Another busy week. What a surprise!  Allison, Scott and I spent Sunday afternoon at an Orioles game. The game was sponsored by the Girl Scouts as we continue to celebrate our 100th Anniversary. This was an extra special game as once again our Girl Scout choir had the opportunity to sing the National Anthem. We were able to sing the anthem several years ago. This time we were joined by 1000 girl scouts in a parade around the field, so they placed us in the outfield facing the crowd. Last time we had our backs to the crowd. And we entered the field through an underground tunnel, whereas last time we walked out behind home plate. So a little different, but still very exciting. And apparently we did a good job as people were complimenting our singing. We then enjoyed a win against the Washington Nationals. Battle of the Beltway. The kids especially liked the green cotton candy. Tom was not available to join us as he was headed to Chicago for the week. Since I had already bought our tickets, I invited our L.A. friend John Dutton along. Mainly so Scott would not have to sit alone while waiting for us to finish singing. And John has never been to an Orioles game since he moved here 13 years ago. Tom, John and I used to frequent the Dodger games in LA together. Scott gave him a tour of the stadium before the game, and introduced him to the BBQ meal. It was nice that the Orioles won during his first visit(I think the Girl Scouts brought the Orioles good luck!). I was just disappointed that we did not get to do our flash mob. They played a small portion of the song, but it was cut off. And during the 7th inning stretch, they had a special presentation of a flag to honor the celebration of the War of 1812. So no flash mobbing. Oh well.

Friday we were just as busy as we had to pick up Allison from her Girls Nation Camp. I think she had her fill of politics.  She decided it was just too disorganized! She was also worn out from her 5 hour classes. They listened to lobbyists, had a mock trial and campaigned for positions for Senator and Governor. Allison was not interested in these jobs as you had to go onto the Nationals Camp held in July in Silver Spring MD. It is going to be on the weekend that we are in LA, so she would have missed something. Last year the Nationals camp was held in Indianapolis(way more exciting). We attended the camp graduation ceremony which Tom pooh poohed. Mainly it was a way of letting all of us know who won the campaigns, and who got a college scholarship. And I enjoyed the girls presentation of their school song as well as a Song about America with sign language. All 120 girls had the songs and gestures memorized. I thought they did a great job. I also talked Tom into heading down to Ocean City after her ceremony. The beach was only 30 min drive from the campus. Sadly it was a rainy, stormy day, so we did not get to sit out on the beach or swim. Instead we walked the Ocean City boardwalk, checking out all the food and souvenir shops. Finally the humidity and rain got to be a bit much so we headed into the air conditioned Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. We have fun looking at all the crazy stuff. Then we wanted to have dinner at a fish restaurant, but the fun outdoor place was a bit wet and sandy. So we opted for the stuffy restaurant with the enclosed deck overlooking the bay and the really good fish dinner. I would have enjoyed staying the night, but Tom wanted to head home.

Allison had a piano lesson in the morning, and Scott had a swim lesson. Tom spent the day cutting the grass and supervising Allison while she practiced her parallel parking in front of the house. I did not know the final test asks the drivers to park between cones, not cars! Not in my day- it was out on the road in a real town with real cars and really annoyed drivers waiting for you to park and get out of the street! Allison also had to work SAturday night, but Tom, Scott and I enjoyed dinner at our neighbors out on the patio. We finally had a cool evening with no bugs so we could sit outside!  And Scott single handedly made a Key Lime Pie and fruit kabobs for dinner(my rising chef!). I went off and had my hair highlighted and cut in honor of summer.  We finally had a chance to get Scott's hair cut on Weds evening. I had a dentist appointment, so Tom and SCott met me afterwards so I could pick out my new anniversary wedding ring. AFterwards we got Scott a haircut and went out to dinner. WE tried a new Mexican restaurant but don't think we will be heading back. Although the food was good(not crazy about french fries with my burrito though), we were especially disappointed in the lame service from the owner of all people.

Scott spent his first week at the YMCA camp. He is in a traveling camp, so they have different activites 3x/wk. His first day was spent at camp swimming and hanging out in the game room. On Tuesday he enjoyed a day out with indoor putt putt golf(glow in the dark) and video games. Weds they headed down to the Smithsonian American INdian museum for a festival(dancing indians). ON Thursday the weather was extremely hot and they headed off to the bay to swim. Scott was burnt, chafed and got jumped on by the other boys. His neck was sore and he had 20 bucks stolen from his backpack. They were asked to bring spending money in case they went to the movies instead. Not a happy ending to camp. I was quite disappointed. I hope he has a better time at the local college next week.

Here is Allison at her Girls' Nation graduation, the Boardwalk in Ocean City, our GS choir ready to perform the National Anthem(Allison is in the back row) and the ORioles Stadium. Plus me keeping SCott entertained.

Another activity packed week. Happy Father's Day by the way to all you Dads! I sent Dad Bozyk a big bouquet of fruit and a bag of trail mix(peanuts and M&Ms). I figured he could use the energy. And lots of cards to cheer him up, along with a Father's Day balloon so he can keep track of the time. Unfortunately, he looks like he is not scheduled for surgery until the 19th of July. That is just such a long time to wait. In the meantime, he pulled out his catheter at night last week and ended up in the ER at the hospital. He still can't urinate, so all the urine backed up over night and Mom found him in a stupor in bed in the morning. The nursing staff couldn't get the catheter back in so he had to go to the ER for the procedure. He was pretty wiped out after the whole ordeal. So he did not have to go to his scheduled urology appointment where they were going to comfortably remove the catheter and see if he could urinate on his own. Guess they found out he can't the hard way. So the urologist finally came to the conclusion that Dad will probably need surgery, but he is scheduled in another month. And no word about doing the biopsy. Mom said they may just test the tissue after they remove the prostate(doesn't sound like they plan on removing the whole thing the first time). So in the meantime Dad is miserable in the rehab center/nursing home and Mom sounds pretty wiped out running around.

