and some of the teams never found all the coins. They filled their entire day with activities, and were starving when dinnertime came around. Except the boy scouts forgot to fill their propane tank in the dining pavilion and we ran out so we had no noodles for our spaghetti. Instead we had salad and meat sauce and a roll. Plus we were scheduled to clean up after dinner, but I had to head out to sign the girls up for their Bridging ceremony. The girls are now Senior Scouts. Sue attempted to clean up the kitchen and dining area with other assigned ladies, except noone was in charge and the cook left a huge mess. They did their best. While I was checking in the girls for the bridging ceremony, I was given a new duty of making the bonfire for the evening ceremony. Not an easy task when it had been raining all week and the scattered wood in the area was pretty wet. But I think I made an awesome fire. We even put Allison to work with her fellow scout friend Jenna to assist with the burning of retired flags(we had two full boxes). The nylon flags are terrible-they melt and stick to the wood like marshmallows. My other girl scout went off to float a little boat made of bark out on a pond with a tea light and a whole lot of other little bark boats. Very pretty at night. We sat at the fire ceremony after the bridging ceremony and sang lots of songs. Then the girls headed out to complete their Exploring Space badge-we sat out on the field and checked out constellations and told their stories as well as looked at planets, stars and the full moon through a bunch of telescopes. Then we were ready for our own campfire and s'mores. Sue my coleader went back to our campsite and built up the small campfire the brownies had made earlier. When I went off to get the marshmallows and fixins for s'mores, I returned to hear Sue in an argument with another GS Leader fighting over the size of the fire. The other mom decided it should not be any bigger, but since we had gathered wood for a fire on our break, we decided to build a small fire for just us. All the little ones were going to bed since it was about 1030. Another great example of sisterly love. I thought they were going to punch each other's lights out! The woman finally apologized for getting so upset-I think she had some issues. We still got our s'mores and passed out around midnight.
On Sunday morning we were asked to put on a morning ceremony where we provided some info on creatures of the Chesapeake Bay along with a book written about Chadwick the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab(we had the crab!). Allison made some cute cut outs and we read off trivia about our blue crabs(they swim rather than crawl, and they only live about 3 yrs if we don't eat them first). Chesapeake is the indian word for "Great Shellfish Bay" . So the mom in charge of this activity decided to read two books and the whole task lasted 1 .5 hours! Way too long for little girls to sit and pay attention. Afterwards the cardboard boat regatta took place in the pool. We sent the girls to watch while we packed and cleaned. We had to shake all the ants off Allisons sleeping bag that decided to crawl under her for the night. I am glad she had a foam mattress between her and the ants since I think she would have been pretty bit up.
By 1pm we had had enough of camping and took off. I had to drop off girls and clean out my van. It really needs washed since it is coated in mud, but maybe the rain will do it for me!
It was an interesting end to an interesting week. On Friday I had the scare of my life when our Rehab Director brought around a potential manager whom I just so happened to work for at St Agnes when we first moved here to Baltimore. It was the one job where Tom encouraged me to quit-the manager from HE double toothpicks. I almost died when I saw her walk through the door. I immediately mentioned my grave concern in their hiring of old Toni, but they thought I was being dramatic. Fortunately about 4 other staff members had had run ins with her, including physical fights and I believe we all convinced them not to bring her on. In that case, I would be handing in my resignation the same day. Things look pretty bleak in the staffing of our rehab dept. We have been trying to convince a PT to stay and work full time in our out patient dept., but he has seen how poorly we are all treated and the lack of incentives to work at our company lately and he decided he is doing quite nicely with contract work. So he may be gone in a few weeks. Not good for us. Our administrators are managing us into the ground.
But I keep showing up for my patients and the staff that is left-I am not too worried since I get job offers on a daily basis. Thank goodness!
Tom and Scott had a boys weekend while we were camping. First they went to see the new cartoon movie UP. Tom thought it was a bit adult for the kids. They even pitched a tent in the backyard and made brownies, sleeping out under the stars. First they had the neighbors over to watch the Red Wings game-how exciting. Wings are up 3-4 over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tom couldn't get the house guests to leave though-even without me there to chit chat!
