So Scott was happy to have a shorter week with Memorial Day off, but he was back to a full week of school afterwards. He was busy taking tests and finishing up projects and homework. He had one more full week of school left before finals. We took a small break to enjoy an end of the year robotics party at his school. We dragged Allison along for high school memories. Mainly we had the opportunity to pick up a new tshirt from the High School Robotics team for Scott. This year they just opted for cookies and punch rather than a dinner buffet(tight budget), And sadly they did not make it to state regionals this year.  Scott was really looking forward to the weekend and his annual White Water Rafting trip with the Boy Scouts. He got all his homework done early and was packed and ready to go when he got back from school on Friday.

Allison finished up her presentation with Tom's coworker and was asked to complete revisions. The instructor needed more detail rather than a power point presentation. Allison had an excellent dentist appointment, but needs to plan on getting her wisdom teeth out. Probably before school starts again in the fall. So Allison spent some time visiting with her neighborhood friends during the week and a visit with Tyler before packing up her Girl Scout trunk and heading up to camp early Saturday morning. She had a whole week of training scheduled.

I also had a dentist appointment scheduled. I took off work one morning during the week to finally have my final dental implant placed. I decided to schedule Mom Bozyk for an appointment the same day. She had a cavity that needed to be redone, along with a new crown. Mom took several hours of  dental work, but did a wonderful job. We have an extremely patient and excellent dentist that is very good with Mom B. And I was very pleased with my dental implant. It is very odd to have a permanent tooth in place after so many years of a temporary bridge. I also had my end of the year Girl Scout choir performance at a nursing home near the GS headquarters. I even got to sing a solo part! We were short on young girls, so I needed to stand in.  After our performance, we had a dinner buffet and meeting. I made a huge serving of chicken nuggets, and the girls all wanted to know what happened to my taquitos! Just can't win. That was ok, more chicken nugget leftovers for Scott.

He was just looking forward to the weekend and our trip to Ohiopyle for the White Water Rafting Trip.  Tom and I decided to join Scott for a visit to Pennsylvania but skipped the camping and rafting. The town of Ohiopyle is in the Laurel Highlands south of Pittsburgh. The area is beautiful, with the mountains and river, near Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water's House. Scott loves to paddle the river in his own inflatable kayak. Tom and I enjoy a bike ride along the trail running above the river. We dropped Scott off Friday night and helped him set up his tent. On Friday we had to drop off Cookie for her summer grooming and then to our neighbors for our weekend away. The scouts were up early Saturday morning and on the river by 8am. Tom and I headed to Uniontown and stayed in a Hilton Garden Inn hotel. We were up early Saturday for breakfast and then headed to town for our bike ride. Tom and I rode 10 miles round trip and called it quits. It was very busy in town and a beautiful weekend. We stopped for lunch and then headed back to our hotel. Tom was busy spending his extra time working on his schoolwork online. He had started a whole new class and was extra busy since this is a shorter semester. Scott was done kayaking and had a great time(only fell out a few times on purpose so he could swim in the river). I ended up driving back to Scott's camp with one of the other moms. Her son wasn't feeling well, and she needed to pick him up along with his camping stuff. She was also staying in a nearby hotel. Unfortunately for Scott, her son was scheduled to cook for the patrol, so we passed that job onto Scott. Scott was pretty worn out and ended up climbing into his tent by 7pm. Meanwhile, Tom and I went out to dinner and a movie. We decided to catch Tom Cruise's The Mummy. We enjoyed it and expect there will be several more in a series(if they make enough money off this one). We did not have many options for dinner, but we definitely did not want to visit the local bars being so close to Pittsburgh. There were a lot of Penguin fans in the area enjoying their attempt at the Stanley Cup(and it looked like they were going to get it!).

So on Sunday we packed up early and picked up Scott. We were home early in the afternoon. Just in time for us to pick up Cookie, for me to cut the grass, Scott to study for finals and Tom to pack his suitcase for a trip to San Diego.

