Here is the update on our Florida trip. Tom was attending PhD classes at the end of the month of October in Orlando. This was his opportunity to meet face to face with professors and choose a mentor for his thesis. He asked me to join him to squeeze in a Florida vacation since most of the trip was covered by work. We decided to fly to make the most of our time so Tom cashed in some points for my airfare. We left on Saturday morning to spend a few days with the Seitz family members before Tom's classes started Weds night. Scott was home on his own during the week, so I stocked the fridge Friday so he would not have to worry about running around at dinner time looking for food. Allison was home over the weekend before heading back to school on Monday to start her new semester. She is taking Management and Finance this semester. Turns out the Management class is with the same professor she had as an Undergrad, and actually looks like the same course syllabus!  Hopefully they will kick it up a notch!

We headed out to the airport on Saturday morning. We flew into Orlando, rented a car and drove down to Venice to spend a few days with Tom's parents. We had dinner at Carraba's and I started my customary vacation puzzle. On Sunday, after church and breakfast at Denny's, we stopped into the Veteran's cemetery in Sarasota. I was quite impressed with the place. It reminded me of  DC with sculptures and small monuments. It also included military photos and quotes from service men and women stemming from more recent wars back to the civil war with added photos from the Smithsonian archives. Tom's family members have military backgrounds and now plan to use the services.  Of course my trip wouldn't be complete without a stop into the Venice cemetery to visit Dad Bozyk's gravesite. I was surprised to see a new Chinese monument for a Karate Master nearby. Cemeteries are like museums, full of history. We also spent the day walking around downtown Venice at the Sun Festival with an afternoon visit to John and Susan's house. They lost their big tree in their backyard during Hurricane Irma, but now do not have to worry about any branches falling on their house. They also had hurricane shutters installed, so they won't need to ride any future storms out with the neighbors and can stay in their own place. And Susan has more room to grow her garden in the backyard.  We all went out to dinner at the local BBQ place and spent the evening visiting. I had planned on a trip to the beach with Susan and their dog Gus at the dog beach, but the jellyfish warning was up!  Not good for Gus or us if we were to get stung. As it is, Gus loves eating the lizards!

Instead, Tom and I enjoyed lunch at Pop's outdoor deck at the Nokomis beach on Monday while watching the boats and dolphins pass by in the canal. I talked Tom into letting me take a quick walk on Nokomis beach before heading out to Tampa. It was a beautiful day for a beach walk, and I had time to pick up a few shells and shark teeth. I also noticed that they built a snack bar at Nokomis beach-a great place for a fish taco and a beer. We then stopped by my Mom's house up the street. I wanted to get some photos of the place to see if there were any hurricane shutters and to see what type of damage occurred during the storm. I had heard from the property manager that is was minimal.  I got out to take some photos and was spotted by the renter, his friend and his son working in the yard. They were quite suspicious, but when I explained who I was they invited me into the house for a post hurricane update. I did not want to stop in and bother them without going through the property manager first, but I did not really plan on a visit. Just a drive by. I am glad I got out of the car though. The renter, Eddie, showed me damage to the sea wall from reoccurring flooding. We knew it was deteriorating, but now it is pulling away from the land. Looks like it will be a big expense to replace, but if not, there won't be any land left to own! Big decisions. Looks like the house survived the the hurricane. Minimal damage to the roof where a tree limb fell on the corner. Eddie cut up all of the plant debris including the neighbors and they paid to have it hauled away. I also see they are building a new house at the end of the street right on the bay. All new construction has to be built up for flood control which means a house on stilts basically with the garage underneath. 

So we had a great visit and it was time to head back towards Orlando. Tom and I decided to stop into Tampa for a quick visit to Busch Gardens. It started raining, and the park was not very crowded. Especially since it was only open until 5pm. We had a few hours though to take a ride on the safari train. We loved seeing all the animals, especially a 1 month old rhino! Then we walked through the safari and were surprised by two very young gorillas. Tom took time out to catch the newest roller coaster. I really was not in the mood to be flung all around, so I passed, but it looks really cool. It starts off with an elevator ride to the top, then the cars twist and turn and even go backwards on the course. Similar to a ride at Hershey Park. Tom just could not convince me to ride that nor the Cheetah Chase. And that was about the only rides open due to rain. No matter. We stopped into one of our favorite restaurants in Tampa afterwards, Gators, for some fish tacos and then to the hotel. 

On Tuesday Tom had to stop into Northrop to meet with some previous Maryland employees in Apopka, just north of Orlando Northrop acquired a Litton plant there many years ago. While he was meeting with the staff, he dropped me off at a local mall in Altamonte. I managed to entertain myself with a manicure/pedicure and lunch by the time he was done. After his meeting, he offered to take the guys out for beer, so we met up at World of Beer. We had a wonderful chat about life in Central Florida and surviving the hurricane. Seems that Florida is chock full of strange critters, including black bears, alligators, cranes, snakes, mice, rats, lizards and see -through frogs. Even Tom's Dad spotted a bobcat in the middle of the day in their community in Venice! And Susan and John can barely open their door without something making its way in their house! Everything grows well in Florida! We actually chatted for a few hours in the restaurant, into BINGO Happy Hour, so I tried my luck which was no luck. But we had a fun visit. 

