September is a big Birthday month in the Bozyk family. Mom Bozyk celebrated her 81st Birthday on Sept. 19th. We decided to help her celebrate the weekend before her big day by taking her to dinner and bringing her flowers, balloons and gifts. Tom, Scott and I took Mom B out to dinner at a historical train station near my work. We enjoyed dinner Sunday night on the platform overlooking the train tracks and the river. The trains still run, but we did not have any coming through that night. Usually I can hear the train whistles all the way to our house, about a 25 min drive. It was a beautiful evening and after dinner we stopped into our house for cheesecake and presents. I picked out some warm clothes and socks for mom as Bday gifts, along with another watch(she keeps hiding them and it takes too long to look for the ones we already gave her). I figure the more she has, the better chance we have of finding one! I also picked up a few more Fall decorations for her room.

Tom was worn out as he spent the entire week before teaching a Black Belt Management class on his own. He wasn't feeling too well and went to bed after dinner. I was worn out from spending the entire day doing yard work! Our neighbor Dan is trying to convince Tom to cut down the trees along our road that are blocking the sun from getting to our lawn and killing the grass.  I am not crazy about that idea since they are not officially our trees. They were planted by the county. And I like the trees.  I suggested Tom continue to trim more branches. But in the meantime I decided to seed the area around the trees since we couldn't agree on the lawn care project and time is slipping away. I bought many bags of dirt and shade/sun seed patch with Scott's help and spent the day raking up dead grass and spreading dirt and seed. I was pretty much covered with dirt and seed myself when I was all done! Then it was time for a shower and Birthday dinner with Mom. Tom and Scott were pretty busy with schoolwork. Tom usually has a paper or big assignment due every week with his new class.

On Saturday night we thought we'd invite our neighbors, Dan and Gloria over for dinner to catch up with their activities over the summer. Gloria's mom recently had a stroke, so their family is also dealing with the new concept of Assisted Living Facilities in Ohio. They tried to talk her mom into moving here to Baltimore, but she has friends back in Ohio and other family members and decided to stay put. And since we had the house clean and extra food, we also invited our friend John D. from California over for steak dinner on the deck and some football. We were all celebrating John's new job with Honeywell. A bit more secure position than he had with the last independent company he worked for after leaving Northrop.

Scott had a few work shifts this past week. The season really hasn't kicked into high gear at the Roller Rink. Summer is pretty slow with just a few camps scheduled on Fridays. They do open the facility though when school is off, which happened on Monday the 12th. Since school was out, Scott was scheduled to work. And since he does not have his permanent drivers license yet, he needs a ride. So I had to leave work(twice)to drop him off and pick him up. I don't mind, but it takes about 1 hr both trips. Tom was stuck in his class so couldn't help out this time. Probably not worth the trip financially, but it gives Scott a few hours to keep him on the books. They keep trying to recruit him for more jobs at the Sports Center, but this job works for our schedule right now. So besides a few work hours, Scott has also been very busy with school work. And he started up his Video Game Club meetings again. He had a big kick off complete with Doritos and Mello Yello soda. He also started attending his friend's new club which involves producing Utube type Videos. They get to use all the equipment at the school for filming(except the big, expensive cameras). And Boy Scout popcorn sales started up again. We headed over to our favorite sales spot-Lowes on a Sunday afternoon. To our surprise, a large group of Cub Scouts had taken over our spot. Looks like one of our Troop Leaders signed up for the sale with Lowes back in March and they lost that calendar. So no popcorn sales for us that day which is a shame since Scott made a decent income at that booth sale. We use all his popcorn profits towards summer camp. Not sure we can squeeze in another booth sale with his upcoming busy schedule.

Allison is also staying busy at school with her coursework and her weekend Field Hockey games along with weekly practice. The team finally picked up more players and an extra goalie. Allison can always use some help since they play two games on the weekends and sometimes back to back. This weekend the Salisbury girls tied both games! Yeah!

Looks like I am a few weeks behind. Here is what we have been doing since Labor Day Weekend.

  Tom and I have been talking about reseeding our lawn for many years now. We finally agree that Fall is the best time for us to seed rather than Spring. Our neighbor Dan was renting a thatching machine from Home Depot and asked if we'd like to use it as well to treat the lawn. Tom, Scott  and I have been spending a few weekends trimming bushes and tree limbs to open up the lawn to more sunlight to allow the grass to grow. But it was just too hot as Temps have hit 100 degrees as we come to the end of summer! And of course our air conditioner died. It has been running all summer and just could not make it one more hot day.

    Tom waited around on Friday while working on his class homework for an air conditioner repairman who came out before it got any hotter. He discovered that mice had chewed through wires in the outdoor unit. So a quick fix(thank goodness) and just a service charge. Tom was so impressed with the service, he wrote a very nice review on Angie's List and the Air Conditioner company sent us a $25 refund! Even better.