Happy Father's Day! So Tom was in San Diego on business for his new position at Northrop during the week. He is already happier with his new post. And he got his homework done for the week, so he was ahead of his schedule. He returned from California late Thursday night. Before he left though, he got a call from Car Max. Tom was interested in a Buick Encore last year when he was car shopping, He ended up with the Ford Escape, which he enjoyed. But he really wanted the Buick. And Car Max found one for him. So he ran over and sold them back the Escape and picked up the Buick. It needed a new arm rest(the original was broken). So we dropped it off to the car dealer for the week. But they could not find a replacement part-only 1 available in the country and it is back ordered. Oh well.

Meanwhile, Allison was off to GS camp for a whole week of training. She continues with her archery certification and was very excited to complete the ropes course and given free reign. She was very happy to be visiting with all her old friends, including the girls from overseas as well as making some new friends. She even ran into our next door neighbor's daughter Sydney who is also working as a camp counselor for Girl Scouts for the first time. Fortunately, Allison has been made a Unit Leader, so she is looking forward to traveling with the older girls. They go on weekly trips to places like Ocean City and Assateague, Hershey Park and New York City. She can't wait.

Scott was finishing up his last week of school and finals. He had 3 half days of testing. He was done on Weds, and spent the afternoon finishing up his last on the road driving instructor class. He drove about 30 mins West to Frederick and practiced the on road driving test with his instructor. He should be able to schedule an appointment for his driving test in the coming months. As soon as he got home from his driving class, we were on the road to his end of the quarter Boy Scout Court of Honor. I did not have time to cook anything ahead of time, and neither did Scott. So we just brought along a bowl of taco dip. After the meeting I had time to eat and chit chat with other scout parents. I need to schedule our August scouting trip to Six Flags Amusement park along with a camp ground. Tom will be cooking for the adults on that trip. Probably our last one. Scott will be turning 18 in the fall this year and probably will not be as involved in the scouting program. Especially after he receives his Eagle rank. Right now he is waiting for the Boy Scout council to review his Eagle project and rank requirements. He is also waiting for recommendation letters from family, adult friends and teachers. He has to have 5 recommendation letters for his review. It certainly is a long, drawn out process to Eagle!

We decided to celebrate the end of Scott's Junior High School year with a trip to Ocean City. Well, Scott and I. Tom is not so much into the beach. I wanted to head down to the ocean to see the Blue Angels Air Show. When we visited Allison at school I noticed a flier that recommended attending the practice sessions on Friday afternoon-less crowds. Unfortunately, when Scott and I arrived at the beach, it was so overcast with sea mist, you could not see a thing. It was still hot, but a nice breeze was blowing. We found a parking structure right on the beach and paid extra for event parking. But it was so wonderful to just pick up our chairs and umbrella and walk a few feet to the sand. Parking is quite a premium on the beach!  And quite a few places were closed off for the event with tents and vendors. So Scott and I found a little board walk cafe and sat and had lunch. Scott tried the octopus tacos with mango salsa and decided they ruined them with the slimy fruit. But it was worth trying(I think). The waitress was quite fascinated with the whole experience. We mostly enjoyed sitting along the boardwalk, watching the people go by. They actually attempted a fly by, but you could not see anything. Just hear a loud noise. We laughed and said it was in stealth mode. That or Wonder Woman's invisible plane! It  looked like that was it for the day, so Scott and I packed up and headed to Allison's condo in Salisbury, about  a 30 min drive. Allison meanwhile had driven from GS camp to her condo and was waiting for us when we arrived. She took a shower, did her laundry and we jumped in the van to head out and catch the new Cars movie. The theater was packed, but we got good seats and food for Allison. We really enjoyed the 3rd movie in the series and went back to Allison's to crash for the night. We had the whole place to ourselves. One of Allison's roommates moved out and the other girl was off to the beach for the weekend with friends. Scott slept on the couch, and Allison and I bunked together. In the morning, Allison made us breakfast-pancakes. I picked up a few items at the local dollar store, we did some morning shopping and running errands(shopping for Father's Day) and then I decided to take one more shot at the air show. I was not looking forward to driving into Ocean City with all the expected crowds and traffic. But it turned out pretty well. We decided to head north up the beach to a hotel with an outdoor patio restaurant and bar, The Castle in the Sand. We lucked out and got free parking at the convention center across the street. We put up our umbrella and chairs and sat back to enjoy the show. They had already started with the parachuters when we were driving in, so we got a good view of that, along with an air show from the bi planes and sky writing. Someone proposed right in front of us.  On the beach we enjoyed the military planes and were so excited to have a few fly bys by the B2 bomber. That was Tom's first project at Northrop. It is quite a thing to see when that huge plane flies overhead. Very quiet, until it banks overhead. And very hard to see straight on-very stealthy! It is nice to see an air show at the beach since the view is so vast. Sadly, a big rain cloud was moving in quickly so they hurried the show along and brought out the Blue Angels. I am always amazed at their performance. And so loud! We got in the show just as the rain began to fall. We quickly packed up and headed home.