And Tom has been busy redoing our back deck-cleaning and painting, and he is repainting our deck furniture from green to a copper brown. He also put up my new umbrella=a free standing square umbrella with lights that covers the whole deck rather than the umbrella that fits in the table. It all looks very nice. And the bigger square umbrella gives us more shade in the back. We'll have to have the neighbors over for drinks on the new deck.
Glad to hear Stacey Seitz is safe back from South America. Hope she is doing better. We never heard what the medical verdict was. And glad to hear Uncle Jim Seitz is doing well after his car accident.
Time to go wash camping clothes!

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! We had big, huge thunderstorms which I drove through to get to Matt and Diana Wagner's house. I was driving over after getting out of work(yeah actually double time pay for holidays!). At least the kids got a chance to swim in the afternoon before it started-and we actually got in the pool again after the tstorms finished. It was just raining, but we were already wet! And Cookie had her first swim lesson-she looked like a drowned rat all afternoon. She also chased a few ducks that like to try and get in the pool. We are working on her hunting skills. She still has trouble seeing the squirrels though! Maybe cause she is so short. We all certainly had a great time, but needed to get home since everyone was back on work/school schedule the next day.
Allison headed back to school with a math final which she aced. After that it was just a few more assignments, and she was done by Tuesday. Weds the entire 8th grade class headed to Hershey Park for a day of graduating fun. Fortunately the rain and traffic held off and they all had a great time. Thursday the kids participated in a retreat for the day at our sister parish, St Paul(small church in Olde Ellicott City where Babe Ruth was married). Friday was the last day-the kids had a mass in the morning which I attended followed by the 8th grade awards. Allison won for going up and receiving the most certificates-about 9 in all. She has been involved in most of the afterschool clubs(scrapbook and crochet, writing club), as well as the Science Fair, altar server, safety patrol, NJHS, and she even won a certificate for highest grade in her math class this year-Algebra I, and her Religion class too. After their awards, the 8th grade headed off for pizza with their Kindergarten buddies, and then spent the afternoon playing outside games with the little ones. I of course hung around to help out. We were chased inside about 1hr early with another batch of tstorms. The kids were stuck watching movies the rest of the afternoon. That evening, fortunately it stopped raining enough for the entire 8th grade class to enjoy a pool party at one of their classmates house. The Dad is the VP for underarmour, so you can imagine the size of the house! Plenty of room for everyone. The kids had a great time, even in the rain. On Saturday we took Allison out to dinner for graduation at her favorite(and Scott's too)-the Japanese steak house. She even got a big(free) slice of cheesecake for her special day. Today we are headed over to a graduation brunch before Allison heads out to another graduation pool party. At least today is nice and sunny. She had an early start serving mass and was up late Saturday night since our neighbors dropped by to watch the Red Wings game(first win for Red Wings in the Stanley cup playoffs against Pittsburgh). Guess we are watching another game tonite. Allison will have to catch up with her sleep since she goes into school early Monday morning to practice for graduation. The ceremony is at 7pm this Monday night. Fortunately we have the dress from confirmation, and Allison was given a white gown last week. And yeah the shoes fit with no pinching. They had to practice walking up the aisles of church last week in their new shoes. So she is good to go. Now we just have to pick up a few presents for teachers. Scott still has another week and a half to go-he has been busy taking lots of tests the past few weeks too. I had my own assignment at work to present on Weds. I was asked to give a presentation to the Low Vision support group and another to our Independent residents at Charlestown. I asked the tv station to tape me so they could just run my lecture(save me having to set up two presentations!). I can always do a live interview with the tv station at a later date. Now I have to set up a lecture on What do OTs actually do? for the MDs. That should be more fun. As I said, we do not have a manager, and the administrators that are filling in decided I needed to round up more business, so they are having me market our out patient program. I really have enough trouble fitting everyone in my schedule as it is! Next week I am switching my days off so I can run Allison off to the graduation rehearsal and pick her up. At least we got her hair cut-now it is my turn! And someday we need to get the dog's hair cut too(she really does look like a mini polar bear). She also has an orthodontist appt next week for new retainers. Her old set doesn't fit anymore since she grew some new teeth and a piece chipped off the bottom. We are getting a new invisalign set made. And I finally located a dentist to fill the kids cavities-but they say nothing is available until after July 1! And then I need to get their physicals for summer camp.