  Tom was busy writing a paper for his newest class. I decided to interrupt his work with a plan to visit Allison on Saturday, Sept 10th and spend the night to catch her Field Hockey game on Sunday the 11th. I also wanted to visit the beach to cool off. So Tom spent Friday working away on his paper to finish up early. Meanwhile, I spent  Friday busy running my mom around. She had a cardiac appointment and left with a good report. Don't have to go back until next year. To celebrate, we went to lunch at Cheesecake Factory and I took her to the hair salon for a wash and set. I was also on the phone trying to get some more tax information together for her 2015 tax return as well as my Dad's. I had a 60 min wait on the phone with Social Security only to find out that I had to put my request for their info in writing and mail it in.  Then it was time to drop Mom back off to her apt. after picking up some of her Fall decorations at her storage unit. On Thursday night I joined her for a Fashion Show Fundraiser for Alzheimers put on by the staff at her facility. The girls dressed in traditional clothes from their countries-mostly African countries, Haiti and Mexico. They also had traditional food, beer, wine and hor's douvres. It turned out well and the staff wants to run another show next year.

  Meanwhile, Tom took Scott out to dinner to celebrate his acceptance into the National Honor Society! Way to Go Scott!

  On Saturday morning I joined Mom at her apt for an Alzheimer's Fund Raiser Yard Sale. We had fun picking through all the goodies, but could not spend too much time shopping as the heat was getting to us out in the parking lot. I then picked up breakfast for my guys and Tom and I packed the car and headed out to the Eastern Shore. Scott stayed behind to take care of the pets and do homework. Plus he planned on spending Sunday with his friend Tori on a climbing outing. He was just happy not to have the work the weekend. He and Tori spent the day at a Tree Obstacle course and completed the Black Diamond Trail. Scott reported pain in every muscle of his body after the difficult climb and was just glad he did not fall!  I spent Saturday afternoon with Allison and her roommate Jen at Ocean City. It was much cooler at the beach. Just nice to sit on the beach with the great ocean breeze and cool off with our toes in the water. And eat Boardwalk French Fries while beating off hungry seagulls! They chased Allison and Jen all the way down the beach after our goodies! We took a little time to walk the Boardwalk while the girls played Pokemon Go and did some souvenir shopping.  In the evening we met Tom back in Salisbury for beer, fried pickles and pizza. He stayed behind to wrap up his classwork at the University's new library center. He was quite impressed with the massive new building, complete with study areas, tech rooms, meeting areas, a restaurant and cafe, roof top garden and yes, books.

Tom and I spent the night at the local hotel, and met Allison for breakfast early Sunday morning in the hotel lobby. Then we were off to her 1st Field Hockey game of the season in northern Delaware. We headed to Newark, Delaware and the University of Delaware(alma mater of our Raven's Qback, Joe Flacco). We decided to drive Allison since it was a 3 hr trip straight up the entire state. Their Club team had only one practice before the season started and they had not yet had try outs for any new players. So there were not alot of girls playing this day, and Allison was the only goalie. They played two games, 1 hr each, back to back. They played University of Delaware as well as Towson University. Both teams were very good and our girls lost both games, 4-0. But Allison played a fantastic game(she could have used some help from the other players. They only had a few shots on goal). They could sure use some practice and more players!

Since they did not get a break, we decided to take Allison out to lunch near the University. We figured most University's have interesting food choices. This U had a very nice small town and lots of restaurants. We stopped into Diablo Burrito-somewhat like Chipotle's Mexican chain where you order your meal piece by piece until you make a burrito or nachos or a burrito bowl. It was very good and very filling. Afterwards we stopped into Costco for some shopping(as well as a visit to their cheap liquor store(no taxes in Delaware). The we dropped Allison off at home and headed back to Ellicott City. The view was beautiful as we traveled across the Bay Bridge into the setting sun.

A Big Happy Birthday to Mike Bozyk who celebrated his Special Day on Sept 10th!

Happy Labor Day!  We were happy to have Allison come home for the weekend. She was still a little shook up from the car accident last weekend, so she drove extra slow and carefully. Fortunately, I think there was less traffic out on the roads, especially on the Eastern shore as Hurricane Hermine blew over. Apparently it ruined the beach goers Labor Day weekend, but it turned out to be better than they thought. They closed Ocean City on Saturday. The boardwalk was flooded from the high tides and storm surge. Looks like the beaches reopened Sunday, but no swimming allowed. The waves were just too strong and it continues today. Looks like it was a good idea for Allison and her friends to hit the beach last weekend(minus the car accident).

We decided to stay home this Labor Day weekend, but it doesn't mean we were bored. On Friday I spent the day running errands. I had to pick up my van from the car dealership. Tom took it in to have the back door repainted and the taillight replaced. Unfortunately I discovered a new rattle in the back door so I will have to take it back. I ran out of time on Friday after attending my swim class and doing some shopping. I met up with Allison in the afternoon and we packed a picnic basket and headed out to a local winery with one of my coworkers. Ann had the week off from work and was celebrating her birthday, so we joined her at Black Ankle Vineyards for wine tasting, a concert and picnic dinner. It was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed the sunset while sipping our wine and eating our Mexican casserole. It's fun having a 21 year old in the house too!