We knew we had a busy day on Weds as we were meeting up with our neighbors Dan and Gloria to spend the day at Epcot. So we checked into our hotel. Dan and Gloria also traveled to Florida for the week to celebrate Gloria's new nurse manager position. They decided to take a quick vacation since it was going to be awhile until Gloria had any time off. She was happy though to find a new job a few miles down from the house in an out patient surgery clinic. And they were happy to join us for a quick vacation in Orlando! Tom's classes did not start until Weds night, so we decided to attend the Wine and Food Festival at Epcot during the day. We had a wonderful time sampling food and drinks from all over the world, as well as catching some rides. Things are always changing at the theme parks. They closed the Ellen Degeneres Energy ride with Bill Nye. But we rode Soarin, which is always full and we rarely get on. And we loved it-a video screen ride the size of an IMAX which makes you feel like you are flying over vast stretches of the world like an elephant herd in Africa or a German castle. Complete with smell o vision!  And we enjoyed a performance by Billy Ocean in the park(Carribbean Queen and Drive My Car from the 80s). This is a nice time of year to travel to Orlando since the kid population is down during the week and parks not quite as crowded. But busy enough. We still did not get to ride the new Frozen themed addition in Norway. 

    We pooped out by 830, and opted out of the fireworks show. Tom still had some online homework to complete before attending class on Thursday. We got up early so I could drop him off to his class down the street from our hotel. We had a suite, so we picked up some snacks the night before so Tom would not have to eat out during the course. Dan and Gloria were staying down the street, so they picked me up and we headed to Disney Hollywood Studios. They are doing an amazing amount of remodeling in the park and several old rides were gone, including the Race Car Stunt Show and the Back Lot tour as well as the Hollywood Movie History ride. But we enjoyed all the live shows including Beauty and the Beast , The Little Mermaid and The Indiana Jones stunt show. And I finally got on the Toy Story Video Arcade Game ride(it also is usually too full). And they are building Star Wars Land, to open in 2019, so there was a whole lot of Star Wars going on including shows and merchandise. We rode the Star Tours ride(one of my favorites) and also called it quits fairly early. We decided to opt out of the night time shows as well since we were all too tired from walking around the parks for 2 days straight. We even passed on getting together to watch the Ravens game for our usual Thursday night football since Tom did not get done until after 8pm and we were all too tired after ordering pizza in. Instead Tom and I  climbed into bed to watch the crazy Raven/Dolphin game with our quarterback out for a concussion! However they still beat the Dolphins. Plus, Dan and Gloria were headed back to Maryland early Friday morning. Their son was scheduled to take the GRE on Saturday in DC and Dan was driving him down. Alex is looking to attend the University of Delaware to study Environmental Policy after graduating this December in Political Science. 

So Friday I was on my own. No problem. I took a hotel shuttle over to Sea World since we have season passes. It was a bit clowdy in Orlando, and temps in the 70s, low 80s, but very nice after the humidity left. I arrived before the park opened and filled my day with rides and shows with lots of great sea creatures. I had a wonderful time even though I was all by myself!  Naturally I sent lots of  animal photos to the kids. 

Allison finished classes on Tuesday night and stayed a few days to participate in frisbee practice. She was also excited to see they finally fixed their toilet at her University condo!She headed home on Friday to spend the weekend with Scott. She also had to get another iron infusion-good timing since she wasn't feeling well during the week. On Saturday the two went off to Zoo Boo at the Maryland Zoo with our season passes. Tom was still in class, so I spent my Saturday at the hotel and the pool, even though it was overcast and in the 70s. It was nice to get a day to rest up, take a swim and finish my blog! After Tom got out of class in the evening, we headed over to catch the opening Hockey Game of the Solar Bears at the Amway Center where the Orlando Magic Basketball team plays. Once again, we opted for tickets on the Club level which turned out cheaper and better than any other seat in the house. Plus we had our own little table to sit and enjoy dinner and the game. A lot of fun, even though the Solar Bears did not win. We must not be picking the right teams! It was raining that evening, so it was nice to do something indoors. And we did not stay out too late since I had to be at the airport at 5am for a flight home.

It was wonderful having Allison home all week. She finished up her Accounting class and was excited to receive her grades-all As for each of the classes! A wonderful start to Grad school! She did not waste too much time and bought the books for the upcoming semester in Finance and Management starting the following week. But for now she was taking a break at our house. At least we have running toilets! She spent most of her time at school trying to get their toilet fixed, along with the air conditioning and their roof repaired before the rainy season.  And it did not make for the ideal study space since the workers that showed up made a lot of noise. And still did not get the toilet fixed! They had to replace the floor and the toilet seal since it has been leaking for quite some time.