Looks like Allison's class was officially cancelled-couldn't find two other kids to join, even though I emailed school and the girl scouts. I will probably have to redo her schedule-maybe a field hockey camp. She would like to try it out. She is still working on piano and karate. Guess the Vice Principal nixed her chance to play Pomp and Circumstance for the graduation ceremony. They decided they wanted her to process instead and they couldn't figure out how to squeeze it into their program. At least her classmates have heard her play it in class, and her school music teacher. Her piano teacher was disappointed though since she said Allison worked so hard and she played it so well. We will have to video tape that one and send it on.
I am also trying to pack up for a GS camping trip this weekend. It should be a lot of fun-we are staying at a Boy Scout camp and the theme is Oceanography. I had Tom drill holes in about 60 seashells for the girls to make little swaps(something with our Troop name on it and ocean theme). We will probably hot glue in some pearls and pin on our Troop name, or turn them into necklaces. And my coleader is tie dying shirts for us to go along with the blue denim hats I bought for us to wear(very ocean theme oriented). Each girl has an assignment to do beforehand too. Allison is in charge of putting together a story about Blue Crabs(yum)! We are actually staying at a boy scout camp and we will be spending a lot of time in the water. Glad to see the weather is supposed to be good. And I should be home in time for us to go to the Capital Jazz Fest!
So Happy Graduation to Allison! Tomorrow we will be at her school in the evening for the ceremony and then a reception to follow. Now if I can just remember to buy her a year book! Kathleen

Happy Post-Memorial Day Everybody!

I have briefly taken control of the Baltimore Seitz Blog to post Allison's piano recital. On Saturday we drove to Columbia (Maryland, not South America) to listen to AJ play some tunes on a piano. Of course, she did great! As somebody that barely has enough musical talent to play a CD, I am amazed what Allison can do with a piano.


Yesterday we went to Matt and Di's house for some pool party action. We got quite a bit of swimming in before the rains came. Matt went crazy with cooking - we had ribs, chicken, bratwurst, and delicious crab dip. I felt like I was in one of those Roman parties they talk about when describing gluttony. When we recover from our food coma, I'm sure we will be ready for some "low carb damage control".

Of course, with the rains came some power outages. As is par for the course in Maryland, when the power surges, we lose major appliances. This time it was the entire heating and cooling system. Being cheap, I cracked open the furnace and took a look. Looks like a burnt control wire. Kind of smells like barbecued dog inside the furnace. After I make sure that my accidental death and dismemberment insurance is paid up, I'll go back and take a whack at soldering the wire back onto its post. I'm not sure, are furnaces 240V or 480? I guess that really only impacts the size of the spark - plus I think that the crazy Einstein hair look is all the rage nowadays anyway.

I got a call today from one of the science fair judges. Apparently he felt bad that Scotty did not win the overall Science fair. Since Scotty is my son, he felt it would be unethical for him to "win", but he wanted me to know that Scott gave the best overall demonstration, and clearly understood the content best. Plus, he had explosive soda reactions ! how cool is that? Let's see if I can upload the video.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Unfortunately, I plan on working the holiday, but fortunately I get paid double time! So while my family plans to go off and see the Night at the Museum movie, I will be slaving away. We are supposed to have a rainy Memorial Day, so today we are visiting the neighbors with the pool. Last night we enjoyed Allison's piano recital and went out to dinner afterwards. We then stopped into our neighbors house for dessert and chit chat. Their neice was visiting since she is doing a college internship in Harper's Ferry for the summer which is about an hour or so drive from Baltimore.
