July 1-July 18th, 2021

  Another start to a new month and lots of celebrating! The 4th of July Holiday was on a Sunday this year, although Monday was the federal holiday. Tom and Allison had the day off. My new contract company does not pay for holidays and does not give those days off. So all of our work group was in on Monday. Naturally, all of the supervisors were off work. And Scott got the day off from Home Depot. 

Instead I decided to have neighbors over for a BBQ dinner on Sunday afternoon. We decided to go easy and make burgers and dogs, but Tom added chili to the mix in the crock pot. And naturally we had fruit salad and tomato/basil/mozzarella slices with balsamic vinegarette. The neighbors brought appetizers and dessert as well as chicken wings. I decided to make a Key Lime Pie(taste of Hilton Head) although I spotted some delicious looking Key Lime Pies at Sams Club and was tempted to buy one of theirs. However, my coworker told me how simple they are to make(they are!) with just a few ingredients which I had already purchased. So homemade Key Lime Pie which was a big hit and brownies. I also tried a new box brownie dessert with graham cracker crumb base. I made them in a cupcake pan but was not too crazy about how they turned out-rather like hockey pucks! A bit overcooked. Turns out the kids loved them, and they seemed to soften over a few days and got better. Who knew. They were topped with caramel frosting, mini M and M's and small pretzels. Not sure I will make those again, or maybe will try it in a baking pan instead next time. Anyway, we had plenty of terrific food. Scott is a great help at the grill! Allison came over early too and helped set up. I thought we'd all be eating outside, but again it was a bit too toasty. Most of us sat inside and the "kids" ate outside. We invited Gabe over as well. We haven't seen him in awhile and he brought Tom a 50 yr old bottle of brandy from his grandparents house in Portugal. Tom decided to crack it open and toast Gabe's grandparents. Very smooth! Since our dinner was late Sunday afternoon, most everyone headed home early. Allison, Scott and Gabe played some video games and when it got dark we shot off some fireworks in the driveway that Allison had bought at a local pop up tent. Turns out the next door neighbors were having a block party and they shot off some really big fireworks to cap off the night. Most places had cancelled their large fireworks displays including Baltimore City. We just did not feel like tackling the traffic at the local fireworks displays that evening. Instead we packed up some leftover food for Allison and Gabe to take home and called it a night. I was really hoping our local Baltimore Symphony Orchestra would hold their annual concert and fireworks show but they remained virtual and televised a concert instead with no fireworks. I just can't get into watching fireworks shows on tv. 

We also did not have time to get down to Busch Gardens. They are having fireworks for the entire month of July, every night! I had to work on Saturday, July 3rd so my time is very limited.  Plus on Friday, July 2nd, we had some neighbors over to watch a Stanley Cup game. Tom and I ran into our neighbor Phil when we were out walking Cookie. He wanted to come over for the 4th, or have us over, but we already had enough people scheduled at our house for dinner. Instead, he came over with his daughter Hannah who is currently in grad school in PA for Physical Therapy. Phil is currently separated from his wife Carol and I am sure needing some company. Hannah is usually away at school and their son Jack is working for Phil's construction business as well as at a Natural Foods store. Jack is a few years younger as Scott. He was not as successful during his first year at Salisbury U and had to come home due to drug issues. So now he is working and living at home. Phil is originally from Traverse City, MI and is considering a move back to the mitten. It was nice catching up with him and talking therapy with Hannah. They ended up staying very late-way after the game was over. And Scott and I had to get up for work the next day. 