On Saturday our family attended the annual Comic Con at the Baltimore Convention Center. The event is usually held later in the month. Glad I was watching the news or we would have missed it. This event is like Halloween for adults. People dress up in amazing costumes from all types of comic book characters. Super Heroes, Robots, Sci Fi characters-everything! We decided to go on Saturday after donning our favorite tshirts. I was decked out in my Walking Dead apparel, the kids and Tom were sporting Video game tshirts but upgraded to a favorite cartoon, Steven's Universe with new shirts which they bought at the convention. We all came home with a pile of comic book collections too. That evening we dropped into our neighbor's house to pick up their dog. We were puppy sitting Ripley for the rest of the weekend. Our friend's son, Barry, headed off to Penn University a few weeks earlier, so Mom and Dad wanted to visit and take him out to dinner. It is about a two hour drive each way, so they did not want to leave their dog in the house all day. Plus we enjoy having Ripley as a house guest. And we also stayed for dinner! Not too late though since they had an early morning the next day.

On Sunday, Tom decided to stay home and do some yard work. Meanwhile, the rest of us decided to attend the Renaissance Fair. Since Allison was at home visiting, she wanted to spend some time with her boyfriend Tyler. And Scott had asked one of his friends to go along. We thought the Fair would be a great place to hang out for the day, especially since the weather turned out so nice(no rain from the hurricane). Unfortunately, Scott's friend Matt was suffering from a concussion when he wiped out on his skateboard without wearing a helmet. He was in such bad shape that weekend, they had to take him to the ER. But his mom said she thought it would be fine for him to go with us(although I was supposed to keep an eye on him and make sure he did not pass out or throw up). Gee thanks.
Fortunately, everyone had a wonderful time and no passing out. We watched shows and ate lots of food items on sticks. Scott's girlfriend Tori showed up with her mom and sister so I hung out with Tori's mom. They were supposed to go to the beach also, but cancelled their plans due to the weather. Scott spent time with Tori and Matt, Allison and Tyler hung out together and I went shopping with Tori's mom. I usually don't spend much time shopping while we are there. No one wants to wait for me to look through all the art and jewelry, but this time I had plenty of time to shop. Not a good thing. I picked up a few flower prints. The artist has her work displayed at the Natural History Museum in Santa Barbara, CA. I also got a neck pillow filled with lavendar(good for high blood pressure and sore necks), along with another tapestry to hang in the foyer and a brass dragonfly for my front porch flower pots. See, too much extra time on my hands!  Of course I also couldn't help sharing my wisdom with Tori's mom on the college hunting process. Tori is their first born and interested in computer programming or engineering. She is looking at applying to Uof Michigan. So naturally I had to share my insight on schools and the application process(on a limited basis). Meanwhile, the kids went off on their own and mostly ate and watched jousting, shot arrows and attempted the maze!  In the evening, we invited Tyler to stay for dinner and enjoyed steaks out on the patio.  The kids topped off their day with an evening of video games.

Today it is back to homework and yardwork. Allison will drive back to school. She started classes last week, but not much homework for the holiday weekend. Scott however was overwhelmed with a number of assignments for the weekend, including a few upcoming quizzes to study for and projects to complete for next week. I was surprised at the amount of work already assigned to the high school kids their first week back. Scott is busy this year with 2 engineering classes, Trigonometry, World History, Chemistry, English and guitar. He also has to meet with the Boy Scout Sr Patrol Leadership on Labor Day to discuss his plans for his upcoming Eagle project.No rest for the weary. He went to his scout meeting on Weds night and they asked him to come in so they can preapprove his plan of taking the last 3 planters over to my nursing home and spending a morning doing some yardwork and planting fall flowers with my residents. I think it will turn out to be a great project.

I also attended the Back to School night on Thursday which gave me a chance to meet all of Scott's teachers and get a feel for his curriculum. He is certainly going to have a busy year.  Plus he will start up his Video Game Club again with a new teacher/mentor, and his friend Matt wants to start a Utube Video production club. And he will be participating in the Robotics Team again as well. And he continues to work at the Roller Blade sports club. He was finally able to get back on his skates this past Friday(with splint in place) when he went off to work. And he was able to get back behind the wheel of a car. He had another  2 hr driving lesson with an instructor from Greg's Driving school and focused on parallel parking and 3 point turns(although the parallel parking assessment has been taken off the official driving test!).

The kids are not the only ones back at school. Tom started up another online course this past week so he spends his extra time doing assignments. Looks like next year the kids will be going back to school after Labor Day. This has been a long time coming, and our Governor announced that the new school year will begin after Labor Day. It worked in Michigan!