And speaking of neices, Happy Belated Birthday to Stacey Seitz. We cannot believe she hit the Big 21!( we remember those days-oh boy do we ever). I was just surprised I missed putting that date on my yearly calendar. It is on there now. And a Big Happy 12th Birthday to Christopher Bozyk in Texas. I really am putting together some Birthday packages for the cousins-just waiting on a signature. Hint Hint. And we hope Stacey is having a fun, informative and safe visit to Nicaragua. Stacey is volunteering at an orphanage with fellow nursing students. What an awesome experience.
We have been keeping our volunteer experiences a little closer to home. On Friday, my day off, I went into school with a few other parents and we supervised Allison and the other kids from the National Junior Honor Society as they made pb and J sandwiches and put together lunches for the homeless in downtown Baltimore. The NJHS decided to complete a service project for the year. Most of the school had already made and assembled the lunches on Thursday and we just had a few more groups to finish up on Friday morning. All together the kids packed about 700 lunches. I then filled my van with about 250 of those lunches and delivered them downtown to Our Daily Bread-the new Catholic charities shelter that provides education, job counseling, medical care, food and shelter to the homeless of Baltimore. They were overwhelmed with the amount of food we dropped off. Then on Friday evening, the cub scouts traveled to our local National cemetery where we all placed flags at the headstones, followed by a small ceremony with retired servicemen and women. The kids also had a very nice memorial service on Friday at school with a guest military speaker. We feel all patriotic. Last year Allison and I marched with the GS choir in the Annapolis Memorial Day parade, and sang God Bless America at a special military ceremony held after the parade. The guest speaker that day was Pat Sajak from the game show Wheel of Fortune. He really gave a wonderful speech about being thankful for all our military and how much they sacrifice for all of our freedoms. Since the naval academy is situated in Annapolis, the ceremony was even more special, and they brought in a few naval ships there at the pier. That was an amazing experience, but I guess we were not needed this year. Instead we are scheduled to march in a local Fourth of July parade this year. Same with the baseball games; last year we got to sing the National Anthem at the Orioles stadium, but this year they just want the scouts to act as the color guard. So we are scheduled to sing the Nat. Anthem at the Frederick Keys baseball game-minor league baseball. But that should be fun too. I guess you can picnic out on the lawn near left field and watch the game. They also have a merry go round for the kids. And our last volunteer project this week was with my Girl Scouts as they finished up their Silver Award volunteer hours providing babysitting to the parents as they attended the last Parent/teacher meeting for the year. The girls are busy putting together a report to earn their Silver Award pins, but they each received a certificate in a small ceremony this past week with our local GS council. Now it is on to the Gold Award-equal to the Boy Scouts Eagle. My girls will be moving up to Senior Girl Scouts for the next two years, and Scott will be a Weebelo I.
We had plenty of activities to keep us busy this week. While Allison and I were at the Silver Award ceremony on Thursday night, Tom was busy at school running the Science Fair. We still only had a small participation rate-about 15 kids, however, this is just voluntary and we are still pushing for the school to take on the project and make it mandatory for all the classes, just like most of our public schools in the area. We were excited to see that Scott's teacher, Mr Will had both of his 3rd grade classes participate in a science experiment and put together a poster presentation for the event. So most of the week, Scott and Allison were scrambling to organize all their data and poster boards(along with a bit of help from Mom and Dad). Scott studied the mentos in a bottle of diet coke-it makes a great fountain! Allison videotaped, so Tom edited the tape and put it on display with Scott's presentation. Allison did research on why spiders do not stick to their webs, and bugs do. We even ran out and caught a spider to add to her presentation. Sadly, Allison was not present at the Science Fair to explain her project since she was getting her Silver Award(we can't do everything!). The kids did a great job and everyone loved Allison's and Scott's presentations.
This was a big week for school work for AJ especially. Last weekend besides working on the science fair presentations, Allison was busy assembling a prayer and picture scrapbook for religion class, as well as writing a paper on the meaning of Memorial Day and a book report. She also had her Language Arts final on Friday, so we were busy studying about 60 vocab words and I had her reread all her short stories-about a dozen or more. Then her science teacher decided to add a last lab report on weather as well as a test on Friday. She survived with flying colors and now is busy studying for her Math final scheduled for Tuesday. Then she is done with classwork. Next week she is off to Hershey Park with the 8th grade class for the day. And also an all day religious retreat. On friday she will participate in an award ceremony at school. Then on Monday, June 1st it is graduation day! She also has a few parties to attend next weekend.