 The following weekend, July 10th and 11th we were very busy as well. I decided to help celebrate Allison's birthday on Sunday. She wanted to participate in her Dungeons and Dragon group on Sunday evening, so we opted for a luncheon. I wanted to meet at her place and have her invite Gabe. Turns out she invited a few more friends as well as the girls were visiting from out of town. Her friend Sophia recently graduated with a Masters in Opera from New York and is living with her fiance in New Jersey. He is a substitute teacher, full time and she is going to take on some part time work as a concierge in a Sr center as well as teach voice lessons until they get married next fall. Then they plan on moving to Germany so she can perform in operas(apparently they are more appreciated in Europe than in the United States). So Sophia was passing through after visiting with her parents. I decided it would be fun to make all the food, including a cake. We thought kabobs would be easiest. I made some tasty chicken kabobs and we cooked them on our grill before taking the food to Allison's apt. Sadly my shrimp kabobs did not turn out well-too mushy. And I was hoping my new cake recipe for blueberry lemon cake would be light and fluffy for a summer dessert with cream cheese frosting. Instead the cake was very dense, like a pound cake but not terribly moist or sweet. So that recipe went in the garbage! Even still, the cake disappeared! I knew I should have bought one of the mango cakes from Whole Foods that I tried recently for my bosses birthday. That was incredibly delicious! Maybe next time. We also had rice and tomato/cucumber salad to go with, so a very light lunch. And we opened Allison's presents. I bought her some work out clothes, especially shorts and a few dress shirts for work since she is back in the office and working out in the apartment gym. She also will be starting Ultimate frisbee again, so Tom made sure she had the perfect tshirt. And since it is summer, I picked her up a set of chairs and small table for her patio, as well as a very comfortable camping folding chair. And Tom bought her an inflatable double kayak(inspired by our niece Stacey), so Allison and Gabe can go paddling together. Thank you Amazon Prime Days! Plus we set her up with a Disney gift card since she and Scott are planning a trip to Orlando in the fall. I'd say she had a very successful Birthday celebration. After our lunch, Gabe headed home to work on his very extensive deck painting and patching project before he traveled to New Jersey for the week on work related business. So we all went out to see the new Marvel movie, Black Widow afterwards, minus Scott. He could just not get into this character. Then Allison had to get home to head over to her friends house for an evening of D and D. I was hoping we could have held Allison's birthday party poolside at her complex. But they limit the access to the residents only and everyone else needs a guest pass. However, they have not yet been offering guest passes. They do have a recreation room with a large movie screen and video games, but no one could really stay very late, so we did not bother using that space either. Still, I would love to take a dip in Allison's pool since it is finally open! 

It has been plenty hot this summer, or raining/tstorms. My plants were all finally looking so good. The peppers and tomato plant are starting to put out some useable veggies, along with my herb garden. And the potted flowers were really taking off. I spent some time hunting down a few more items to plant, including some potato vines for my big pots, some new orange and deep purple colored cone flowers for my butterfly garden and a potted plant for my patio table centerpiece. When I was out shopping in the spring, the amount of plants available for sale was very slim this year. And now that it is into summer, Scott tells me places like Home Depot don't restock. Sadly Tom decided to spray the house with an anti moss and mildew spray that usually is devastating to my plants up around the house. Sure enough, it fried my pepper plants, green onion and any flower pot close enough to the house to get sprayed. Now I am trying to resuscitate everything or replace and there really is not much out there to buy. Fortunately the jalapenos seem pretty hardy and are growing back all their leaves. Half of my marigolds are done for, but at least the tomato plant was far enough away from the house and it is protected from the deer and squirrels. So we should have plenty of tomatoes. And I told Tom he has to remember to do the housecleaning very early in the spring before I plant anything! And naturally just when I planned on using all of the beautiful basil leaves in our garden, the Japanese beetles hit with a vengeance this year and started nibbling them all up! I managed to save some of the leaves though. It's been a tough growing season! I did manage to do some repotting for my indoor plants. They sure needed it and now I have some very happy houseplants. I was also very sad to see the bluebirds did not nest in our new nesting box this year. Instead the wrens built a nest there as well as in the wren houses. We have two different wren species-one very small and one very large that loves to visit the inside of our garage. It seems that they had a family and were very busy building stick nests in the bird houses. I like them around since they eat all the insects. And they are very chatty. Although they are also busy eating the mealworms I put out for the bluebirds. Occasionally the bluebirds come by for a visit at least. 