A Big Happy Birthday to the twins, Dan and Dave Bozyk who celebrated on Friday!

The kids were enjoying their last week of summer vacation before heading back to school. Allison mostly spent her time doing laundry and packing after returning from Virginia Beach. Classes started for both kids on Monday Aug 29th.   She headed back to Salisbury the weekend before classes started. She wanted to miss the Freshman move in day by heading back on Thursday, but they bumped the date due to the grand opening of their new campus library. The building is huge and also houses study and research areas and takes up a big portion of the campus. Fortunately since Allison lives off campus, she was not terribly affected. She enjoyed meeting up with her friends over the weekend before heading back to class with a trip to Ocean City. Unfortunately, on the way back, their car was involved in an accident. Fortunately everyone is ok, even though the car was considered total. Tom and I were just glad no one was hurt. It gets a bit crazy down near the beach.

Speaking of car accidents at the beach, Tom dropped my van off over the weekend to make repairs to the taillight and to repaint the rear door hatch which was damaged when we were in Virginia beach. Also, the van had some bubbling paint from a poor touch up they did at the dealership when we bought it, so Tom decided to go ahead and have it repaired. We have tried to get the dealership to make the repairs on their ticket, and we have always been told it is past the warranty or just not their problem.  So I was without a van for a week.

We spent the weekend around the house. I was busy doing my mom's laundry and dropped it off on Sunday afternoon. I brought mom over to our house in the evening for a rib dinner. On Saturday, Tom, Scott and I were busy doing yardwork. We finally had a break in the hot weather and were able to get out to trim some large limbs off the trees in our yard. After Tom cut the grass and edged the walkways and curbs, Scott and I were on clean up duty. We also tackled some large tree limbs that have been overgrowing in our yard and blocking sunlight to the lawn and keeping other trees from growing. Most of the trees are the maples that the county planted along the street, but I have only seen them trim the trees once in the 20 years we have lived here. They could still use some trimming, but the branches are so big we spent most of the day cutting them up into more manageable piles for curbside pick up. Turns out the neighbor next door wants to hire a company to top one of the trees in our backyard as it is blocking his satellite reception. Wonder what that will look like. Another bonus of working outside all day is the chance to get caught up with our neighbors. Unfortunately, we discovered that our good friends, Dan and Gloria had to miss their vacation to Niagra Falls to travel to Ohio as Gloria's mom had a stroke. We also found out that our next door neighbor's little Chihuahua Jasmine passed away at 17, and their son Daryl(our age) is getting divorced from his 3rd wife. Not a good weekend for our neighbors. I have been trying to convince our elderly neighbors who just lost their dog to move to South Carolina to be closer to their daughter and downsize to a condo. Paul had a stroke last year that left him blind in his left eye. And he still drives(just a few minor accidents). Oh boy. His wife Phyllis was just diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent successful surgery to have the tumor removed. Now their divorced son wants to move into their house. You never know what you will discover when you spend time outdoors in your neighborhood! On Friday night we enjoyed an outdoor picnic/BBQ with the Boy Scout parents and leaders. It is nice to get together with just the adults and chat about anything and everything. Including an upcoming Star Trek convention that Tom heard about from our Scoutmaster's wife! But really it is mostly a disguise to get parents to sign up as coordinators for upcoming scouting events. It works every time. I signed up for next summer's trip to Six Flags. I put Tom in charge of the cooking for the adults. That will probably be Scott's last scout trip as he will turn 18 next year!

Before heading back to school, Scott enjoyed the annual water gun fight with his Boy Scout troop. He wrapped his cast in a waterproof sleeve and off he went. Prior to that, I am happy to report that he finished his last required Eagle badge, Personal Management!  Now he can just focus on his Eagle project. Besides doing yardwork, he and Tom got out on Sunday to build a second planter. He will build one more portable planter and has scheduled a date to deliver them to my work place and spend the morning with fellow scouts doing fall planting with some of the residents. He is getting closer!
And he was very excited to return to the doctor to have his cast removed! Even though the doctor recommended he wear a brace for the next 3 weeks, Scott is too happy to have his arm back! We dropped into Staples to pick up a few school supplies for him over the weekend along with most of the rest of the county! The lines were long. But it also gave Scott some time to practice driving while we ran errands. He has really missed quite a bit of driving practice with the cast in the way.

I also had a very busy week at work. It was my OT student's last week. I was busy writing up her evaluation. I have also been busy preparing a presentation to my coworkers on Cognition and Standardized testing. In conjunction with my discussion, my OT student was busy preparing examples of activities that can be done with patients with various levels of dementia to implement into our Activity Department's schedule at the facility. I bought several plastic bins and she and I filled them with lots of fun activities, along with a notebook that she prepared with instructions and examples of crafts, games and activities for the staff. Then she did several presentations to the nurses and Activity aids at work. Of course you cannot have a presentation without food! Our rehab department had a pot luck on Thursday during my presentation(I cooked pizza for everyone), and we brought in lots of desserts to bribe the staff at my student's presentation. I worked that Friday on her last day so we could get everything done. What a whirlwind week! Now it is back to reality for me as I pick up my patient treatments again(solo).