We had to run out and get her some more shoes-she already outgrew her dress shoes from Easter. At least we have her dress from Confirmation. And Scott needed summer sandals. I was just glad to find him some.
And it was time for medical appts. Our cat PiKa had her check up on Friday. She needed her yearly shots and exam. The vet techs were very impressed with how healthy she is for a 9yr old cat. They had a new vaccination and a new way to administer it too-no needles, just a strong blast of air that sends the vaccination into her skin. She was not too thrilled with the application, it was like a small air rifle going off on her hindquarters, but I bet my kids would like that instead of needles! Star Trek is not too far away!
But not soon enough for the kids. They had a dental cleaning and got their first cavities! YucK! Allison has a small one in a back molar, but Scott has a big one in a baby tooth. Sadly, noone in our dental office will fill kids cavities, and they told Tom to find a pediatric dentist. When I called for referrals, I got 3 that our insurance covers in all of Baltimore. One dentist no longer works, that left two, so I checked with Cigna to see if they had an updated list. The reps said our kids don't qualify since they are over 7yrs old, so now we are back to square one hunting down a dentist! And on top of that my microwave decided to die, so we sent Tom out for a replacement. He said none of the local stores had many in stock-we would have to wait 6 weeks or more for delivery. I cannot hardly live a day without the microwave-so he ended up getting a GE. I was not too crazy about the features, but at least we have one. I do not know how companies think they will stay in business if they don't work on stocking their shelves or provide better customer service. I called a local county office to get some info and had to wait for the woman to call me back 30 mins later because they were busy having a party! Right in the middle of the afternoon! So sorry to bother them during work hours. Tom said he went to pick up pizza the other night, and the cashier interrupted the order so he could answer a personal phone call on his cell. And people wonder why we are having a recession. Everyone wants all the rewards, but noone wants to work for it.
And I am busy hunting down a replacement summer class for Allison. She was signed up for a High School prep class when public school got out, but only 3 kids signed up and they are cancelling due to low enrollment. And it was a two week class. Guess all the kids in Howard County are too smart and too well prepared for High School. I am desperately searching for two kids to sign on. If not I will have to try and put together another schedule for her for June. I tried to get her into a volunteer position for girl scouts for Day Camp, but they have all the help they need. Sadly, there is another class in August, but we plan on having Allison visit her Grandparents when that class is running. And the college wouldn't attempt to see if any of the kids in the second session would consider signing up for the first session. Guess they don't need the money either. I will probably end up cancelling the classes for Allison altogether if she does not get into the High School prep class. But it drives me crazy since I made this summer schedule back in February and scheduled my Girl Scout trip around the classes and other camps. And to top it off, the college had Scott's name on every one of Allison's classes. Never a dull moment.
So I am off to write up my own presentation that I have to do this coming week at work. Since we do not have a manager at work, we have been working under the two administrative staff that really don't have a clear picture on the daily structure of a rehab clinic. To top it off, the state was in at our nursing home/rehab unit last week doing their annual review(always a nightmare). They will probably be there a few weeks. I have to present to our Low Vision support group on Weds. They want me to do two presentations, so I am hoping our inhouse tv station will videotape me and run it on the inhouse tv station. If not, I will have to do another presentation, probably a live tv interview. Like I don't have anything else to do-(like maybe treating patients). The administrators did not think I had a big enough caseload and they want me to round up more business. They would also like me to do a presentation to our physicians on what services I provide in outpatient OT. Right now I have so many people I do not know where to put them all. But it is always like that-either too busy or a bit slow. I prefer the slow periods so I can get caught up!
And by the way, Ellicott City recently was listed in the newspaper as number 17 out of the top 25 cities to live in the US-I guess we have lots of diversity for a small city. Not to mention Howard County is one of the top 10 most prestigious/expensive counties in the US as well. That is all our hard earned tax dollars at work.
Talk to you next week! Kathleen