She has been trying to get some things done around the house like dropping off paper and magazines to the recycle center. She also gave their old couch and chairs to the Salvation Army. However, they moved most of their belongings to the house up north, so the WB house is pretty bare. Even their tv died. At least they can keep up with the world on the tv at the nursing home. Not sure how long they will let Dad stay there though. Mom is not looking forward to having to monitor Dad and his catheter-especially if he wants to pull it out at night. Mom also had a plumber come in and do some repairs to the bathroom fixtures. He also recommends replacing a few of the old toilets. A big job for a house that is going to be sold. Mom is holding off on that.

I was busy running around this week as well. The kids were both home-done with school and no camps yet. Allison ran every day and SCott and Cookie kept her company to start getting in shape for Field Hockey. She had a meeting with the team and high school coach on Monday afternoon at Einstein bagel. I made her take Scott so he could get some lunch and get out of the house(maybe a mistake). At least they both spent time sorting through their old school work papers and cleaning up their rooms. (as well as catching up on computer gaming).

They still kept busy as Scott had a boy scout meeting and Allison had her last school scheduled piano lesson and her first scheduled summer piano lesson all in one week.  I also signed Allison up for a Leadership Girl SCout class on SAturday. I have tried to sign her up for this program for the last several years. They only offer it twice a year, and it is usually cancelled because of limited enrollment. This class went on as scheduled, and it was shorter because they changed the curriculum. It trains girls to run a GS troop on their own when they turn 18. Allison knows how to run the new GS program-I am awful tempted to retire and let her take over our troop! Too bad she will only be 17 this July. So I was so excited that she finally got to complete this training. However, I did not notice that she was supposed to be at work at the same time! I thought she was working at night. Her boss kept calling and I couldn't understand why. Fortunately, the group of girls in the class were so efficient, they finished an hour early and I ran and picked up Allison and got her to work just one hour late. It really wasn't too terrible that she came late. ONly 20 guests showed up, but the other staff member was new and Allison's boss was worried the girl would freak out working by herself. Allison is so good, she has had to handle the floor on her own in the past, and with a whole lot more guests! Anyhow, I had offered to bring her in for the night shift, but they wanted her for the afternoon time slot. That actually worked out for all of us as we decided to celebrate Dad's Day early.

I made up some ribs and corn on the cob and baked potatoes and picked up a Boston Creme Pie for dinner SAturday night. After dinner we invited our neighbors Dan and Gloria over to help us with dessert and drinks.  The kids bought Tom some summer vacation clothes for Dad's day including a new Hawaiian shirt and a Marvel Comic  tshirt. I thought he needed a special gift from me, but he said he didn't want anything. So I used the opportunity to get me something-tickets to see Mamma Mia the Broadway play. It is based on the disco music from ABBA.  We saw the movie, but I think the play was much better. And fun. Tom was not as familiar with ABBA's music(what a surprise), but he actually enjoyed it. So that was how we spent FAther's Day.

I certainly dated myself this week. Not only was I jamming to ABBAs greatest hits, but I went off to DC to see Neil Diamond in concert with my neighbor Gloria. I last saw Neil at Pine Knob in Michigan when I was 16. He and I have certainly added a few years, but Neil can still belt out his songs! I just wish I could have heard him in a different place-the Verizon Center stadium does not have the best acoustics. Although it usually works well for watching the Nationals play hockey. I would have loved to have seen Neil Diamond in LA at the outdoor Greek theater. That place has wonderful acoustics. But it was still a wonderful concert. He is doing a world tour, and he attracts everyone from 6 to 60. And he was only in town for one night. Gloria and I had fun driving down to Union Station-I showed her around since she had never been there before. We like to park there and then take the train to other places in the DC area. Union station(besides having trains) has a food court and restaurants, shops and wonderful acoustics as well(great for free Christmas concerts). We did not have a lot of time to get dinner. We wanted to stop into China town, but thought we should get to the concert. Good thing we did because Neil does not have a warm up band, and he sang for 2.5 hours with no breaks. Amazing(he and the Queen!). Just keep going.

Friday I kept busy with a doctor appointment for me, vet appointment for the cat and Allison's first summer piano class. She then decided to cut the grass for Tom while I trimmed a few tree branches. ONe of the neighbors even yelled at me for dumping the branches in the field across the street. He said he was going to call the county on me for dumping. I mentioned I was just following his lead as he dumps his grass, leaves and I have seen him cut up a whole tree and put it in the woods. It really is good for the environment and the wildlife. He was just upset because Scott was trying to help out last weekend by throwing these large branches out in the woods, but he only got as far as the top of the hill on the sidewalk. I explained to the neighbor that I had moved the branches for Scott. Not sure why this neighbor is so grumpy to Tom and I(he has accused us of dumping trash there before. As if(us being scouts and all!)  So I guess if he wants to call the county, he will lose out on his special dumping site too ! Meanwhile, Allison did a terrific job and I finished the backyard on Sunday afternoon.