Sending out a Get Better Soon to Stacey ! She recently had surgery on her foot.

Also a Big Happy Birthday to Sarah Seitz! Sounds like you did a great job celebrating!

After arriving home from our trip to Hilton Head, it was time to plan for our trip to Virginia Beach with Grandma Bozyk.

Allison was enjoying some time off before starting back to school. Scott however spent a week taking an SAT prep course at our local Community College. He will be a Junior in High School this year and it is time to start taking the standardized college assessment tests. The kids did schedule a visit with a few of their friends that they have not seen in a while.  They all spent a fun filled evening playing video games and eating dinner at Dave and Busters.

I was busy packing my mom a suitcase for our trip. On Friday, I packed up the van, dropped off Cookie at our neighbors and picked up Mom B.  We headed to the Eastern shore and Allison's condo at Salisbury University. We had a few items to drop off at her place before she heads back to school, including a new bird feeder that she got for her birthday. The girls have a nice yard and patio deck and Allison enjoys the visits from the Eastern shore birds. Anything to get through the school year!  We decided to have lunch at a new BBQ restaurant that opened near the school. They actually have several small restaurants and a bar that open to an enclosed patio with a Caribbean feel. After a great lunch, we were back on the road and headed south to Virginia Beach. We arrived around dinner time and unpacked our bags. We met up with my brother Dave and his family that drove up from Texas to spend the weekend with us. His wife, Sandra and son Christopher all drove up however, the other two kids, Nick and Sarah, planned on flying up on Saturday as they both had to work. We spent the evening strolling the beach boardwalk with mom on her electric scooter. We stopped into a beach front cafe next to our hotel for dinner, but they were filled with customers. Instead we ordered platters of tacos to go and headed up to our sundeck in the hotel. Tom made reservations in a Hilton Garden Inn that had a sundeck on the 3rd floor overlooking the beach. I figured mom would not be able to walk out on the extensive beach down to the ocean, but would probably enjoy relaxing on a beach chair and watching all the activity.

And it did not disappoint. On Friday night we finished up dinner and enjoyed the band playing outside in the cafe before heading to bed. In the morning, my family was up early and walking the boardwalk. Of course Scott and Allison also stayed busy playing Pokemon Go. After breakfast, we all headed out on the sundeck. Boy was it hot. We brought lots of snacks and drinks and sat back to visit and watch all the activity on the beach. It was amazing to see how quickly the beach fills up with lots of people and sun umbrellas. It was also fun to watch all the boats, parasailers and planes going by, as well as large schools of fish and dolphins. We were even entertained by the fighter jets zooming over the beach from the nearby naval base. Later in the afternoon, we were sadly kicked off our sundeck for a wedding. Instead, half of us took to the beach for a long walk, a quick swim in the hotel pool and the other half found another sundeck to hang out on a different floor. Meanwhile, Dave and Sandra picked up Sarah from the local airport. She managed to get her flight even though she lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and most of the area is flooded.  Her brother Nick should have joined her, however he was still stuck in Texas at the airport! He had to spend the night in the airport and missed his connecting flight due to tstorms. He was not able to get out until late Saturday evening. At least he made it just in time to join all of us at a local Seafood and Steak restaurant for dinner. I thought it would be nice for all of us to get together for dinner and to celebrate Mom's 81st birthday a bit early. It was a fun evening, except for the minor car accident that occurred in the parking lot. Tom got stuck in the valet parking area and backed into a large SUV. Minor scratch for them, broken taillight on my van(off getting fixed).

On Sunday we packed up and our family took Mom B to the Virginia Aquarium. We loved seeing the Kimodo Dragon and Sea Turtles. The aquarium is actually two separate buildings, one with aquariums and ocean sea life and fish. The other building housed native Virginia fresh water creatures. Both buildings are connected by walkways through a brackish marsh with lots of fiddler crabs. They also built an elevated ropes course through the trees that Allison was interested in climbing around, however since Scott still had a broken arm and couldn't climb, she thought they could return at another date to take on the challenge. Instead, Tom and the kids caught the IMAX movie-a Tour of the Galapogos Island. After our visit to the aquarium, we headed to our hotel in Williamsburg. That evening our family took Mom B to a Movie Tavern for dinner and to see Kabu and the Two Strings. It was an amazing stop motion film-basically a Japanese Fairy Tale about a young boy on a Ninja quest. We all enjoyed the film and Tom was especially impressed with how much he liked it. While we were at the movie, the rest of our group was getting familiar with the shops and historic section of Williamsburg.