Sunday morning, Father's Day, we all got up early to send Allison off to camp. We stopped into Starbucks for a cup of coffee together. Allison was off to camp and we spent the day doing yardwork after dropping Scott off to work. The roller rink decided to open up on the non major holidays. After Scott got off,  I then picked up my mom and we brought her over for dinner. But not outside, it was just too hot. We gave Tom a cold coffee brewing pitcher to help him through the hot summer months of studying and writing papers.

Looks like I have some catching up to do!

So I ended up working Memorial Day. Turns out it was a very long day. My facility has had a complete turnover of administration, and they are asking the therapists to pick up extra patients by working with our residents, as well as trying to bring in more patients from various hospitals in the area. So I have been working long hours and extra days. One of our staff members was on vacation to Hawaii, so on top of everything we were short staffed. So it turns out I ended up working on Friday too, right after my morning exercise class. A very long week. I also attended a Boy Scout meeting on Memorial Day-parents meeting. I am getting ready to plan a Scout trip this summer to Six Flags with a camp out. Several years ago I planned a trip to Hershey Park. The boys chose the closer amusement park this year. This is a busy time of the year for scouting. Scott and I opted out of assisting with the Preakness Balloon Festival this year. My back was hurting that weekend, so I really did not think I would have been much help. The county holds an annual Balloon Festival each year in conjunction with the Preakness Horse Race in May. They moved the festival to the fairgrounds this year to accommodate more people. The scouts were going to be holding onto balloons that would give patrons a ride up. They were expecting 1000s of visitors this year. Turns out the weather was not the greatest, and if there is too much wind or rain, the balloons cannot fly. So I don't think they had quite as many visitors as expected. The festival runs from a Thursday to Saturday, morning and evening. Scott and I have volunteered both in the morning sessions and evening. I love the evening session the most when they light up the balloons just when it gets dark. I also loved that when we volunteered, we did not have to pay to get in or parking, and we got up close and personal with the balloons! Just not this year. My mom and I did enjoy watching the Preakness horse race that weekend with a surprise winner, Cloud Computing. No possibility for a Triple Crown winner this year though.

Allison finally came home on Memorial Day. She was able to help out with cooking, laundry and dishes, And Cookie loves Allison's company and walks during the day when Scott is at school and we are at work.  Allison also had a few projects to work on for herself. She made a dentist appointment, and then looked into summer employment. Unfortunately, all the offers for internships that Allison received were out of state, mostly in Virginia. Tom really did not want to pay for her to stay at a hotel, or rent another apartment just so she could work out of state. And most of the internships were in marketing or sales. Not exactly her interest. So she decided to contact the Girl Scout office again. They offered her a leadership position at summer camp, so she decided to take it. They wanted her to train as a lifeguard, but she opted out. She would have had to get to camp right away, and she still had some things to take care of while off work. They may be sending her out on some GS travel camps, so they need extra lifeguards, but not necessarily a must. At least Allison did not have to run around and get certified or have security clearance like the first time she applied for a counselor job. She was using her time off to organize a power point presentation for certification in Green Belt Management. She had attended a training program at Northrop that Tom helped facilitate in Management Training in the past.  Tom is a certified Black Belt and often hosts training programs for this type of management. Allison finished the class at Northrop about a year ago, and just had to put together a project afterwards. She completed a project in one of her classes and was busy organizing the data to present to one of Tom's coworkers. And she needed to get some shopping done for camp, as well as getting a hair cut. So she was a busy girl. Allison and I stopped into Walmart on Saturday while Scott was at work so we could pick up her supplies, as well as stock up on some more veggies and flowers for my garden. My new planter had arrived while we were in Salisbury and Scott assembled it on the back porch. I just wanted to fill it with lots of jalapeno pepper plants. I already planted my tomatoes out in the garden, and added a zucchini. And I just needed a few more flowers to fill my pots. So I should be done planting for the rest of the season. Now I have to start watering!