Besides keeping our weekends busy with yardwork or entertaining, Tom and I visited with a friend from California in town on business. James Michael and his wife Myrna were wonderful friends when Tom and I lived in California(still are wonderful friends!). James was in the military -Marines, and Myrna was a secretary at the hospital I worked at-Rancho. We had a large group of friends that did a whole lot of activities together. Now James works for a company that makes drones for the military so he was in town on business at a naval facility south of DC along the bay. He also has family living in the condos in the Baltimore Harbor-his parents and his sister and her husband. So even though it is a very long drive, he did not mind traveling back and forth to the Baltimore area. He wanted to stop in over the 4th of July weekend, but we did not want to share his company with our neighbors, so we opted to spend all of Saturday, July 10th visiting with him in Annapolis. It is a little closer to where he was working and a much nicer place to visit I think than Baltimore right now. Most of the businesses in the Baltimore Harbor went out and crime has increased in the area, so we don't feel as comfortable walking around downtown as we do in Annapolis. We met up at Starbucks after lunch and took the UA Naval Academy tour. You can walk around the grounds, but it was nice to have someone telling us what everything was and how long it had been there. The school was founded in 1845 as a military school for officers in the navy and marines. It was built on the site of the former Fort Severn at the point where the Severn River meets the  Chesapeake Bay. The buildings are all designed in a french style and you really do feel like you are in Europe when walking around campus. We had about a 1.5 hr walking tour-the first tours to open since COVID last year before stopping for an early dinner. We could not believe how packed the town was that day. Guess everyone prefers to spend time in Annapolis. They had tables set up still on the street and sidewalks and bands playing outside. Even a pottery painting shop had tables set up outside. We opted to eat at Buddy's Crabs and Ribs and had no problem getting a table upstairs near the window looking out over the harbor. Needless to say we had many years of catching up and Tom and James had plenty of info to share about the military and both Northrop's and James company's products. Myrna did not join James on this trip since he was spending so much of his time working in the middle of nowhere. Maybe next time. After a wonderful meal we took a walk up to the Capital and Governor's mansion before stopping at a frozen yogurt shop for a seat on the street and even more chatting while being entertained by all the different people, dogs and live entertainment/music. Eventually we said our goodbyes late in the evening. James had a hotel near the BWI airport and was heading back to California very early the next morning. We loved seeing him and can't wait for another visit, hopefully with Myrna along!

We also celebrated the Stanley Cup win of the Tampa Bay Lightning. This is their 3rd Stanley Cup. We were kinda cheering on the underdogs, like the Vegas Knights who made it in to the finals again this year. Or our Washington Capitals. Tom  and Allison were especially enjoying wonderful hockey games late into the season. 

 Scott continues to work at Home Depot anywhere from a 4 hr shift to a 9 hr shift. Things seemed to have slowed down a bit now. He is really happy that he gets some time off, especially during the week. It gives him time to visit with his friends and do some fun activities. His high school friend Matt also got an inflatable 2 seater kayak for his birthday, so the boys took it out on our local lake. Then Matt's whole family celebrated his 21st birthday along with Scott with a visit to a new Axe throwing bar that just opened in Olde Ellicott City. Afterwards they had dinner and a bonfire at their house. 

But Scott was especially excited to have a visit from his New Orleans online friends. One of the guy's dad had business in DC and took his son with him as well as one of the girls that Scott was friends with online. Scott was very happy to drive down to DC and meet them the first night they arrived at their Hyatt hotel. They decided to have dinner at the hotel-it is hard to find places that are open later in the night near the White House and Capital and Scott drove back home that evening. But he was up early the next day and headed back. They grabbed a Starbucks in the hotel and headed for a putt putt golf course they found locally near the Capitol. Country's oldest golf course and it has a little putt putt course. So after they finished their game they headed to the Smithsonian museums. Unfortunately the museums are still being held ransom by COVID. The Air and Space museum is closed and the other museums have timed tickets that will soon cease to exist, but for that day they could not get in. Instead they paid for a visit to the Spy museum. And then Scott took them over to Silver Spring to visit Dave and Busters which they have never experienced(Louisiana don't get out much). I guess they had a great time eating and bowling and playing video games and Scott did not get home until after midnite. He was just so happy to finally meet his online friends in person. He also discovered that driving in DC is not fun! And it is expensive. At least they finally took down the barbed wire fencing around the Capital and reopened the National monument to visitors along with the rest of the museums. If anything they are a great place to hang out in the middle of summer since the museums are free and air conditioned, and it gets mighty toasty in DC in the summer. 

I had to work the following weekend. I even went in on Sunday so I could take the following Weds off to take Mom B to her dentist appointment. Looks like I could use the whole day for the event!

 June 14-June 30th, 2021

Happy Flag Day! Happy Father's Day! 

  I was missing all the Flag Day festivities at Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Allison and I enjoyed music and fireworks on Flag Day several years ago and we used to participate in the show with the Girl and Boy Scouts. Our Girl Scout choir had been asked to sing at their performance in  the past. We also enjoy their program on Patriots day in the fall. Maybe they will be able to schedule that this year!