I switched my work week so we could take Monday off. Tom took Scott and Allison and headed to Busch Gardens. We were not sure if Scott could go on any rides with his cast, but he was able to catch a few of the small rides and one coaster. They even talked Allison into trying it! Meanwhile, I took the rest of the crew back to Colonial Williamsburg so we could tour some of the buildings, including the Governor's Mansion. Mom drove around on her scooter. We managed to get through the Mansion and a few shops before stopping into a tavern for a traditional drink and light lunch. Then Dave and Nick took Sarah to the airport. Meanwhile, Mom, Sandra and I went off for some more sightseeing, but it was getting very hot and Mom had reached her limit. So Dave headed back from the airport and picked us up and Tom and the kids joined us back at the hotel. Dave and family spent the night and then headed back to Texas on Tuesday morning.

We drove back up to Baltimore with a quick stop into CiCi's pizza and pasta and a tour through a Halloween shop before dropping mom off at her apt. Hard to believe the year is flying by so quickly and school will be starting next week for both kids!

Catching up with our summer travels.  We headed home on  a Saturday from Hilton Head and arrived in the evening. Fortunately we did not have any damage to our house from the strong rain storm the week before that devastated Old Town Ellicott City. I watched a few videos on Utube of the actual flooding from people trapped in the buildings and restaurants during the storm. It was pretty unbelievable to see cars washing down the road in a torrent, including cars with people still inside as spectators video taped from the second floor of one of our favorite restaurants. They were unable to help, but one group formed a human chain and pulled a woman to safety from her car. The aftermath of the storm left the road in shambles, along with most of the store fronts. Cars and trees crashed into the fronts of the shops, especially those with large windows. Our community was quick to lend a hand in the renovations of the town by collecting funds for EC Strong, donating cleaning supplies and volunteering in the clean up. Kids in our neighborhood held lemonade sales to donate money to the cause. Other businesses hired currently out of work waiters/waitresses and bartenders.  They are busy selling tshirts. The whole town is currently closed down and multiple vehicles are still stuck along the river that flows through the south end. 150 cars were washed down the street. Unfortunately, our close neighbors that experienced excessive flooding in this neighborhood  have not had as much attention.

We continue to fight   a high density housing development planned in the undeveloped section of our neighborhood. We are especially concerned that more building will lead to even more flooding. The more they remove trees and pave open fields, the better chance for increased flooding downstream. A small stream runs right through our large neighborhood and apparently the culverts and drainage ditches cannot handle the overflow. There is a section of wetlands through the neighborhood that helps, but often the areas will overflow with excess tree branches and leaves that clog and block the water flow. Allison and I attended another town meeting the following weekend on Saturday afternoon. Looks like our neighborhood plans to hire a group to represent our cause to the county to limit the amount of building in the area.

We also spent that Saturday morning as a family visiting with Tom's intern and her family members. Tom and I previously enjoyed a traditional Pakistani dinner at their historic house. Nashi invited us all over for dinner again, but we were in Hilton Head at the time. So instead she asked us to brunch this past weekend with the kids. Nashi's sisters are all incredibly friendly and made Allison and Scott feel right at home. We enjoyed cooked chickpeas and pita bread for breakfast, along with a form of Pakistani cinnamon rolls, watermelon and yogurt. And we got to eat with our fingers! Tom also made American cinnamon rolls, but I think we all enjoyed the Pakistani version more! Nashi enjoyed sharing recommendations on how Scott and Allison could attempt to secure scholarships or internships from Northrop since she had just gone through the process herself. And the kids finished off our visit with a tour of the house and the big climb up the narrow steps to the roof in the 1800 historic home.

This particular weekend was incredibly hot, so we spent most of our time inside. I did try to get the lawn cut early Sunday morning, and almost collapsed from heat exhaustion. It had been in the low 100s and not much rain lately. When I could get back outside to cut the grass, a huge tstorm popped up and we lost power. Right in the middle of the Olympics. We have really been enjoying catching up with all the US athletes, especially our own Maryland Gold Winners, Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky. The news stated that if Maryland was a country, it would have the most Gold medals in all the world because of those two athletes! They stopped in the middle of the Washington Nationals Baseball game in DC to watch Katie swim as well as a shout out during the Ravens pre Season Football game to Michael Phelps. Both of their events were televised on the jumbo screens at the games. Tom and Scott just happened to be enjoying the Ravens pre Season game on Thursday night at the stadium as one of Tom's co workers gave him tickets. Scott had never been to a professional football game and enjoyed the new experience. And our Ravens beat the Carolina Panthers(although it was mostly the 2nd and 3rd string players on the field). I also dragged Scott along to a baseball game earlier in the day as we joined my mom for Sr Day at the Bowie Baysox minor league baseball game. We attended last year and we really had a great time again with mom playing Bingo, sampling the buffet meal and of course, watching the game from the luxury of the air conditioned skybox. And our team won! Scott was happy to have a free week to heal up from his recent ear infection.