I really would have liked to have spent my weekend down near the Bay and the Harbor for the kick off of the Bicentennial Celebration of the WAr of 1812. They brought in beautiful tall ships(sailing ships) from all over the world docked in the harbor and had the first ever Blue Angels air show over the harbor. Tom and I could hear the jets overhead in the theater while we were watching Mamma Mia.  We then saw them zip by while making a u turn over Baltimore. This was the war that gave us The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key. He wrote it after seeing the flag was still standing at Ft McHenry while the British bombed us from their ships. Baltimore kept them away. And the war ended in 1814(we won). The fort is open for tours and they just redid the visitors center last year. SCott went there and said it was terrific. So for the next two years we are going to have special events in and around Baltimore for the celebration.

We were also busy Sunday morning getting Allison to her Girls Nation camp. She won a scholarship to camp and will be there all week. She is staying in a dorm at Salisbury University and so far seems to be having a wonderful time. The girls run for office, attempt to pass bills and learn all about the government process. They have two political parties(Federalists and Nationalists) and each girl is assigned to a town or city. This is a camp just for girls that finished the 11th grade, so she is meeting a whole lot of people and having a good time on top of it. We had a two hour drive and then checked Allison into her dorm room before flying back to Baltimore for the play. We had about 2 mins to spare! But we did it!

On top of all that, Tom decided to surprise me by putting away some bonus money and buying me an anniversary ring. It was quite lovely(and big) and I told him it was dwarfing my wedding ring and I did not think it should upstage my wedding ring. We had my ring appraised to see if I could trade it in. They insulted me by saying it was not worth anything to them, not to mention the appraiser thought I was missing a few diamonds(not really, they are just that small). And the ring was filthy. Which is why I don't want a huge replacement ring. But I had a hard time finding something I liked to replace my original ring. That is how dated I am-everything is either platinum or white gold. And marquis cut diamonds are not in style. So I took out a huge book and started shopping. I think I find the style ring I want for Tom's price tag. But I could not shop since I had to run and get Allison from her GS class. It is always something.

        So another week and Dad Bozyk was discharged from the hospital and sent to a nursing home facility for rehab/therapy. I told Mom Bozyk now they know first hand what I have been doing for 25 years! I keep pestering Mom to question the doctors. She was asked to bring Dad back to the hospital to see the urologist last Tuesday after he was discharged the day before only for the urologist to ask Mom and Dad if they wanted the catheter removed or not. Frankly, even Mom Bozyk seemed to think that was a rather stupid question.  Mom is not a doctor and neither is Dad, so how are they supposed to know if it should or should not come out? How are they supposed to know if it is ready to be removed or not? They were not told the prostate was any smaller even though apparently Dad is on medication to shrink it. One of the doctors said it would take 6-7 weeks. Anyhow, MOm went off to the hospital first thing Weds morning back to the urology office and demanded to speak to a doctor. She also mentioned that Dad was at the hospital the week before,  but they did not complete the biopsy on his scheduled day. Some urologist spent several hours with mom looking over his medical reports and told her not to allow anyone to remove the catheter! (Wish these doctors would get their act together). The nursing home was hassling mom on wanting to remove the catheter too. Anyhow, Dad is going back to the urologist this upcoming week and they will try removing it and seeing if he can go again. I was a bit concerned though when I heard that they were putting DAd on Cipro the week before. I told mom to double check on that medication for Dad since it was the antibiotic that sent me to the hospital. At least DAd seemed to be feeling better as Mom found him walking up and down the hallway with his walker when she came to visit Sunday. This has certainly been an education in the health field for both Mom and Dad.

Meanwhile, the kids wrapped up their last week of school. Scott was basically done last week and just had a few half days to clean out his desk, clean up the classroom, assemble for an awards ceremony and meet for the last school mass. I took a half day off work last Monday to help out with the school's Used Uniform Sale. I love to work the sale because I get first dibbs on picking out clothes for Scott for next year. It is nice to have extra shirts, pants, etc and not have to pay full price at the uniform store. I even got SCott to help when school let out. He managed to finish his year with A's and B's. He also was wrapping up his swim lessons this week, but the Y had to postpone until next week since a thunderstorm rolled through and they had to close the pool. Looks like we missed the last of the gymnastic classes since we spent last Friday night in the basement as(now 12 confirmed tornadoes) rolled through Maryland(a record). Instead, I took Scott off to help volunteer(as a Boy Scout) with the luminary candle sales at the Relay For Life Cancer Fund RAiser. We have been helping sell the luminaries-paper bags with candles that line the track for several years now. Participants usually buy the bags and decorate them in honor of someone they know that has cancer or died from cancer(even pets). Several years ago we got started volunteering by making the bags and we earned free tickets to Disney. Now we just help sell the bags and set them up. I usually have Allison helping out as a girl scout, but she had to work. So Scott took over. He mostly enjoyed taking breaks and playing the carnival games they have set up as fund raisers, not to mention sampling all the junk food! He did get to his Boy SCout meeting last week with Tom and is working towards preparations for summer camp. He would like to work on 6 badges this summer.

Allison was busy studying as she wrapped up her last week of school and her final exams up until Friday. She pulled off all A's except for a B in Spanish. Foreign Language classes have certainly gotten a lot more difficult and a lot more complicated than when Tom and I were in high school. She even had a Field Hockey meeting after school last week. They are trying to get ready over the summer for the fall season. The coach wants all the girls to start running so they can be in shape by the time school starts. Guess what Allison will be doing this summer. She also had to work on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.I think the rollerblading helps with her endurance.