Allison took advantage of our beautiful weather by enjoying a bike ride with Tyler on Sunday. Afterwards, she was invited over to a cook out with his family. I had her bake some cupcakes to take along. Meanwhile, we decided to have my Mom over for our own cookout. Tom made some hamburgers and we enjoyed dinner out on the patio again after picking Scott up from work. My mom enjoys dinner at our house on the patio while listening to all the birds chirping, along with a few of our leftover spring peeper frogs. And now the cicadas. We had another bug explosion, but this one was 4 years early since it has been so warm. Cookie seems especially interested in the bugs, and actually ate 1 or 2! I was rather surprised!

We also enjoyed a night at the movies after Scott got off work on Saturday. Tom and I were looking forward to seeing Wonder Woman, but the kids were not as interested. So we split up and they saw Captain Underpants instead. They had read all the books when they were little, and found the movie to be very funny. And very short. They had to wait around for Tom and I since our Wonder Woman movie was 2.5 hrs long! I thought it was very good and did not notice how long the movie was since I enjoyed the story line so much.

Scott bought me a new planter for the deck for Mother's Day. Jalapenos here we come!

What an exciting week! This was our big trip to Salisbury to celebrate Allison's graduation from Salisbury University. We decided to take off work the day before Allison's graduation. Her ceremony was scheduled for Thursday, so we headed out to the eastern shore on Weds. Most of the nearby hotels were full when we made reservations, so we decided to stay about 1 hr north of Salisbury at Rehobeth Beach in Delaware. We figured we would enjoy the smaller beach town. Ocean City is closer, but very crowded. We decided to enjoy an early Memorial Day Weekend with Allison.

We arrived at Salisbury at lunch time and enjoyed a quick meal with Allison, shopping at the Salisbury book store, and a tour of the new library before packing her up and driving over to our hotel in Rehobeth Beach. Turns out the weather was quite a bit chilly and not terribly enjoyable for strolling along the beach. However, we did enjoy strolling through some of the many shops along the strand, but it was getting late and we were getting hungry again. We decided to try the Japanese restaurant next to our hotel. We loved our sushi and box plate dinners(little compartments with salads, chicken and dumplings). But the big, unexpected pleasure was the dessert. Normally we pass on dessert, but they brought out a tray of incredible cakes that fit each one of our tastes. Tom had a big piece of coconut lemon cake and Allison and I enjoyed a Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge cake. Plus I had to have a bowl of green tea ice cream to wash it down.  Turns out the desserts are brought in from a bakery in Philly. We need to find that bakery!  We were plenty tired and needed to get up early the next day. So Allison and I helped each out with manicures before we went to bed. Neither one of us had time for professional manicures, but I did spend a few hours at the salon the week before getting my hair cut and highlighted. Allison figured she was wearing a cap, so she was waiting on a hair cut.