Our family has decided COVID is over ever since returning from vacation in Hilton Head. However, it appears that Maryland is still staying extra cautious. Most businesses have stopped the mandatory masks, especially if you have been vaccinated.  I notice most people are still wearing masks and some are even wearing face shields and gloves. Some businesses still expect customers to wear masks. And some places continue with plastic dividers.  Our family has decided we are vaccinated and as long as the COVID positivity rate in Maryland is below 1%, we feel pretty comfortable getting back to normal life. Meanwhile, Tom and Allison are now going into work on a regular basis(Allison a bit more than Tom). Allison started a new, more permanent position in finance and reports it is not as stressful as her last rotation. There is even talk of getting the summer Northrop Ultimate frisbee games started up again. Tom spent our first week back from vacation running a work event and the last week in June he attended an online externship for his PhD with Walden University. He was a bit annoyed that the meeting was on Central time, so instead of finishing at our time, 5pm, he was busy until 6pm. Even though he started an hour later, it still interfered with his daily schedule. 

Our cicada explosion also seems to be wrapping up. They were at the flying stage when we got back from Hilton Head-very distracting when driving and being literally bug bombed while on the road. Tom and Scott were covered with cicadas when they cut the lawn. Tom could not take it anymore when a few ended up down his shirt and started buzzing! Gradually they started dying out and now I am mostly sweeping and raking up cicada bodies. 

 We have also been to our first movie in a theater since COVID began last March. Allison and I decided to take Tom to see The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard for Father's Day. We saw the first movie of the series, The Hitman's Bodyguard with Ryan Reynolds and Samuel Jackson over a year ago. (We actually took my mom to that movie several years ago!). This one was a bit much of everything, but we enjoyed the crazy humor. Even Allison really liked it! Scott did not join us since he had to work and then went to an evening BBQ and bonfire with his old high school friends. 

I think Scott has especially been enjoying his summer. He seems to like his job at Home Depot. He usually works several days a week and one or two days on the weekends. They certainly flex his work hours. Sometimes he goes in as early as 6 am, but other times he works later in the day. They hired him as a cashier and that is what he has been doing. Sometimes he is running the contractors register and ringing up lumber, other times he supervises the self check out. Occasionally he is running the register outside in the garden shop. The staff is not allowed to sit down or look at their phones or play video games while waiting for customers. But they don't have any other assignments either. It is just their job to run the cash registers whether someone is there or not. I figured they could at least stock shelves or straighten the merchandise, or sweep the floor, but I guess they have to be vigil to help customers. He is mostly excited to be making some spending money. Especially since he and Allison are planning a trip down to Orlando in October to visit Disney World and Disney Studios over Scott's fall break. The two want to visit during Disney's 50th Anniversary which kicks off in October as well as during the Halloween months. Should be a lot of fun for them both. And since he is home this summer he has been spending more time visiting with his old high school friends.  They have had a lot of fun visiting at each other's houses for cook outs and bonfires. He has also gone fishing and kayaking at our local park. And he was talked into participating in a  Mario Kart competition at a local gaming store with a high school friend. They played outside with a screen on the wall of our favorite Wine Bin store in Olde Ellicott City and Scott won the tournament out of 25 contestants! He brought home a radio controlled video game Mario Kart(retails around $100 bucks). And it only cost him $10.00 to enter. One of his bosses from Home Depot was also in the competition. Scott said he felt a bit strange beating his boss by just one point!

And he is actually looking forward to going back to school in the fall. WMU reports classes will all be in person, although there are still classes that were online before the epidemic. Scott is signed up for 4 classes in the fall with labs for each one. He may add his computer class, or look into taking one of his other electives. When he signed up for classes last spring he just wanted to make sure he had the requirements all set up first. Here in Maryland, schools wrapped up online  June 15th. High Schools were able to hold their graduation ceremonies at our local outdoor theater. Initially guests were only allowed to sit out on the lawn and the students were going to sit under the pavilion with 2 guests per student. But since COVID has been declining, they allowed more guests. The high schools even held proms over the last two months, but I hear there was no slow dancing allowed. Allison said that happened at the wedding she went to with Gabe at the beginning of June also-no slow dancing. Too close I guess.