At least at our house she could relax, visit with family and friends, and eat!  She and Scott went to see the My Little Pony movie on Weds night. Turns out they were the only ones in the movie theater!  And they had a great time. On Tuesday, Allison was invited downtown to the TransAmerica Building for a Girl Scout Distinguished Women reunion. Allison had spent the day in her Sr year of High School shadowing Jeannette Partlow who owns the Baltimore Chemical Company. Jeanette has become very close to Allison and also attended the event. They had time to catch up and enjoy the evening together along with many other women and a few other shadow girls. Allison enjoyed the catered event along with the presentation from the President of the Maryland GS chapter and especially loved seeing herself in most of the GS slide show! (Lots of photos from camp). And it was a great place to network.

Cookie also really enjoys having Allison home since she gets lots of walks during the week. I did have to take Cookie into the vet on Friday though to check her ears. I was treating her for an ear infection and decided to get her checked out to make sure it had cleared up since Tom and I were going out of town to Orlando. Looks like Cookie will need a few more weeks of treatment to make sure it is gone.

I was also enjoying putting Allison to work to help out with more Halloween decorations while I kept up with the yardwork including trimming bushes and raking leaves!  She is also such a help with the housework and cooking. And so is Scott!  He has a little more free time since he has his weekends free from work and is winding down with boy scouts since he will be aging out in November. I also put him to work cutting the grass every weekend!  And both kids helped clean up the house when we hosted Thursday night football with the neighbors. Scott was quite pleased to have Friday off for teacher inservice day

so he could spend the day catching up with homework, although he did have to go into work in the afternoon since the catholic school was still open.  I also spent my Friday running last minute errands-stocking the fridge for Scott, visiting my Mom and packing for our Orlando trip. We headed out on Saturday morning to the airport.

Looks like our neighbor Gloria finally got a new job managing an out patient surgical clinic near our house! And to celebrate, Gloria and Dan will be joining us in Orlando next week for a few days!

See you in Orlando!

Here is how we have been spending our time this past month of October!  We celebrated the High School Homecoming. Scott was getting in the spirit all week by dressing up. Each day had a different theme starting with  Pajama Day the week before. On Monday they celebrated America Day-aka Columbus Day. He had school, but the Catholic school was closed so he did not have to work. Scott borrowed Tom's American Flag polo and got lots of compliments along with his American flag socks. On Tuesday it was Movie Day and the Seniors chose "Saving Private Ryan". Scott rebelled and wore his Doctor Who jacket and Fess. With a sign that said "Saving Private Ryan". On Weds he had a Senior Skip Day! The 9th-11th graders were all taking the pre college entrance exam, the PSAT, so the Seniors got the day off! They expected the Seniors to use the day to visit colleges, work on college essays or complete doctor appointments. Scott took the day off to do all the homework assigned by his teachers since the kids were off for the day! And he certainly had a lot to do. At least he did not have to go to work.

However, he did have to go to school in the evening for the National Honor Society Induction ceremony for the incoming Juniors. He had to dress up, but the kids just sat in the back of the auditorium while the new students were called up to the stage. I joined Scott to help congratulate all the new incoming members. And on Tuesday after school Scott was at his NHS meeting. He is busy earning more volunteer hours by working after school at the snack bar during sporting events. So far he really enjoys it. Too bad there are not more open times to work. And his Engineering teacher did not realize the kids were missing school on Weds when he scheduled the National Tech. Honor Society meeting. So Scott did not miss much on that day. On Thursday the Spirit theme was The Future. Scott used the opportunity to wear his kilt and carry a Flat Worlder sign. (It is an internet thing-apparently a group of people still actually believe the earth is flat). And Friday was color day. So Scott wore his kilt again since the Seniors wore black-the exact color of his kilt. And he got a whole lot of compliments. Imagine that!  So he survived Spirit week, along with the Pep Rally and even participated in the Homecoming parade on Saturday morning.

Scott joined the robotic team in the parade through our neighborhood on his roller blades no less! The parade started at the kid's catholic elementary school down the street, winds throughout our neighborhood and ends at the high school. Scott built the parade robot back in 9th grade and outfitted it with a shooting arm and bucket that flings candy into the crowd. There did not seem to be as many robotic team members in the parade this year, but it was just as fun. Allison and I enjoyed the start of the parade with Cookie in tow. We were all dressed in our best Mt Hebron Vikings gear, including Cookie!  We decided to walk behind the parade, but we could not keep up. We were busy picking up extra candy along the way!  Scott roller bladed the whole route and then bladed home. Allison took me up to my car parked at the start of the parade route and then we picked up lunch, stopped into the bank and picked up some more supplies at Home Depot for yard work. We spent the rest of the afternoon raking leaves and putting up some Halloween decorations. Scott is going all out this year since it will probably be his last time at home for the holiday. I even let him buy a humongous pumpkin at the farm last weekend! It is sitting on our kitchen counter and is so big it blocks out the view to the television!