I had to work on Friday since I switched my day off to join Mom on her outing. I was glad to hear that she has been busy attending various outings at her apt complex including weekly lunch outings as well as a special trip to the local firehouse. She continues to attend weekly activities at the Sr Center. And they are busy remodeling all the public places in her building-soon they will have new paint/wallpaper, furniture and paintings. They even paved a portion of the front entrance to add extra tables and seating to enjoy the comings and goings of visitors and residents while getting some fresh air(when it stops being so hot or stormy). We are looking forward to taking Mom down to Virginia beach in the coming week for a mini vacation.

Allison was excited to wrap up the last week of her internship. She brought in flowers and cookies to the Maryland Chemical Company staff as a Thank you for their time and attention. She was asked to complete a presentation on her experience there before finishing her week. She also had to present book reports on two business novels she read over our trip to Hilton Head. On Friday the staff took Allison out to lunch. I think the internship was an incredible learning experience for Allison, although she really did miss returning to summer girl scout camp as a counselor. She celebrated the end of her summer internship with a visit to SkyZone with Tyler. Scott was disappointed that he could not go with them since he still has a cast on his arm. Allison and Tyler went to open gym with lots of jumping on the trampolines. They wanted to stay for Dodge ball, but after 1.5 hrs of jumping they were worn out! Guess that is why it is an Olympic sport. Instead they headed over to Tyler's house to make pizza and play poker with his family before Allison headed home(in another Tstorm). She had thought about attending Otakon-the Anime Convention in town for the last time, but was disappointed that they did not have as many guest speakers that she enjoys. It moves to DC next year for more space. Over 27,000 people attended. It resembles Halloween in Downtown Baltimore as all the participants dress up as their favorite characters with some really elaborate costumes. Maybe next year. We also talked about attending the County Fair, but it was just too hot. Temps hitting 100 degrees-the cows would turn into hamburgers! I think we will spend more time in the air conditioning for now!

Last week the entire Seitz Family  met up in Hilton Head, SC for a vacation at the beach. Dad Seitz rented a house for the whole family-the same place we stayed at 5 years ago. That's right-our turtle is 5 yrs old! We picked him up at a local souvenir shop last time we were there. We all had such a wonderful time during our last visit that we decided to do a repeat.

And this vacation was another winner. We all arrived on Saturday afternoon for check in. Our family left Friday night after Allison got home from her internship. She was able to make arrangements to have some time off by making up for the hours during the week, as well as reading a few books on women in business. She had already written her paper that was due for the internship and turned that in. She really only has to work 10 hrs/wk to fulfill the classwork, and she is working a 30 hr work week. So on Friday, I dropped off Cookie at our friends house, stopped in to say Hello to my mom, drop off her laundry and let her know we were going out of town. We stopped overnight in Fayatteville near Ft Bragg on the way down and arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday after picking up some groceries.

I guess Ellicott City made the weather news on Saturday July 30th

when a strong storm rolled through and dumped 7 inches of rain in 1hr. Old Town Ellicott City apparently was devastated. It sits at the top of a  river and the town dips down towards it, so half of the town was under water. Shops and restaurants ruined, cars washed down the road and crashed into store fronts. Some of the cars floated down into the river with drivers inside! Two people actually died.  And then the road buckled and collapsed. What a mess. In our neighborhood, there were spots with flooding along the roads to the point that some people had to be rescued from their cars along with power outages. Also flooded basements. Looks like our house sits up high enough and avoided the damage according to our neighbor who was watching the cat. But it sounds like a few sink holes are popped up. The neighborhood is already collecting donations to help out the town-cleaning supplies and funding to help anyone who lost their house as their are many people living over the shops, businesses and jobs in downtown EC. That little town sure has a history of big problems but I am certain it will make a comeback. We needed rain in Maryland, but not that much!

Meanwhile, we enjoyed our trip down South. It was a bit stormy Saturday night, but Sunday was clear and we all headed to church and the beach afterwards. The house sits just off the path down to the ocean at the North Side of the island so it is quick access. We also have our own pool which is nice for a quick dip or lazy float by the bar.  We took a break during the heat of the day to see the new Star Trek movie which we all really enjoyed. We also enjoyed the movie theatre reclining seats and free popcorn refills.  Sunday evening the whole family gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving! We had an incredible dinner thanks to Susan Potts planning skills. In the evening a few of us decided to take in an evening game of Putt Putt golf.


On Monday half of the family headed out for a deep sea fishing excursion on a large boat. It was primarily a boat ride as we did not catch anything but rocks on the reef below. But a beautiful day to be out on the water. Tom and the rest of the gang decided to visit Savannah, GA. They stopped into Paula Deen's restaurant for lunch and the kids gave everyone a historic walking tour while playing Pokemon Go!