 On Saturday Allison and I headed off to DC early in the morning for the 100th Anniversary Girl SCout Sing a Long and concert called Rock the Mall. There were 250, 000 Girl SCouts from all over the country and the world visiting DC. WE had to be down there by 8am for a rehearsal with our Girl SCout choir. We were singing 4 songs only on a small stage next to the National Monument. Allison was a bit disappointed since we went on at 9am and really did not have a big crowd. I was excited to see that 60 choir members showed up! I was also happy to be done so early so we could go explore. We set up our blanket in front of the main stage with the choir and Allison and I headed over to the National History museum. Allison especially enjoyed their display of the War timelines from the REvolutionary War to the Vietnam War since she just finished studying WW11 in World History. We headed back to our group to pick up our lunch that was preordered from Hard Rock Cafe. Unfortunately, it was so crowded it took over 3 ours for our leaders to get our lunch! We did not eat until 3pm! We did get to enjoy most of the concert, but we were hoping to get a chance to do more singing. And it was unbelievably hot-in the 90s. 63 scouts went to the hospital for heat stroke and dehydration. We were told to bring bottles to refill with water. But they did not have enough water stations and I stood in line for several hours refilling our bottles.  At one point Allison and I walked over to put our feet in the fountain of the WW11 memorial. People were wading into the fountain because it was so hot. The poor lonely park ranger had his hands full trying to get them to come out of the fountain. I think he finally gave up, and out came the firetrucks to cool everyone off. They started hosing down the girls in the streets around 4pm when the event was over! It was quite a scene and very funny to hear hundreds of girls screaming as they ran through the hoses. I think the firemen really enjoyed that! Allison and I tried not to get soaked. Instead, we headed into the Air and Space museum to cool off and rest. WE watched a planetarium show since they had discounted tickets for the scouts. IT was very nice to sit down and listen to Whoopi Goldberg talk about Stars and our Sun in the dark and air conditioned theater. After a very long day it was time to head home. Here are some photos from Rock the Mall-our small stage where we sang next to the WAshington monument, and the Main Stage, the White House, the WWII fountain and the fire trucks hosing down very hot girl scouts.

On Sunday we kept busy with yardwork. Tom and SCott spent the weekend putting down the rest of the mulch, trimming trees, repairing the landscape lights and Scott got the chance to learn how to cut the grass all by himself! Tom pushed it though and tried him at trimming, but the weed whacker was a bit too heavy for Scott to handle. I was busy cleaning up my flower garden and planting a few more flowers and veggies in pots. 

Baltimore Blog

This week was a short one with the holiday, but a long one keeping tabs on my Dad's progress in the hospital.

Monday night as I mentioned we had our neighbors over for dinner. The temperature outside was so hot we opted to eat in.

Tuesday I took off to accompany Scott to DC with his class and the 7th graders for a quick visit to the Smithsonian museums-Natural History and Air and Space. We spent about an hour in each museum(that was about all the time we had) and stopped for lunch of course. I only had to watch Scott and one other boy. I also hung out with one of the Dad's and his son. So three boys, two adults. We flew through the Natural History museum-of course we had to show them the Titanaboia. They were impressed with the prehistoric snake. And we had some fun at the bug zoo. 3 little grey haired ladies were pulling bugs out of containers and letting the kids handle them including hissing cockroaches and enormous grass hoppers. Scott had no interest in touching bugs. ONe of the ladies said they use the hissing cockroaches in movies because they don't fly away and move slower than regular cockroaches. Good to know.

After our quick run through the Natural History museum, we stopped outside at a McDonald's booth for lunch. It is just outside the Air and Space museum in the shade. Besides the usual birds, pigeons and squirrels begging for french fries, I noticed some other wildlife running under the shrubs-turned out to be rats! Yuck! I knew DC had rats, especially the two legged kinds, but I did not expect to see the four legged kind running around in the daytime! Another interesting DC fact. AFter convincing the boys not to chase after the rats, we headed inside to the Air and Space museum. They boys most favorite exhibit involved the simulator rides-they get to experience the thrill of flying a fighter jet and shooting down planes-including rollovers and dives(no thanks). I was the official bag holder. And of course we had to stop into the gift shop before getting back on the bus. I took a picture of the Dragon head from the Chinese  Zodiac Calendar in DC. (Allison likes Dragons). EAch animal's head is represented in a circle in front of the Asian art museum.  We had a fun day in DC, but turns out Scott and I came down with terrible colds.

So terrible we ended up staying home on Weds with fevers. He missed his boy scout meeting Tuesday night which was an award ceremony. But he had not turned in his geology merit badge card, so he would not have received any awards that night in recognition. I was just hoping he could have spent some time getting more info checked off his book. He even missed swimming on Thursday since we both were pretty wiped out. I did get more time to study with him on Weds when we stayed home for his last science test on Thursday at school. He really did not have any more homework since it was the last full week of school. And on Thursday back at school he participated in the Greek games. Scott had thumb wrestling which he did not enjoy(too many ways to cheat). He would have been better off throwing a javelin!  He did get a free pizza lunch as his class won some type of contest for something which involved a free pizza lunch(don't know if I participated or not).

ON Friday I had to work since I had taken off Memorial Day. We all hurried home after school and work since our weather turned quite nasty at the end of the day. Turns out we spent most of the evening in the basement as 10 tornadoes rolled through Maryland, one after another.  10,000 homes were without power over the weekend and 3 people were killed. Fortunately our neighborhood missed out on the worst weather(thank goodness). And we still had our power. OUr neighbor had to borrow our small chain saw though to cut up a tree that came down on his deck.