Thursday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and drove back to Salisbury. Allison had to get dressed at her condo and we did too. Her ceremony was set for 2:30 in the afternoon at a large indoor concert arena near the campus. We got dressed and stopped into one of snack shops on campus for a quick sandwich before heading to the arena. Fortunately the weather was cooler, but we still packed some water bottles. There was no assigned seating, but we each had to have tickets. Since we didn't have any more guests to the ceremony, Allison was able to sell off her extra tickets and made quite a profit. The place was filled to capacity.  We found great seats near the stage, although Allison's row in the Business school was towards the back. And she was one of the last students across the stage to gather her diploma and get a photo shot. Besides the Business School, we had to sit through the Degrees in Fine Arts/Liberal Arts. Two hours later our Allison walked across the stage graduating with Honors. Thanks to those that logged in and watched the ceremony live!  Allison appreciated the support. It was a very nice ceremony and it was time to celebrate. Tom had made dinner reservations at Ruth Chris Steakhouse near Ocean City. Turns out the restaurant was located on a Golf Course. The actual restaurant was a converted horse stable that once housed Man O War and War Admiral-two very famous racehorses. We had a lovely table next to the window looking over the golf course and an incredible dinner. Allison's dessert was on the house. She opted for the chocolate lava cake after her steak dinner. We also enjoyed steak dinners and Tom and I shared a white chocolate bread pudding. And we brought in our own bottle of wine to celebrate the special occasion.(with no corking fee!). So dinner was incredible and we drove back to our hotel during a big rain storm.

On Friday, the day was chilly but sunny. It was still too cold to sit out at the beach, so we decided to visit a local State Park in Delaware on the coast. The park had been a Military compound used during WWII to locate German ships. They built about a dozen 75ft towers on the compound to spot German ships. Then they had a base camp and lots of large guns to shoot at the ships. They never had to shoot at any ships. We figured we would hike the park, but they had free bike rentals, so we rode around the park for 2 hrs, checking out the military compound and climbed the spiral steps in one of the towers. They also have a public beach and camping in the state park, along with sand dunes(and lots of black snakes! Yuk!). So we really enjoyed our morning out, and then headed back to Rehobeth beach to walk through a few more shops and have lunch overlooking the boardwalk at The Greene Turtle restaurant. Then we decided it was time to head home. We dropped Allison off to her condo as she was staying for the holiday weekend to celebrate with her friends and Tom and I got home early Friday evening.

Unfortunately, Scott was not able to join us on our mini vacation since he still had school. He is wrapping up the end of his school year with tests and projects. He managed to get himself to school and scouts on his bike. Plus he had dog watching duty. Our friends with their cavachon Ripley were going out of town for Memorial Day weekend and asked if we could puppy sit. Scott had his hands full with the cat and two dogs!  But he did a great job. On Friday night, before we got home he headed off with the Scout Troop to place American flags at the gravesites in the Military Cemetery. This was the Troops 30th anniversary of placing American flags at the cemetery. Scott had to work Saturday afternoon, but when he got home we both packed up the van for an overnight Boy Scout camping trip.

Each Memorial Day Weekend the Boy Scouts camp out overnight at the fairgrounds and help out with a Ham Radio/Technology garage sale held on Sunday morning. The boys help direct traffic and we clean up after the sale. We arrived in time to set up camp and sit down to dinner. We also had the unexpected pleasure of enjoying a High School jazz concert that was being held in the Fairground pavilion.  They had moved their concert from an outdoor venue in case of rain. Most importantly, Scott sat down in the evening with his Scoutmaster to complete his Eagle Conference. Stage II. The meeting takes 2 hrs and the Scoutmaster reviews the Eagle project and then tests the boys on their scout skills, asking questions about safety and first aid, even demonstrating knot tying. Scott passed! So now his application for Eagle is on to the way to the Eagle Board for review. We may get through this process yet! On Sunday morning we were up at 4am for breakfast and set up for the sale. The vendors start showing up around 5am and the actual sale starts at 8am. We were done by noon, but the vendors hung around until 2. The boys were excited to pick up a few treasures. Scott even bought himself a hand held video game! The Troop participates in this camping trip each year since they get paid for working and it gives the boys a chance to work on scout skills, like cooking. Again I was the only female on the trip. I always feel like a den Mom!

I was signed up to work on Memorial Day Monday, so we decided to celebrate our Holiday on Sunday. Tom put on some ribs in the crock pot in the morning and I picked up my Mom in the afternoon when we got back from camp. Allison was still at school enjoying her weekend at Ocean City with her friends. We had a lovely evening sitting out on our deck for dinner, listening to the backyard birds and frogs singing!