Allison and I did get to attend my niece's Baby Shower the weekend after returning from Hilton Head via Zoom online. One good thing that came out of COVID! The shower was held at her parent's house in Indiana. Allison and I had ordered gifts sent via Amazon(another company that made out well in the pandemic). It was so much fun watching her open all her baby stuff, but we did miss out on the company and the yummy treats! And Stacey had several others zooming into her shower including cousins and even her "sister" Alex from Germany since travel to/from Europe has been halted.  Looking forward to the arrival of their baby boy, Elijah in August(if Stacey can hold on that long)!

At my mom's facility, we have been able to schedule indoor visits and remove our masks while visiting in the apartments. We cannot wander around the facility. We also had to make a reservation to take Mom out, but they recently dropped the need to make a reservation. Before the staff would bring Mom down to the car and now I can go up to her apartment to pick her up. So after returning home from Hilton Head I dropped into her apartment to pick up some dirty laundry and hook up her phone system again. I also brought her a necklace and a shirt I bought her from Hilton Head. I stopped in on a Saturday morning since we still had to make reservations and brought her a cup of coffee and cinnamon roll from McDonalds which we shared. The following weekend I brought her back to our house for a pork chop dinner and some more home movies. I have been very busy working. Our facility keeps trying to fill all the beds on the rehab units round the clock to make up for lost revenue. They are also trying to fill the Assisted Living apartments as well as the Long Term Care Units in our nursing home.  And we usually provide therapy services to all those people so I am back to work M-F and every other Saturday. Doesn't leave much time for pool exercise or acupuncture. We are still wearing our masks but no longer need to wear our face shields unless we are treating a COVID patient. We have not had any COVID patients for awhile and most of those patients  that come to our facility already had their vaccinations. And we have not had any positive staff members for several weeks either. Now we only need to be tested once a month if we are vaccinated and the rest of the staff that is not vaccinated get tested once a week. We are also back to treating our patients in the rehab gym which is nice, but that means we have to run groups too. So far I have not had to run a group but I know my turn is coming. So far I am still the one to treat most of the residents in our Assisted Living facility. Apparently I am the only one that doesn't mind working in that facility. I am so glad our family had an earlier vacation too since the rest of the staff is now itching to make plans(and they have). It gets a bit crazier when someone is off because our contract company does not send any help. I guess it was pretty rough when I was gone because our other OT had to take off on a long weekend to attend her daughter's wedding(rescheduled due to COVID from last summer). That meant only 2 staff members were available to work. I know my turn is coming up for this too! I also stopped taking two showers a day, one before work and one when I got home. I do wash my uniform every night, but it certainly saves some time not having to take an extra shower. 

It is also nice to be able to go out shopping and to restaurants without worrying about wearing masks, although our county seems to be more comfortable wearing the masks. We took Tom out for dinner for Father's Day on Friday night and planned a steak dinner on Sunday. (However, we filled up on Tom's Buffalo Chicken Dip so we saved our steak for Monday night's meal.) The kids bought Tom a tshirt in Hilton Head and bought him a few knives featured on the show, Forged in Fire. Turns out they work pretty well! I bought Tom a Star Wars Hawaiin Shirt and a grilling tray. I also made a peach pie for dessert. At the end of the month, Tom and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. I had purchased Tom a gift card at a new restaurant for his birthday last year. So we decided it was time to try it out, especially since the live entertainment returned. The restaurant, 18 and 21st is decorated during prohibition days with the hostess wearing a 20s flapper dress. Not a very large place and they had a jazz band playing which was very nice but a bit loud for the small space. Tom was running late for our reservation. He was scheduled for an online externship with his class which ran until 6pm(central time). We could only get a 5:45 dinner reservation, so I took Scott with me to share a drink and appetizer before Tom arrived around 6:30. Then Scott left and Tom and I enjoyed a steak dinner with creme brulee for me for dessert! Plus a glass of champagne! 

 And some of our favorite summertime activities have been rescheduled like outdoor concerts, plays and movies. Looking forward to trying to get to a few events. 

photos

June 1- June June 13, 2021 Hilton Head Vacation!

 

June 1- June June 13, 2021 Hilton Head Vacation!