We didn't spend much time on the yardwork that day. Tom bought tickets for us to attend the Home opening Hockey game of the Hershey Bears. Our friend John joined our whole family and we headed up early in the afternoon. We really enjoyed the game and the company, even though they lost. They are celebrating their 80th Anniversary! And on Friday night the kids and I took a break and went to the Ninjago Lego movie. So far we like the Batman Lego movie the best. And Tom and I dropped in to our neighbors to catch the Thursday night Football game. Mainly it is our time to catch up-our friend Gloria is busy job hunting for another Nursing Manager job. She has been out of work since June and has a prospective interview at a local out patient surgery center near our house. Wishing her all the luck.

Tom and the kids spent the rest of the weekend working on homework . Tom finished up a short term class and was working on another. He decided to take the short term so he will not have a class during the Holidays. He is also busy working on a presentation for work and an upcoming trip to Orlando for his school program. Fortunately I will be joining him and looking forward to a fun and relaxing trip. Scott will have to stay home and hold down the fort with school and work. Allison will have to head back to school to start her 2nd semester of Grad school.

Allison was home to finish up her Accounting final. She had already completed two finals in Marketing and Information. The Accounting class ran into the semester break since they missed Labor Day and the professor gave the class a large assignment to research. It was based on an Auto Industry and Tom gave Allison some pointers on the budgeting. All her work was turned in online, so she did not have to attend the last day of class. She should get her grades in the upcoming week. Allison also came home early for another iron infusion. I had my yearly physical on Friday morning, and joined Allison for her appointment in the afternoon. She is really feeling so much better. I hope it is permanent! She has 2 more treatments and is still taking supplements and eating more iron enriched foods. She even thought about staying at school over the weekend so she could attend the Ocean City Ultimate Frisbee tournament. However, Allison said they spend most of their time drinking, so she passed on the event. She was hoping Salisbury would host a tournament, but currently it sounds like they cannot get enough teams to travel to their University.

On Sunday I attended a Girl Scout choir practice. I am interested in joining a newly formed accapella group. I forgot how hard choir can be when each group is singing a different part. I have not done that since high school. And we really don't have a choir director for this group, so I am winging it. And I need more practice. Better get the keyboard up and running. After choir practice I headed over to pick up Mom B for dinner. I had thrown some ribs in the crock pots since Allison was home and I wanted to make a big dinner. However, I was a bit late picking up Mom and she was already finishing up her meal at the apt. So I brought her home anyway to watch some football and have some dessert. She helped make an apple crisp the week before and it was still quite tasty. Especially since I added caramel and heated it up with a scoop of ice cream. And Mom missed out on tasting the pie the week before, so she finally got to enjoy all her hard work. The only thing I could not figure out was how she got a small, black eye! I am thinking she dropped something on herself while reaching for clothes on the top shelf of her closet. She has a tendency to move things around. Either that or she was working out with Rocky Balboa!  Looks like she will survive.

Last weekend Salisbury U celebrated their Homecoming. In the past our family has spent the entire weekend with Allison at school for the many Homecoming activities scheduled starting Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. However, this year there appeared to be a lot less activities scheduled. In the past we have enjoyed free BBQ lunch with lots of activities, parades, free tshirts, free shows, special dinners, ice cream socials and some activities that we just could not squeeze into our already tight schedule including kayak adventures. And then there is always football. But this year they scaled down the activities. So we just opted for visiting Allison and Salisbury on Saturday to enjoy the alumni BBQ with beer and pulled pork sandwiches, as well as the football game. Although we did get some free stuff including Salisbury beer glasses, car magnets and luggage tags at the alumni tent! And we enjoyed the winning Salisbury football game in the new stadium! Plus, it was quite a nail biter game on Saturday night. We listened to the MSU/Uof M game from Ann Arbor on the radio on our ride back home. MSU pulled off the win which was quite a surprise! Works for us. And Tom has started back with his weekly football games with the guys, except they switched to Thursday. And to make things really interesting, we wives have been included(and we make snacks). Although I haven't been too interested in the NFL games recently. For one thing, most of our favorite teams are doing terrible this year. The Ravens game from London was a complete embarrassment. And for another, I don't appreciate the players taking a knee during the National Anthem. Enough said.

After our very entertaining Salisbury football game,  we took Allison to the movies to see the new Blade Runner movie. She had never seen the 1st movie, but was able to figure out the scheme of the sequel. Again, Tom and I enjoyed the first run movie, but I thought the sequel worked. And always nice to see Harrison Ford. We then had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and made a quick stop into Lowes to have some door keys made for Allison's roommate. All in all a very busy, productive day.  And very warm. We actually had to put on suntan lotion to avoid getting burned while sitting in the stands watching the football game. Overall a very nice day out with Allison.