Saturday I had to drop Allison off to work, so I ran some errands. Saturday night Tom had our LA friend John Dutton over for dinner on the deck and to watch the Stanley Cup Hockey playoffs with the LA Kings and NJ Devils(Yeah Kings won!). They are up by two games.

On Sunday I had Scott working on some Boy Scout badge work and he spent the afternoon with his Dad doing yardwork. Finally they put down most of the mulch and I did quite a bit of shrub trimming on the side of the house(the nasty prickly stuff like rosebushes).  Tom got the grass cut and is looking into ordering larger gutters for our house. Unfortunately you can't buy larger gutters commercially-they have to be professionally installed. We really need the larger gutters. OUr front door looked like Niagra Falls with all the rain coming down during the last two big storms. All the water was overflowing the gutter, even with the downspouts cleaned out.
 Allison spent Sunday afternoon setting up the archery range at the GS camp for this summer's session(just around the corner). I would have loved to have attended the CApital Jazz Fest this past weekend-2 full days and 1 night of non stop Jazz at our outdoor concert theater. However, they certainly seemed to have raised the prices-the lawn seats are now $70.00! I think Tom and I used to pay around $25 or $30 a person and the kids were free. We used to pitch tents out in the wooded area and watch on the big screens if it was raining, and if it was hot and sunny we put up our beach umbrella, packed up a picnic basket and laid out on a blanket all day listening to music on the lawn. We took a few breaks to get our posters autographed by the musicians(but not for $70!). I also would have loved to have attended a Wine Festival on Sunday, but I as on the phone most of the day with my mom and just too worn out from my cold to worry about attending. There is always next year.

 I  spent quite a bit of time on the phone with my mom during the week checking up on my Dad. He spent last week in the hospital(10 days total). It looks like he is stabilizing medically, but was still quite confused and not eating, very weak and not sleeping. I asked Mom to have them assess his medication since I thought he may have been oversedated. They stopped or cut back on a few meds. He cleared up a bit, and started eating again, but still was not functioning well enough for mom to take him home. The hospital was ready to discharge him, but he still needs a biopsy and probably surgery for his prostate. The hospital finally helped mom look into some rehab units to have him transferred this week. So I haven't heard if he is definitely scheduled for the biopsy this coming week or not. It sounds like he did have a Urology consult though which is what he needed. I will keep you all informed.

Meanwhile I am coughing my head off. I need to clear up soon as Allison and I have a big GS concert coming up on SAturday(back in DC). I will have to watch out for those rats! The concert is supposed to be broadcast online all day-Rock the Mall-GS Concert if anyone wants to try and catch us. It looks like we will be singing between 9 and 11 am on stage. Should be fun.

Please keep my Dad in your prayers! Thanks to their friend Mr Dugan for stopping by and trying to cut the grass and reset the answering machine. Thanks to Uncle Joe for actually getting the tractor to run and cutting the grass!

BAltimore Blog

This weekend has been one of ups and downs. The down has been that Dad Bozyk ended up in the hospital with urinary/prostate issues on Friday. Not only is he having trouble urinating, probably due to an enlarged prostate, but he also was starting to get very confused again and wanted to pull out all his tubes. He had an appointment scheduled for this coming Friday for a biopsy to check for cancer, so hopefully this will speed things up a bit. Then I would imagine he is going to need surgery. Mom and Dad have been hanging around the West Bloomfield house doing repairs and clearing out closets and drawers as well as the garage. Dad actually sold his old Pinto and the Ford Econoline van. They both just wish they could be spending time up in Charlevoix at the Lake house, but not until Dad is healthy.

In between talking to Mom Bozyk on the phone, we squeezed in a quick trip down to Busch Gardens, Willimasburg VA. on Saturday night. That was the up.  Allison had to work in the afternoon, so we left after we picked her up.  The water park is now open and the weather has been so hot here, I thought it would be fun to spend a day in the pool and on the slides. Unfortunately, Allison and Tom both had colds, so they sat  out under the canopy poolside, catching up with their reading.  Scott and I had wonderful time on some rides and floating around the Lazy River. The Amusement Park was open late on Saturday night, so we ran in for a few hours when we first arrived. Tom and SCott were anxious to try out the new rollercoaster-VerBolten. It shoots you out, turns you upside down and drops you practically into the river. They couldn't wait! But they will have to because it broke down on Saturday night and was still closed on Sunday. VerBolten was VerBroken! We left the water park Sunday afternoon to go back to the Amusement Park but the new ride was still closed. So we only got in one ride on SAturday night. The Park was jam packed with people.

INstead, we headed into town to a movie tavern on Saturday night-you eat dinner while watching movies. WE saw MIB3. Allison really enjoyed it since she has not seen any other MIB movies. Tom and I thought the story line was getting a bit old. But we enjoyed eating dinner and the comfortable big chairs. On Sunday afternoon Tom did not feel like fighting the crowds at Busch Gardens since the new ride was down, so we headed over to Colonial Williamsburg. We also checked out the college of William and Mary. We picked up some Admission forms but decided it was probably above our budget as well as the admission requirements being quite intense. Allison just got back her SAT scores from the second go around and did much better. She warns me not to sign her up for anymore self help classes. Most everything was closed in Colonial Williamsburg-the shops and houses, but the taverns were open. We sat outside and had some drinks-root beer for the kids(made in Williamsburg), dark English beer for Tom and I tried a ladies cocktail, very popular in London(then and now)-Pimms. Apparently the alcoholic ingredients are a big secret, but you mix it with ginger ale and add a cucumber slice. I liked it so much, we bought a bottle to make drinks for our neighbors and had them over for a Memorial Day grill out. It reminded me of a gin and tonic (also from England) just a bit spicier.