 We made it to June! Time to pack for vacation. Work was still very busy, so I had to squeeze in my preparations for going out of town for a week to Hilton Head with the Seitz family. Allison and I started off the month with a trip to the nail salon-always enjoyable. And I see the shops are getting busier, although we made a reservation, it looks like the salon is taking walk ins again. Still masked up. But the mask mandate is slowly being reversed here in Maryland. I happily removed my mask when shopping for vacation supplies at Costco and Walmart. Seems like I was the only one. I noticed the signs stating masks are no longer required on the front doors of stores are very limited. Some small signs are posted that state if you are vaccinated, you can come in without a mask. But of course no one is checking to see if you are vaccinated. The positivity rate for COVID is under 1%. Still crazy times. Anyway, I was excited to see that Costco finally got their bathing suits in stock! I needed some new ones especially for my water aerobics class at the Y. 

I tried to put our mail on hold for a week of vacation via USPS website and the site was not working. I had to stop into the post office to pick up a postcard to fill out. I also had to drop off Cookie at our friends house, Beth and Barry. Cookie will spend the week with their dog Ripley. We were wondering if that was going to work out since Beth and Barry had just purchased a toy poodle puppy. They wanted to try adding another dog to their family and have been looking for another Cavachon. However, it has been hard to locate a Cavachon breeder. Especially for a puppy  that costs less than $5000.00! Although we've seen quite a few more designer dogs with King Charles Cavalier Spaniel mix and Bichon mixes like Cava poos, and Shishons. Poodles and Bichons are supposed to be non shedding-good for allergy people. Anyway, their toy poodle ended up being bigger than Ripley and was a bit of a bully. So while they were at our house having BBQ over Memorial Day weekend, they sold the puppy online. So fortunately Cookie did not have to deal with that experience. And not only did we have them watch Cookie, but Allison's Betta fish as well. So I dropped off the menagerie on Thursday night. I also asked our neighbors Dan and Gloria to water my veggies and flowers while we are gone. Did not want all our hard work drying up while we were gone since it was supposed to be very hot and dry. Plus I had to drop off supplies to Mom B. It's always tougher to go away on vacation! Then I got called in to work on Friday. Tom wanted to leave early to get a jump on the drive to Hilton Head, about a 10 hr trip. I was able to get home from work and pack the van so he could load our bikes. We we were on the road by 7pm. Scott also had to work on Friday so we needed to wait for him to get off his shift. Allison was actually not driving down with us. She had to squeeze in another event with her boyfriend Gabe. She was invited to Gabe's best friends wedding back in March, but it was rescheduled I guess due to COVID and set for that Friday in New Jersey. So Allison drove herself to New Jersey on Friday morning and met Gabe at the hotel. He was actually in the wedding and had traveled to New Jersey on Thursday to attend the rehearsal dinner. Allison was actually invited to the rehearsal dinner as well but she felt she needed to spend some time at work since she was going to be away for the week. Gabe was also invited to our Seitz family vacation, but he has been traveling quite a bit too these past weeks, recently returning from Portugal where he was visiting his grandparents. Sadly they are on hospice, so it may be the last time he spends with them.  He traveled with his parents and they stayed at his grandparents home. He was also down in the Carolinas fishing with friends. Seems like a whole lot of people are back on the road again. Just in time for gas prices to go up! As well as prices for food. As we come out for COVID the grocery store shelves are back to being fully stocked, but the prices have definitely risen. And food appears to be shrinking. I bought some pop tarts for our trip and noticed they are a lot smaller and thinner but cost more. Guess that's why I keep working!

I just wish I could keep walking! My darn hip continues to be a problem. I have lost quite a bit of mobility in my right hip due to arthritis .Apparently it is  not bad enough for a total hip replacement, but I was hoping to get in more acupuncture treatments before we traveled. Unfortunately there is only one treating therapist and her schedule is usually booked. I was also hoping to get more time in the YMCA pool at the exercise class, but not with my increased work hours. And just when they opened up the pool without needing reservations for the classes. Although they are still limiting the number of people that can participate so you have to get there a bit early. 