And she seems to be feeling better with the latest infusion. She has had more energy for the past week and even went out Thursday night and practiced ultimate frisbee for 3 hrs! I am so happy to hear she is finally starting to feel better. She also continues to eat her meat and I keep looking for other optional snacks full of iron besides her supplements. I went crazy at Trader Joes on the pumpkin items, especially the ones with iron supplements. Both kids really enjoyed the special treats. Allison has another treatment scheduled the following week and will be coming home which also happens to be the end of her first semester!  She is doing very well. Now if only her new roommate would work out as well. Cayley seems to be making herself at home in the condo-she moved the Alexa computer up to her room(she really likes it), she helped herself to Allison's toothpaste and bath towel, but worse, she threw out the rest of Allison's movie popcorn! Good thing this is just for 1 more year. Allison and her old roommate Jen are really missing each other. And currently the girls are all fighting the landlord to get some repairs completed. They have been without a downstairs toilet for months. Looks like it is leaking into the bathroom floor. Tom finally had to write a certified letter before they could get anyone out to look at the problem. They just now showed up to pull the toilet, but the floor needs replaced before changing the wax ring. And they still have a leaky roof, not to mention the AC died!  And the washing machine was leaking(or Cayley just does not know how to do laundry). We finally met her this weekend-a nice enough girl studying Exercise Physiology, but she needs to work on her people skills). Abby is the part time renter who is staying until Helena comes back from France in January. But she is not a problem and not usually there.  On top of everything, a new group of boys moved into the condo next door and seem to really enjoy partying-starting on Thursday nights. With loud music and people spilling out into the parking lot and lawn, plus drinking(underage), it makes for a difficult time for Allison to get any work done. Another reason she is enjoying coming home on the weekends as needed. At least the two groups are trying to work things out, especially since the police do show up.

We left Allison to her studies on Saturday night and headed back home. Tom spent most of Sunday finishing up his last paper for this term. He took a break on Sunday morning to take Scott out car hunting. We decided Scott will definitely need a new vehicle when/if he goes off to Western Michigan for school next year. And it wouldn't hurt to have a new car now-Zippy the wonder car is not exactly built for rain and snow. And he needs his car to get to school and work right now. So far, Scott really enjoyed driving a Jeep. In the afternoon, I stole Scott to go apple picking with Grandma B. The weather was a bit drizzly, so I figured the orchards would be less packed at our favorite Pick Your Own Farm. Surprisingly there were still quite a few families out with kids in their rain boots. But we managed to pick a few bags of Stayman and Winesap apples(the Winesap are wonderful!).  When we got home, I had Grandma B peel and slice the apples for an apple crisp. Delicious. After a spaghetti dinner, it was a great treat. And I think I wore out Grandma!

Scott also stayed busy with his last Boy Scout Court of Honor ceremony. The boys are recognized for their recent accomplishments including obtaining badges or rank advancement. Scott's Eagle level was announced, but he does not receive his official medal until after his Eagle ceremony. We have been trying to schedule the event at Northrop's Electronic museum, however, we have not had much luck. This is just a very busy time of the year and there are a ton of events going on. Currently the boy scouts are preparing to attend the Weebelos O Ree camping trip in order to introduce upcoming cub scouts to the boy scout program. Scott has attended in the past, but probably will not be going this year as he winds down his scouting career. But we still attended the Court of Honor and the boys scarfed down 64 taquitos that I brought along with a ton of other goodies. And Tom and I were recognized for our help with the Six Flags Amusement park outing. I as happy to finally get reimbursed for the tickets! And Scott kicked off the beginning of his Homecoming week with pajama day at school. So nice to wear your jammies to school on a Friday.

Another busy weekend in the Seitz household. Scott requested to participate in one of his last Boy Scout outings, mainly because he enjoys it so much. Caving. The troop decided to go caving this fall at a previous visited location in Ohiopyle PA, near the rafting town. Scott has toured the cave several times, but it has been a few years. When he was very young, he walked through the cave. As he got older, he was able to crawl through the cave which he really enjoys. However, he was not interested in the camping part of the trip. So we drove up on Friday night-a 3 hr drive to western MD after Scott got off work.  We stayed at a hotel overnight and after a great breakfast, headed to the cave. Scott joined his Troop and had a wonderful time crawling through small, dark and wet spaces. He really enjoyed hanging back a bit when they turned the lights out! Rather dark and quiet! So we learned that they shut down the cave tours in the winter to allow the bats time to hibernate undisturbed. Cool.

Tom and I have toured the cave several times, so we decided to go biking instead. This is the same bike path we have been on in the spring when Scott was rafting, but we decided to head up the other side of the bike path. And we were glad we did. The eastern bike path runs right along the river, so you have a great view the entire trip. Tom and I biked about 8 miles before heading back to pick up Scott. He had crawled through the cave and then changed his clothes before we headed to town for lunch and then driving home. It was a very relaxing and fun weekend.

And Scott had quite a busy week before that while fighting a cold. He joined his friends for the traditional Sr Crab Feast at his high school on Tuesday night. Scott was able to put away quite a few crabs, but he especially enjoyed the mac and cheese and crab dip he mixed together. Then on Weds after school he volunteered for the National Honor Society at the indoor snack shop during a Girls Volleyball game. His work at the grill in the roller rink certainly came in handy. He was able to orient the adults that joined him on how to operate the cash register and prepare and serve the snacks. So he managed to get a few hours in and is happy to sign up for future time slots. He already fulfilled half of his required NHS hours this summer when he volunteered at the Cub Scout Day camp.