Since it was so incredibly hot on Monday, we grilled out but ate in. When I wasn't busy cooking something, or cleaning, I was busy studying science with SCott. He is wrapping up the last of his tests this week. Allison has had a head start with her finals. Since she had so many seniors in a few of her classes, she had to take finals starting last week. So she did not have as many tests to study for this holiday weekend. INstead she had a computer presentation to finish up for her piano class that was due Tuesday. So I put her to work cleaning and giving Cookie a bath. I had to drop Cookie off again at the kennel on Saturday and picked her up MOnday morning. She is always so happy to be home trying to catch up on her sleep.

Scott and Tom were off with the boy scouts on Friday night placing flags at the soldiers grave sites for Memorial Day weekend. At least Scott was able to get a few items marked off towards his Citizenship BS badge when he and Tom went to his meeting on Tuesday last week. And I managed to get SCott to swimming while Tom took Allison to piano. Plus I managed to get in a bit of swimming myself during his lesson. ON Friday I went into work since I knew we would be short of staff over the holiday weekend. I had to hurry home to get Allison to work while the boys were at the cemetery.   On Saturday morning, SCott and I were off running errands after dropping Allison off to work and Cookie to the kennel. I also had to pack up the van for our trip. Afterwards I took Scott  to pick him up a few pair of school uniform shorts so he could make it to the end of the year(he won't stop growing!).
We left Tom behind so he could catch up on some yard work. He cut the grass and fertilized and put down bug spray. Our house has been taken over by bugs, especially ants-I  found a few ant nests in the front door and behind the light switch in the foyer. Still haven't had time to put down the rest of the mulch or plant any summer flowers. Tom did decide to take down the kids swingset though. A rite of passage. Some of the wood was beginning to rot out and the bolts were all rusty-we have had it up for the past 15 yrs, so I guess it was time for it to go. The kids wish they could have had a treehouse. I told Tom to keep digging and I would mix up some cement for the inground pool! So far the empty spot is just grass seed.

Here we are enjoying our drinks outside at the Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg. We learned that the term "bar" in the Taverns came about because the "bar tender" had wooden bars that he pulled down to lock up the alcohol, food and fruit at night to keep it from being stolen. And sure enough we spotted the "bars" when we peeked into the tavern-looks like a little gate that pulls down from above. Very cool. My Pimms drink is on the table in front.


So I will keep you posted on how my Dad is doing. Sending out a Big Happy 15th Birthday to Christopher Bozyk!

Has it been two weeks since I last sent out a blog? My how time flies when you are busy. Last weekend was Mother's Day. Happy Belated Mother's Day! I spent my day working on a creative writing paper with SCott and studying with him for a few tests. Fortunately Tom was busy making dinner so it left me with some free time to help Scott study. Tom made a wonderful steak and lobster tail dinner. I had dessert covered as we invited our neighbors over in the evening. We had invited them over for dinner, but their kids took them out for brunch that morning. We all  enjoyed mass with Scott altar serving. Somehow he always manages to get assigned to altar serve on Mother's Day. Makes a nice gift for me. Although Scott and Tom picked up a camping coffee pot as a gift(who do you think that is really for?)

I discovered a wonderful Mother's Day dessert-a mixed berry shortcake. Very simple-4 different types of berries mixed with red currant jam over Pillsbury biscuits. I think the best part though was the Devonshire cream on top with sugared almond slices. I had picked up the recipe primarily for a Girl Scout Mother Daughter Tea that Allison and I hosted on Friday night. We had about 10 people total-5 girls and their moms. Allison and I were busy making up finger sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries and the berry shortcake. I took a few shortcuts and served prepared mini quiches and lemon poppyseed scones from the grocery store. Tom even brought me back tea biscuits/shortbread cookies and tea direct from England while he was there working the week before. I also had been collecting tea cups and saucers as well as tea pots from garage sales and the salvation army all last month. Overall I think the tea went quite well, and we had time to talk about what we did this year and what we would like to do next year. I was trying to see if the girls and parents would be interested in taking a trip to London and Paris through a GS travel agency. The trip is about 9 days and includes airfare, hotel, food and tours/tour guides to London and Paris and costs around $3000 each. Looks like my parents thought it was a bit too pricey and a bit too scary(some parents don't like the idea of their girls flying overseas because of the threat of terrorism). And we would have to sell an awful lot of cookies to cover the cost.

Instead, they liked my idea of road tripping to Michigan next summer-they would love to visit Cedar Point in Ohio, Greenfield Village in Dearborn and Mackinac Island, perhaps with a stopover at my parents place in Charlevoix. Tom said he would even help chaperone(which means drive). Perhaps Allison and I will look into the London/Paris trip on our own. It would certainly be a once in a lifetime experience.