So Allison dropped off her suitcase and her fish on Weds when she came over to get her nails done with me. She traveled to New Jersey on Friday and arrived at the hotel around noon in time to go to lunch and then to change her clothes. Gabe had to head over to the church early and Allison followed, driving in a big rainstorm and arriving at the church a little late. She really does not like driving in New Jersey! But she made the wedding and the reception with Gabe and they both had a wonderful time.  Meanwhile, Tom, Scott and I drove 4 hrs on Friday night. We decided to go through Virginia around the Blue Ridge mountains and avoid DC traffic. It's a very relaxing drive. We stopped near Charlottesville, VA overnight. We scheduled our time so that we would be arriving at the Savannah airport when Allison's flight arrived from Baltimore. We decided to take a tip from our niece Stacey and her husband Matt who were flying in from Indiana since Stacey is 7 months pregnant and not really up for a long car ride/drive. We decided it would be more efficient traveling if Allison flew down after her wedding. So she drove home on Saturday morning and then took an Uber to the airport. So we picked her up and headed to the beach house on Hilton Head Island. Mark and Linda Seitz as well as Dad Seitz had already arrived. Mark was picking up Stacey and Matt at the airport later that evening. Our nephew Eric, wife Sarah and their two daughters, Sarah and Baby Emma were also arriving. We unpacked and scoped out the house before heading out to dinner. The traffic was heavy getting onto the island as most vacationers rent week to week, Saturday to Saturday. And all the local restaurants were very busy as well. Since it was raining a bit, we opted for an indoor dining experience and stopped at the first place we could find parking. Turns out to be a Greek restaurant that was absolutely delicious. Everything was very fresh, and Allison and I split a chocolate baklava. Yum! 

On Sunday we split up and headed to church in the morning. Allison and I opted to attend mass at a church we have been to before on the island, St Francis of the Sea. This was the first time back in a church since the pandemic for our family. It was nice to be able to attend without masks and even sing. Although no shaking hands for the sign of peace and they still pass out the eucharist from behind a plastic screen-in the hand only. The boys went to a closer parish church for mass-no singing(or bad singing), no missals. Not sure if they wore masks. But we all met up afterwards to spend some time on the beach and back in the pool at the house for the day as well as picking up supplies at the local grocery store. Had to take a trip to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store the night before too. The beach house was just down the street from a the Coligny Public Beach access with lots of shopping(and the store where I bought our turtle Koops!) and restaurants/bars and a beautiful park. Close enough to walk or bike but not right in the large crowds. Sunday evening we all shared a meal together-Tom and I brought strip steak to share to make fajitas and they had a wonderful grill at the house. We had a busy schedule planned for the week!

On Monday morning, Allison and I, Stacey and Dad Seitz all headed out for a kayak adventure. We paddled around the bay and marshes looking for dolphin sightings and lots of shore birds. Meanwhile, Tom and Scott did some biking on the beach and the awesome bike paths and stopped into the Tiki lounge on the Coligny Beach for some liquid refreshments. This is the first summer that Scott is legally able to drink and order from the bar on his own. His goal was to try out all those crazy, fruity beach drinks. Preferably with umbrellas. Afterwards, Allison joined them for lunch at a tasty restaurant called Poseidens. I headed over to the Sea Shack with Mark and Linda, Sarah and Eric and the girls. We have had their food before when visiting Hilton Head and it is delicious. They had extra tables outside due to COVID, so we stayed and enjoyed our meals. Grilled fish and lots of hush puppies!   We also did some souvenir shopping and had an ice cream break-salted sea turtle for me!

On Tuesday, Dad Seitz took all the ladies out for lunch. We decided to eat at the Salty Dog Cafe inside the Sea Pines resort. We also did some shopping at their pier while waiting for our outside table. Again, very tasty seafood(I had a lobster grilled cheese sandwich) and fruity drinks! A wonderful outing with Dad Seitz. Allison , Scott and I spent the afternoon at the beach, catching up on our reading and frisbee while Scott tried out some sand sculpting. In the evening, Tom and I, Allison and Scott and Dad Seitz took out some small cat boats. They tried talking us out of the boats saying that the bay had been choppy and were trying to get us to take out some inflatable boats instead. But we had our hearts set on the jet boats and our tour was terrific. Our guide led us in his own boat around the bay. Allison and I piloted our own boat, Tom and Dad on their boat and Scott by himself. Allison and I especially enjoyed chasing dolphins around the harbor and trying to keep up with the boys!