May is certainly flying by. Especially for Allison. She is wrapping up her finals-and her final semester of school to finish up her Bachelor's degree!  She had a long break in between finals, so she decided to come home for a visit. Turns out she needed to come home and shop for a new laptop computer. Her computer blew up on her! And she really needs one for school-so she came home Tuesday night after class and Tom and Allison had a day out on Weds.

She and Tom went computer shopping Weds afternoon, and then headed up to Hershey, PA to catch a hockey game. The Hershey Bears had one more chance to make it into the final Caldor Cup, but sadly they did not make it. Allison and Tom enjoyed their hockey game anyway and their day out together. Tom is still transitioning to his new work position and is in between online classes, so he has some extra time available.  Scott and I were home and off to the Boy Scout meeting. There are a few more activities coming up that Scott wants to participate in, like an overnight camping trip on Memorial Day weekend. He is also hoping to schedule his Eagle scoutmaster conference on that trip.

So on Thursday night we all went out to dinner in Old Ellicott City and enjoyed walking through the shops afterwards. It was Ladies Night, so they had some freebies in each of the shops. The town has not completely recovered from last years massive flood and there are still many closed stores. I was also disappointed that they ran out of Girls Night Out glasses at  The Wine Bin. But Allison and I enjoyed our wine tasting anyway, along with some really good chocolate cake!  On Friday, Allison headed back to school to prepare for a Pot Luck Frisbee party at her place. She had one more final to prepare for on Monday night.

We started our Memorial Day weekend celebration early. I would have loved to attend the Wine in the Woods event in Columbia MD. The event has grown considerably over the years-lots of wine tasting and bands, arts and craft booths, food booths-both Sat and Sun. But Tom is not really a fan of Maryland wines, which is all they serve. So instead we had my Mom over for dinner on Saturday night after picking Scott up from work. Tom grilled some wonderful, thick pork chops but we ate inside since it has been a bit chillier and rainy. Although that makes for good weather to get some yardwork done. And I was able to get my flowers and tomato plants in the ground. Then on Sunday we were invited to our friends house for dinner with a few other neighbors. Most of the kids are home from school, so it was fun hearing about their first year at college, summer plans or current activities. Our high school kids still have a few more weeks of school until summer break.

Allison still does not have any set summer plans for work. She did hear from a computer programming company who seem very interested in her, but the placement is in Virginia and quite the commute. If nothing else pops up, she may go back to Girl Scout camp as a Unit Leader. Scott's summer will be busy with Boy Scout camp and volunteering at Cub Scout camp. Also finishing up his driving classes and hopefully getting his license. Always busy. At least Scott had a day off on Friday. I think the teachers needed time to get in the grades for the Seniors who are graduating next week. However, Scott did have to work since school was out.

Before I had to drop Scott off to work, I had to take Pika our cat in for her yearly check up. Now at 17, I believe arthritis is creeping in on her making it hard for her to move around. Besides her pancreatitis and liquid medication, I need to give her injections 2x/week for the arthritis. Boy is that a whole new experience. But supposedly it works. I think I need it for myself!

Wishing our niece, Stacey a Very Happy Birthday!

This is the river that flows behind and below Old Ellicott City down to the main river. However, when the city flooded last year, it was the street that turned into a river. You can see why it is a bit risky to have a business there.

Happy Mother's Day! My boys treated me to a dinner out in downtown Baltimore. Tom made reservations at Morton's Steakhouse. They had a lobster tail/filet mignon combo special. Scott had never been to a ritzy restaurant before, so we guided him through a few different meal options. We started off with escargot, but Scott and I thought it just tasted like spinach pie since they served the snails on spinach and puff pastry. My wedge salad was so big, Scott and I shared it. And he tried a huge veal chop. So big we had to send it back to cook some more. Scott enjoyed nibbling on the bone! We all enjoyed our dinner so much, we were too stuffed for dessert. Instead we stopped in for milk shake on the way home.