And he was quite busy with classes last week as he took both a Physics and Math test, on top of writing up reports on his Sr Engineering project, the raised Handicapped Flower Beds. Tom has also been busy with writing papers for his latest class. He only has a few more weeks to go with this class, then another 6 wk course and then he will take a break until January. Allison is also busy with her Grad classes and right in the middle of midterms! She had a little set back however when she spent 2 hrs on the computer in the lab at school typing up her midterm for marketing, only to find out that it did not save! Needless to say she was a bit upset. Fortunately she has a really great professor who let Allison retake the test online from home-orally and face to face. So Allison headed home Weds so she could log on at home Thursday morning and take her test orally. And she got an A!  So maybe it was a blessing in disguise!  Allison had already planned on coming home over the weekend for another iron insfusion on Friday, as well as an Ultimate frisbee tournament on Saturday at nearby UMBC. I joined her for her doctor's appointment. This treatment seemed to go very well, and Allison even had enough energy to play one of her frisbee games on Saturday. And she assisted in scoring a point, and they won the game(1 out of 3 wins ain't bad!). Right now the girls on the team look to Allison as their coach since she is one of the older girls now and wasn't playing as much. Most of the team is made up of freshman new to the game.  Allison's previous roommate Jen and her boyfriend also stopped by to catch the games. Jen is currently attending school for a career as a librarian at Uof Maryland and she lives at home in our neighborhood. So Allison and Jen keep in touch online mostly-even helping each other out with assignments just like when they lived together at Salisbury!  We were also glad Allison was home to keep an eye on Cookie and Pika for us while we went on the caving trip.

I did get Tom to take a break during the week and we went out for the $5 movie night on Tuesday at AMC. We had wanted to see the new Kingsman movie. We had seen the first one-a bit of a spoof on the British Spy movies like James Bond. The Kingsman are an elite undercover Secret Service organization. In this sequel, they have to team up with the American version of the organization, the Statesman, to save the world. I was surprised when the ticket desk charged us $10 each for the seats. Apparently the movie was being played only in their Dolby theater which usually runs around $17 per seat. Turns out it is the very loud theater with recliner seats that vibrate when there is a big explosion, crash, etc in the movie. Tom and I could have done without the special effects thank you. We just wanted to watch the movie. Oh well, now we know. And actually I think Tom and I enjoyed the first movie better, but maybe because it was so different. However, they did have two very cute puppies in the movie-worth the $10 seats!

On Sunday Scott and I were busy doing yardwork. Scott cut the lawn while I trimmed some shrubs and transplanted a few large bushes. I was hoping we would get some rain soon to soften up the ground. We have had a rather warm beginning to Fall and very dry too. I also spread some grass seed under our big trees where it is rather sparse. But now I have a lot of watering to do since we have not had much rain. Plus I started putting in my fall flowers and they need lots of water too. Scott can't wait to start decorating for Halloween!  After I spent the afternoon working in the yard, I finished my grocery shopping and headed over to pick up Mom B for dinner at our house. As soon as I arrived, the staff informed me that Mom was not feeling well and had been ill before going down to dinner. So we tucked her in bed with some ginger ale and will keep an eye on her during the week. Looks like it is going to be a nasty flu season.

Happy First Weekend of Fall!  This is the busiest time of the year!  Scott had a short school week as they closed 2 days for the Jewish holiday on Thursday and Friday. We decided to spend the time off with a trip to Busch Gardens for the kick off of the Howl O Scream event. We would have left early, on Friday when Scott was out of school, but the Halloween opening did not start until Saturday night.  Scott and Tom were still busy with school work anyway. Scott started working on his Senior Engineering project. He is revamping his handicap accessible planters and has many reports to write up before the actual build. Tom is deep into this semester with another accelerated course, hoping to be done before Thanksgiving and planning on taking a break until the start of the new year.

Scott still had Boy Scouts during the week along with work at the After Care program. And the Catholic schools did not have the 2 day holiday, so Scott decided to go into work during the Before Care hours. He figured he is used to getting up early anyway, and they pay more per hour for the Before Care program. Plus it is a lot more laid back than the After Care program. The school staff was very pleased to have him since they seem to run short of help. I also heard from another previous parent of the Catholic school that the staff there are so excited about having Scott working. They are very impressed to see how Scott has matured, hard working and responsible. He is a work in progress! He also spent last weekend house and dog sitting again for our neighbors where he sleeps overnight in the basement with Eli. She does not like tstorms. Although it has been extremely dry here, and quite warm.