On Tuesday our family enjoyed our bikes as we rode along the beach and then down to a local marina. We stopped off at World of Beer to sample their brews and enjoy a huge German pretzel and finished it off with an ice cream treat at Kilwins!  Allison and Scott were excited to see this Michigan favorite ice cream and fudge shop and enjoy their Superman Ice Cream. Meanwhile, Eric Seitz had to drop his wife Sarah off at the airport. She was busy job hunting back in Indiana for teaching positions and wanted to get started before the new school year began. Unfortunately she was stuck at the airport all day waiting for her flight. It was delayed in Charlotte due to local tstorms. At least she enjoyed extra vacation days as Eric and Sarah arrived in Hilton Head the week before. That evening, Allison, John Potts and I tried an evening kayak trip in the bay. This was John's first kayaking experience. I may have won him over.  We topped the night off with a firework show from the seat of our kayaks. What a wonderful, new experience! The weather was beautiful-cool and no bugs. The guide strapped a few glow sticks on the front of our kayaks to light our way. We just had to watch out for the bigger boats coming in to watch the fireworks in the marina as well. The rest of the family attempted to join us for the firework show, but it was difficult to find parking at the marina, so they went off to see the Ghostbusters movie instead.

On Weds, we planned an evening trip into Savannah to participate in a Ghost Pub Crawl to help Allison celebrate her 21st Bday. We spent the day shopping and beach combing. Late in the afternoon, we headed to Savannah for dinner in our favorite haunted pub, Moon River. We finally got to see the unfinished upstairs level(too haunted to open up to dinner guests) at the start of our tour. We missed the basement tour as it was closed for a private party. We all laughed nervously when the street lights outside the bar started flashing on and off as our guide spoke of the different souls haunting Moon River. Mark S decided to stay and enjoy their new outdoor Beer Garden while we wandered the streets of Savannah to visit 4 other bars. It was very hot and humid, even in the late evening. I was surprised at the number of Irish Bars in Savannah. One bar served over 75 different types of scotch, and the other bar was so tiny our group barely fit inside. Their specialty was whiskey with pickle juice shooters! Yuck! And of course, each place had a few ghosts. (Which we did not see). But we enjoyed the stories, the drinks and the tour. Scott was unable to join us as it was a 21 and over tour. He was actually not feeling well, so he stayed home in bed. Looks like he was catching a cold. Allison also was complaining that her allergies were kicking in down South. Too much something in the air.

On Thursday half of our fishing group decided to try our hand on a small boat. 6 of us headed out in the morning-Dad Seitz, Eric Seitz, myself, Allison and Scott and Susan P. We caught a few small tuna off the reef while trolling, and then headed in to the mouth of the bay for shark fishing. We were very excited to catch about 3 big sharks a piece, but they were not the right kind to eat so we had to throw them back. It was just fun reeling them in, although we stopped pulling the big ones into the boar(about 3ft long). ONe smacked Dad Seitz with his tail and gave him some good bruises on his legs. And they were very bitey! It was a beautiful morning and we all had a wonderful time out on the water with a terrific Captain. They even cleaned our fish and we spotted a few big dolphins near the pier begging for fish scraps. Later that day we planned on returning to Savannah to take Scott on a Haunted Walking Tour, but he was still not feeling well and we were all a bit too tired. We took Allison out to a Tiki Hut on the beach for some umbrella drinks and to do a little beach store shopping. Afterwards, it was an easy evening with dinner out at the Oyster Factory for the whole family, followed by a walk on the beach. Except I stepped into a huge hole up to my knee on the beach in the dark. I do not suggest doing this! I would rather have spotted a sea turtle like Mark! The turtle nests are all over the beach, but no hatchlings yet.

On Friday I spent the morning with Scott at the CVS Urgent care clinic. He had a fever, and he could no longer hear out of his ears. The cold medicine helped, but it looked like he was fighting an ear infection. We arrived early in the morning at the clinic, only to find several other people in front of us with ear infections. We decided to do some shopping before his appointment. Afterwards, we headed out with antibiotics and ear drops. I think I need to take stock in CVS Urgent Care! We then met up with a group to see the new Suicide Squad movie after lunch. Tom was able to download some free movie tickets. I thought the movie was fun and it included some cameos of Batman and the Flash along with all the bad guys. That evening we decided to try something new. A small group of us signed up for a 2.5 hr Jet Ski Boat tour, Craig Cats, in the bay. We had an evening ride, and all of us had an incredible time. The boats are 2 seaters, side by side. We didn't get too wet and we had a blast zipping around the waves and the bay. We spotted a few dolphins and stopped to rest to watch the sunset while sipping on a beer before heading in. What a fantastic new experience. Thank you to my newly skilled driver, Eric Seitz for taking the helm! Although he made me a little nervous around the turns. I was not in the mood to flip over, but they claim it is impossible to turn the boats(just nosedive into the waves). We had a great tour and even some time for free play. And we got to see where they filmed Forrest Gump for the water scenes and Vietnam. After our great boat ride we celebrated the evening with a pizza dinner.

We really enjoy the Seitz Family vacations and Hilton Head was a perfect place to visit. Looking forward to future trips together!