I would have enjoyed bringing my Mom along, and I planned on taking her out. However, my schedule and mom's schedule did not seem to mesh. I had to drop Scott off to work on Mother's Day! The roller rink has always been closed that day. Not anymore. They want to increase their revenue. Not necessarily a good thing since Scott reports 2 people showed up to skate. I guess everyone figured they were closed. They did not do a good job advertising their new opening.  Anyhow, I did stop by to bring Mom some flowers after dropping off Scott. And we all went out to see Guardians of the Galaxy II before he went to work. We really enjoyed the movie, but it was not exactly on Mom's list of must sees! However, she had a very busy Sunday schedule at the residence with entertainment, BINGO and movie night. And Mom B was looking forward to the activities. Meanwhile, Tom spent the afternoon busy mowing the lawn.

It has been plenty warm enough lately to keep us busy with yardwork. I haven't bought all my outdoor flowers yet though. Just waiting for some steady, warm weather. I actually picked up a few tomato plants and had to put them in the garage since we had a freeze warning!  Crazy. Now that everything is busy growing, it will be time to do more trimming of the bushes too. Oh well. Scott was looking forward to putting in a garden again this year. So as a Mother's Day gift he offered to buy me a raised planter to grow our jalapeno peppers. We tried growing them in an old kid's swimming pool in the backyard, and mostly the bunnies ate the plants. So we thought we'd go a little higher. Just waiting for it to arrive!  The kids also bought me a sweet MOM charm on a gold chain. I am spoiled! Just wish Allison could have joined us. She was busy studying for an upcoming final. We had talked about visiting her on Mother's Day, but she had friends over for the early part of the weekend and a trip to the beach scheduled. Turns out we had rain all day Saturday, so she put off the beach trip to Sunday morning.

She was making the most of her last few days with her roommate, Jen. She graduated last December, and is planning on attending the Library Science program at Uof Maryland in the Fall. So she was packing up her things at the condo and heading home. Her parent's actually live right around the corner, so she is moving back in with them until she can find an apartment closer to school. So that meant most of the furniture and household items were going with her. Not to worry, we have plenty to share with Allison. She asked for our old kitchen table and recliner chair. Turns out, Jen's parents have a large van and were able to transport the furniture from our house to school on Saturday. So Friday night, Scott and I moved all the furniture to the garage so that Tom could help load it into the van when he came home from work. The furniture looks great in the condo, and she loves feeling like she is at home!

Unfortunately, my back did not survive furniture moving(on top of carrying Cookie around for a week after her surgery). Cookie was not supposed to be jumping on furniture, or walking up and down steps while her stitches healed. She is a good 25lbs, so I guess my back felt it along with lifting and carrying tables and chairs. I did me in.  I could barely walk over the weekend. And that being said, I was supposed to go to a church concert and out to dinner with a coworker and her friend on Saturday night. However, I spent the entire day on the couch with the heating pad

. I hope I can make it through work next week!

I was pretty busy the week before. I had a dentist appointment Thursday morning. Sadly, our dentist office closed, but they merged with an existing dental office in our neighborhood. So we had a husband/wife dental clinic, and the wife joined forces with another female dentist right around the corner. I met the new dentist, and she worked on my tooth. Our previous dentist only works 3 days/wk and this was her day off. I was impressed with the new dentist, but not their office. Very, very outdated. I used to tease about remembering spit bowls, and there they were! I did not think most dental clinics today still used those. It is like walking into a high tech store and seeing overhead projectors and tape cassette players(or electric typewriters!). Anyway, I was getting an impression made for my new dental implant. The new dentist was very patient with me since I cannot stand having goop shoved in my mouth-makes me gag. I also had to schedule some more upcoming appointments for myself, Scott, Tom  and my Mom. So we'll see how this works out.

A big shout out to Mark Seitz celebrating his May Birthday! ( I think he spent his special day painting at their new house. )Now if they can just sell their current house! My brother Dan is doing the same thing as Mark. He downsized with wife Sheila and is looking for a buyer for their previous house in Houston.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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