Besides school work and his job, I squeezed in a trip to Comic Con with Scott on Friday. The event ran all weekend, but we were planning our trip to Busch Gardens and did not think we would be back in time on Sunday to attend. Tom was busy with homework, so Scott and I headed off to downtown Baltimore on Friday afternoon to wander the aisles full of comic books and characters. We love to see all the costumes and paraphernalia from Super Heroes to Science Fiction. Even Linda Carter, television icons Wonder Woman attended the conference on Friday night. Tickets sold out immediately, but Scott and I would have been too tired to attend after walking around for several hours. Turns out Linda lives in Montgomery County, MD with her lawyer husband. She has spent her post television years following a music career and actually sang during her Comic Con show. They also had the young actor David who plays young Batman on tv's Gotham along with the actor that plays Alfred. Plus the actor that plays Colossus from the Dead Pool movie(although the kids tell me he is mostly computer generated imagery/CGI). He was there signing autographs on Friday afternoon, but Scott and I did not feel like standing in line for that. We did not even dress up this year, but both sported our favorite character tshirts.  Unfortunately, the event seemed a bit smaller than past years as we did not see some of our previous frequently visited booths. But we still had a good time together.

On Saturday morning we packed up, dropped Cookie off at our friend's house and headed to Salisbury to pick up Allison at school. Unfortunately she was not feeling well. She decided to join us anyway-better to spend time with family than alone when you are feeling ill. However, the Park turned out to be a bit too much for Allison. It was opening day and it turned out to be extremely busy. In the past, the opening weekend, so far from Halloween night, is usually not as crowded. But not this time. We arrived before the evening Haunted Houses opened and enjoyed our favorite Halloween show. That was enough for Allison. She and Tom camped out in the Octoberfest Haus, enjoying a Halloween musical while Allison sampled German meatballs. She had enough just walking around the crowded park, looking at the decorations and scary characters. She was just not up to standing in long lines waiting to get into the spooky mazes. So Tom and Allison headed back to the hotel while Scott and I ate dinner and then made our way through 4 out of 7 of the trails before Tom picked us up. We loved getting into the Halloween spirit. Just wished Allison was up for more activity. On Sunday morning we had breakfast and packed up for our drive back to Salisbury. We took Allison out to lunch and then shopping for lots of iron enriched meat!  She certainly does a lot better when she has eaten and fills up on an iron enriched meal. She is due for another transfusion next weekend. We left her to her studies as Midterms were coming up next week. And by Sunday afternoon, she was feeling a bit better although tired.

We were all pretty tired as we made our way back home with a quick stopover at the Outlet stores. Since we returned home rather late in the evening, I did not have time to visit with my Mom or even get the yard work done. We did pick up Cookie from our friend's house on the way home. And we did have time  to sit at the computer and fill out Scott's college application to Western Michigan. His ACT scores came through and were more than enough for entry into the school and to get him into the Pre Calc Engineering classes. We only had to fill out the online application, and now are waiting for his High School transcript to be emailed from his counselor. They already have his college test scores. Now we wait.  It was an activity packed weekend for sure!

Before we left I also took time to get my van into the dealership for an oil change and to sign up for a recall repair on my sliding doors. I was able to borrow Scott's car while mine was in the shop to get to work since he was off school. Unfortunately, my van radio is also deteriorating but Tom would rather me buy a new car than replace it. I just don't want to give up my van yet. It is comfortable for me to drive and hauls a lot of stuff!  Tom did change my brakes to save some money. He also had to repair the outside water faucet. I walked to the front door and heard water running-a big leak from a deteriorated washer. Glad I caught it. We did not need a flooded basement!

  

Allison was able to join us this weekend in mid September. She asked for an early Christmas present this year. She really enjoys a favorite Utube show, "Brave Wilderness' starring Coyote Peterson. He's a self made adventurer, Nathaniel "Coyote" Peterson from Cleveland Ohio who makes nature videos, focusing primarily on reptiles and insects. He attended Ohio State University as a Video Production major. And he has made quite a name for himself with his Utube videos by allowing all sorts of nasty, stinging insects to bite him. Then you get to see how awful the reaction can be, how painful it is and what to do to avoid a trip to the hospital(or death). Well, he decided to take his show on the road and he was in town at the Lincoln Theatre in DC.

Allison really wanted to hear him talk, along with his crew. We had seen him as a guest visitor on the tonight show with some interesting creatures, so we thought it would be a fun outing. And he had written a book and Allison was looking forward to buying a copy and getting an autograph. I was rather intrigued with visiting the Lincoln Theater since I had never heard of it. To celebrate our outing, Allison had tshirts made up with the show's title, Brave Wilderness, Coyote Pack Member on the front. I bought tickets on line and we were all set. We headed out early enough on Saturday afternoon in order to find parking and get some dinner. We did not have any trouble driving into the western side of DC, and found a great parking structure nearby for a reasonable price. Especially for DC parking. We were actually near Georgetown, an area I had never really visited before. Lots of apts, big homes and shops and restaurants. We walked up 'U' street and passed the theater. A line had already started around 5:30pm out the front door. I noticed that 'Ben's Chili Bowl' restaurant was right next door. This place has been covered on Food Network and is a DC landmark. Everyone famous has eaten at the Chili Bowl, including past Presidents, so of course we had to do the same! Allison was not sure she could handle the chili, but a burger worked. I had to try the chili dog. While standing in the line waiting to place our order, someone tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I recognized her. It was our California friends, Debbie and Richard's daughter Alyssa from Johns Hopkins University! We had just had dinner together two weeks before and here she was in DC, standing behind me in the line in the restaurant! What are the odds! She immediately texted her mom and dad in LA. She was touring a friend from Pasadena, CA who was in DC on a work trip and they had visited the Smithsonian museums and Newseum and now were trying out the famous restaurant, just like us! We all sat down and had a quick dinner together and chatted about California and Maryland, and then Allison and I were off to our show.