So I spent Mother's Day Weekend hosting a High Tea, enjoying dinner on the patio with the family, dessert with friends on Sunday and a graduation party on Saturday night. Our neighbor Phil just finished his PhD and they hosted a graduation party. Scott was excited to see they opened up their pool(although I decided it was just a bit too cold). Tom was primarily interested in the hockey games. Also we had to run back and forth to get Allison to and from work that night. At least she didn't have to work on Mother's day. I also had to take her to a camp orientation Saturday morning. She received a scholarship to attend a Girls Nation Camp from the VFW. One of my residents at the retirement community was looking for  teenage girls finishing their junior year of high school to sponsor for this week long camp held at Salisbury University on the eastern shore in June. The camp teaches girls about our government process and has them discuss and vote on bills concerning any up to date issues like driving and texting, gasoline tax hikes, permits for building casinos,  or environmental issues such as pollution of the bay or building windmill farms, etc. Girls can write their own bills if they prefer and they can run for offices of the Senate/HOuse/Mayor/Governor. However,  those candidates have to be available to attend the National camp in July, and we should be traveling across the US at that time so Allison opted not to run. This camp is just for girls-the VFW also sponsors a Boys Nation camp at Washington University. I think Allison is going to have a wonderful experience and hopefully some fun while she's at it.

In between all these activities I had finally gotten a chance to order some mulch. Tom spent the weekend cutting the grass and laying down mulch around our big trees. Before he put down mulch around the flower beds he decided to trim the bushes. And then he decided to spruce up our lighting system, but discovered most of the lights were fried. So instead he went out and bought a whole new outdoor landscape lighting system. And I was happy to see he had given up on the LED lighting system(which was much too dim). So he spent most of that weekend running electric cords and still has not had a chance to finish putting down the mulch.

The week following MOther's Day was just as busy. Tom was not home much after work-he attended a retirement party, a staff dinner meeting and then spent time having dinner with Matt Wagner(still recuperating from his separation- soon to be divorce) as well as consoling a friend at work whose wife is dying from Cancer and is on hospice(our age). So I did not see much of him this past week. I did attend SCott's end of the school year music concert. There are only about a dozen boys in the school choir and at least 50 girls. They even gave the boys a solo part this year. Tom was just happy he did not have to sit through the beginning concert band's performance. I also got SCott to his swim lesson, boy scout meeting and Allison to piano. I was a bit preoccupied though since we spent this past weekend camping with the boy scouts and I had to pack.

The kids were both off school on Friday, so we decided to join the scouts on a rafting/caving weekend. WE opted out of the rafting though since they left Thursday night so they could be out on the river early Friday morning. Tom had a half day of work teaching a class, and Allison had to attend an orientation meeting for her internship at Scott's school next year. She met with her high school instructor and the kindergarten teacher who will be her mentor next year. I think Allison is going to enjoy the experience as a teacher's aide. Allison also cut our entire lawn for the first time since I was busy packing and she has the blister on her hand to prove it! Way to go Allison.

We headed west to Pittsburgh PA on Friday afternoon. I had dropped Cookie off at the kennel in the morning and set up the turtle tank with an automatic feeder(thank goodness the cat is low maintenance). WE arrived at the campsite around dinner time and pitched our tent. We left Scott to have hot dogs with the boys and we had dinner at an old Stone TAvern just down the road. The area is actually south of Pittsburgh on the Youghigeny river near the town of Ohiopyle. There are lots of National parks including the Fort Necessity National Park-location of the French and Indian War. So lots of historic places. Apparently General Braddock from the British army is buried there next to Rt 40(the National Highway) and he loved to stop in for chicken and biscuits at the Stone Tavern. Naturally I had to try it out-I think Cracker Barrel serves just as good. Anyhow, we also ran into a prom going on in the banquet hall with a stretch Hummer outside(I think the entire high school class fit inside-small town). Allison guessed prom-the dresses and Hummer gave it away.  ON Saturday we all headed to the local cave-Laurel Caverns. The boys did a 3 hour tour-climbing and crawling through narrow passages on their tummies in the mud and dark with lighted helmets. Tom, Allison and I opted for the bright, not so dirty hour long walk-through tour. As soon as Scott emerged, I grabbed him a sandwich and dragged him off to a 3 hour Geology Badge class. None of the other boys were interested, so they headed back to camp. So did Tom and Allison-she had some finals/tests to study for in math and english. Tom got caught up on his nap and some reading. They picked us up at 5pm and we were all pretty hungry and tired. I was hoping the boy scouts would have started dinner. I was ready to lend a hand. Instead the crew was sitting around watching an Eagle Scout attempt to build a fire for an hour. Tom gave up and dragged Allison and myself off to some podunk movie theater so we could finally see the Avengers. So it was a popcorn dinner for us. Scott stayed behind for boy scout bonding and Nachos in a Bag. When we got out, we had driven so far to find the theater that we were running very low on gas and lo and behold discovered most gas stations were closed by 10pm. Fortunately we found one open near the highway and also picked up a few sandwiches for dinner. Scott reports they served dinner around 9pm. I was certainly happy to pack up and head for home on Sunday.

But first I had a detour for our family  to tour Frank Loyd Wright's FAllingwater house. You have to buy tickets online ahead of time-glad I checked. We had a few hours to kill, so we stopped into town for a hot breakfast(finally) and then toured the grounds of the house, snapping a few outdoor photos. The kids even had time to sit and study at the visitor center before our tour began. I figured I was going to enjoy the tour, but the rest of the family was shocked to discovered they really enjoyed the house tour(nobody was very thrilled with the idea beforehand). But afterwards they were all quite impressed, especially from the engineering side of things. Scott even designed a house on his computer game Mine Craft that looks just like the Fallingwater home. FYI-the house was built in 1935 as a vacation home for the Kaufman family of the Kaufman Dept store later bought by Macy's. The house was built into the side of a rocky mountain and juts out over a waterfall. I especially loved how some of the boulders were incorporated inside the house like the fountain at the entrance to the guest house and one near the fireplace. I hear my parents toured the place with Dan and Sheila when Dan was working in Pittsburgh for a few years. I guess we did our part monetarily to help keep the house from slipping into the river in the future(not a cheap tour).