The Lincoln Theater is not huge-built in the 1920s for famous Jazz players like Dizzy Gillespie. We had great seats on the main floor and were able to catch all the action. Coyote basically covered highlights of his career as written in his book with lots of film clips. We would have loved if he had more creatures with him on the show, but he did freak everyone out with a tarantula. He spoke with his crew for about 1.5 hrs and took questions from the audience, and then we mobbed the very small lobby for autographs. Unfortunately, Allison and I were herded up the stairs into a long line where it was very warm in the balcony. Allison was still not feeling great and I did not want her standing there for an hour or more in the heat, so we decided to wait it out seated in the much cooler lobby. Especially since we ended up last in line. That was actually very pleasant. We watched all the fans file past-mostly parents with young kids. And Allison got autographs from the crew members first-the Marketing guy loved her tshirt design and asked for a selfie. Then we got her autograph from Coyote. I told him I couldn't bear to watch him get stung all the time, and he agreed that this phase was coming to an end. Allison was just disappointed that she did not find a Golden Ticket in her book for a free trip to one of his tapings. Overall it was a very fun experience for both of us, and now Allison has a nature book she wants to read rather than her Accounting book!


The week before we had Mom B over for Usinger Wisconsin chili dogs for dinner. This week we celebrated Mom B's 82nd Birthday on Sunday. Happy Birthday Mom! Tom made an incredible Prime Rib roast on the grill, and we celebrated with cheesecake and presents afterwards. Mom B has been in Maryland and at the Sunrise facility now for 3 years. Dad B passed 2 years ago on Sept 12. Time definitely flies!  We were happy to have Allison home to help celebrate Mom's Bday, although she was also busy studying and working on group projects online. She was busy preparing for Midterms. Already!  Since it is an accelerated program she will be done with this semester in Mid October. She had to head back to school Monday morning.

We also had another wonderful celebration during the week. Scott was finally scheduled for his Eagle Board of Review with the BSA representative. We have been waiting for quite some time to schedule with the new representative from the BSA as he settled into his new position. Usually we hold the interview during the weekly scout meeting at our church, but this board member could only meet Tuesday nights at his school since he was supervising adult ed programs at a local high school at the same time as Scott's board review. No matter, we managed to get a few adult volunteers to sit in on the interview and Scott walked away with his Eagle rank. Not only that, but they have a new system in place where usually you have to wait 3 months to earn extra rank levels known as Palms. Now you can earn the palms without putting in the extra time. You just need more badges than the required amount for Eagle which Scott already had. So he also earned his Bronze and Silver palms with 43 badges. Silver is actually the highest level Palm Award in Boy Scouts.  Since he turns 18 this November, it looks like he will be done with the scout program. We still have a few outings to participate in like a Caving weekend and probably his Eagle celebration.  Way to Go Scott!

There was another reason Allison scheduled a weekend at home. She had been emailing her doctor about her anemia/iron deficiency and they both decided to try the iron infusions. Allison has just been struggling to catch up with her diet richer in iron, but just not enough it seems. She keeps experiencing episodes of exhaustion, and it is just too frustrating while she is in Grad school. So she came home Friday for an infusion. I went with her in case she had an allergic reaction, which apparently can happen to some people. Overall though it seemed to go well and she was feeling better right away. She actually has 4 more treatments to go, every other week. So she will be traveling home a bit more.

I also spent Friday morning at the doctor office with my mom. She had her yearly cardiac appointment and so far everything looks good! After mom's appointment, we enjoyed lunch out at Whole Foods. Our Columbia Whole Foods grocery store has a small cafe in the back with tables looking over a small lake. We actually sat indoors overlooking the lake and enjoyed watching all the people on their lunch break, as well as the ducks! We both had a big slice of pizza and sadly were too full for the cookie bar! On Sunday before dinner, I took Mom B over to our nearby Robinson Nature Center where Allison completed her Girl Scout Gold Award project. They had an Anniversary Open House with lots of nature displays and a band, food and the planetarium shows-all for free. We stopped in late in the afternoon, mainly so I could check out the condition of Allison's projects. She had mounted bird carvings along the nature trail for a Kindergarten aged trail education. Looks like her birds have held up well over the past 4 years. And Mom and I enjoyed the planetarium show on the Earth, Moon and Stars, along with a walk about the Nature Center and grounds before heading home for the Birthday dinner.