So we lucked out and had a beautiful weekend camping and even had Scott finish up some boy scout requirements.

So once again, Happy Belated Mother's Day and a few Happy Belated Birthdays!  Mark Seitz reached his 50th! Way to go Mark!  And Stacey Seitz is trying to catch up as she just turned 24! Happy Birthday too Stacey!

I know the Seitz family was busy in Indy with a half marathon run for Mark and Eric Seitz(excellent job!) and the Indy 500 just around the corner. Maryland was busy hosting the Preakness horse race this past weekend(second in line with the Kentucky Derby).  Looks like the same horse won both races-I'll Have Another. He may just if he wins the Belmont in New York-a Triple Crown. Tom is still closely following the Hockey tournaments but now he is down to cheering for the LA Kings(no Red Wings or DC CApitals this year).Boo Hoo.

Hope you enjoy photos from our caving/camping weekend. Bet you never saw chandeliers in a cave before! I included a shot of SCott's troop before they headed down into the bottom of the cave. The temperature is 52 degrees year round. There is also a shot of Allison from the bike/hike bridge over the Youghigeny river. We will have to go back and do the bike trail some time.

Enjoy! Happy Reading! Baltimore Blog

So I survived the week with Tom off to England(just barely). It is certainly difficult trying to keep up with the schedules for 3 people when you are only 1 person. I'm afraid SCott did not fair quite as well with his tests as I would have hoped. My kids just cannot cram for tests(good lesson for high school and college!).

So Scott is going to have to do some extra work with Tom-especially with the math. Even Allison tried to help  Scott out last week and had some trouble getting through the problems.  I especially don't like that the teachers at SCott's school wait to announce tests just a few days ahead of time. Scott really could use the weekend for review, and everything is always crammed into the week. Plus the kids don't have much school left, so the workload is even greater.

And as you all know, we are usually pretty busy during the week with extra curricular activities. Speaking of which, Congrats to SCott for getting through his 2nd class requirements for Boy SCouts last week. He is now busy trying to finish up a few badges and working on his 1st class requirements. He actually finished a few 1st class requirements before the 2nd class was completed.

Unfortunately for Allison, our pleas to have her Gold Award project accepted to build the horsebackriding ramp were too late. The stable could not wait any longer and they asked a group of Boy SCouts to complete the project. Just repairs though, not a complete rebuild like Allison had planned. So now we are searching for another project that she can do within a year's time before she graduates from high school!  Hard to believe it is just one more year for her. She ended up taking the SAT again on Saturday to try and bump up her English section. She tried a testing method they recommended at her SAT class which actually caused her score to drop. So much for the tutoring services!  She also worked on finishing up her volunteer work for the NHS program for the year. She needs to complete 1 more hour on an in-school project. She sat and cut out cancelled stamps for 2 hours for an art project that has been going on for a few years at the school. The art teacher is trying to make a holocaust mural out of 6 million stamps honoring the number of  victims killed. They are only up to 1 million. I know I keep tearing off stamps from letters, but most people don't send cards/letters anymore(thanks Linda, I know you do!). And Christmas comes in handy, and my mom always sends cancelled stamps along with Campbell soup labels for the schools. Anyhow, Allison doesn't want to look at another stamp for a long time(it is not her thing) but she has 1 more hour to go!

We also were busy running around on Saturday afternoon. After Allison finished up her test, I had to rush her and I off to our GS Annual Board meeting. Usually they run this on a Thursday night, but this year they decided to try a SAturday luncheon. They even had some classes in the morning, but neither Allison or I could attend. We made it to the meeting just as lunch was being served, right after we sang Grace with the GS choir, and then had to get back up before lunch was over to sing a few more songs. Not very many members of the choir attended-mostly just the older girls and a couple of Brownies. We just sang a few songs that we will be singing on the stage in DC in June at the Rock the Mall event. I can't keep up!  AFter the meeting, Allison had time to get home and change, do some homework and get to work. I had time to get home and check Scott's homework for the weekend.

And that 's about the time Tom got in from England. We had a lot of news to catch up on.

But on Sunday we were off to church early as Scott was serving mass. Afterwards, Allison had to get to work, and that evening, Allison had to be at a GS summer camp meeting. She had to meet with the Archery crew to go over the usual routine. In between all these activities she managed to get some homework done. Of course, piano was on Thursday night. Right after I took Scott to his new swim class.

He just started in the Porpoise Club-a group that prepares you for a swim team. Scott would like to try and get on a swim team. Which probably means we would drop gymnastics after this semester. (Just not enough days in the week).

And it was time for the annual shearing of the sheep(ie Cookie got a hair cut). I am sure she will appreciate the short hair as it has been starting to really warm up. Not a ton of rain though. I did manage to get the mulch ordered and the grass cut this past weekend. I know what we are doing next weekend!

HOpe you had a chance to catch Allison's video. This week I am sending prom photos along with some shots from the Distinguished Women's Award gala. Allison is standing with her mentor and the group shot is of all the girls with their mentors. The 3rd woman from the left in the dark suit is the Mayor of Baltimore-Stephanie Rawlings -Blake

Kathleen