On Weds morning we were up early for fishing-Allison and I , Dad Seitz, Eric and Scott. By the time I arranged for a fishing tour, most everything was already booked. Our boat was not as big as expected(no bathroom like it said). We had a 4 hr fishing trip and hoped to catch something edible. Our Captain attempted to take out us fishing near shore but the waves were just too high and too much for his boat. Everyone got soaked(almost) and Allison and Dad Seitz had enough of being slammed up and down from the large waves. Finally we convinced the captain to take us back into the calm bay to fish. He had hoped the weather would cooperate, but it was just too much. We headed back in and dropped anchor. Eric pulled in a small shark, Scott pulled in a sting ray, and Allison and Eric tag teamed to catch a 4 foot Bull shark. Not edible and apparently very mean. We were hoping for Bonnet sharks-I guess a very tasty fish and keepers but no luck. It was quite the fishing experience. Sadly Dad and I did not get a chance to pull anything in, and it looked like we would be eating pasta that night! When we returned, Dad S took the guys out for lunch at a restaurant on the pier. 

On Thursday our family scheduled a trip into Savannah. I reserved a ghost tour for the evening on one of the trolleys. We drove down to Savannah, GA, about an hour from Hilton Head with a stop in Bluffton on the way there. Tom had spotted a new whiskey distillery and pizzaria when we headed in from the airport that he wanted to visit. A very beautiful facility called Burnt Church.. The distillery was built to look like a church with stain glass windows and very high ceilings and wood beams in the bar/distillery area. Tom tried a flight of whiskey and then we stopped into the restaurant for some flatbread pizzas before driving to Savannah. We decided to expand our visit this time to Savannah and first went to the University of Georgia's marine aquarium and research campus. They had a small aquarium and nature trails on the marshes south of the city. We had an interesting walk around the campus before trying our hand at cemetery tours. We stopped into the oldest cemetery where the singer Johnny Mercer is buried. I was looking for our Girl Scout founder's grave site, Juliette Gordon Low. We checked with a tour guide at the Bonaventure cemetery-full of really old sculptures and gravestones. We thought we'd catch the tour, but she was sold out. She did give us a map and explained that Juliette was in a cemetery closer to town. A rain storm was coming, so we drove around the 160 acres in the van before heading to the Laurel Cemetery where Juliette was buried. Allison and I stopped by her grave and dropped off a SWAP(a personal message from us written on a cute butterfly made by Claire).  Now it was time to drive into the city. We found parking and headed over to the Blue Moon bar and restaurant. We have been to this place multiple times(of course it is haunted). It's been on our ghost tour stop multiple times, so we ate inside since it was still sprinkling. They also have a Beer Garden. We stopped in their basement to say hello to the ghosts and then headed out for dessert at the oldest ice cream shop in Savannah-Leopolds. Also a girl scout favorite visit. Then it was time to head over for our trolley ghost tour. We have been on a walking ghost tour(caught lots of ghost orbs in our photos on that tour!). We have also participated in a ghost pub tour so this was the first tour where we got to stop into two buildings. The first stop was in the Gordon Low house-the husband of our Girl Scout founder. Turns out she lived her married days in this house and passed away in the upstairs bedroom of breast cancer. So Allison and I have visited the house where she was born, died and the place she is buried. We finished our Girl Scout quest. And the Gordon house is also supposed to be haunted. The trolley tour takes you around Savannah and our guide told stories of hauntings and history of the city. The tour of the house was amazing and then we stopped into a makeshift warf storage building. They had us sit on crates and then the lights went out! A sea merchant appeared and told stories of the ghosts of the waterfront(in character of course complete with candlelight and even a thunderstorm!). It definitely scared the young kids that were in our group!. I was glad I signed up for the trolley tour since it was sold out and so were the tours after ours. Savannah was packed with tourists. We really enjoy the ghost tours since we also learn quite a bit about Savannah's vivid history. And it's fun for a bit of a scare!

Friday was left for packing and relaxing. Our family also went for a bike ride. I tried to join them but I just couldn't get my hip to cooperate. Tom even put on a specialized pedal, but I just couldn't get enough flexion to pedal the bike. I did take a quick ride around the streets and even went up to the stores with Allison for some last minute gift shopping that afternoon. But my ride back was not pretty. We did enjoy taking Dad Seitz out for lunch at a very tasty seafood restaurant and sat on the pier. We had some terrific seafood including some local flounder. I love trying new seafood dishes especially when the food is local and so incredibly fresh! The flounder is caught local, early in the morning. The staff stand on the bow of the boat with a lantern and spear looking for flounder in the shallow waters of the bay. We had a great meal and enjoyed lounging around the pool the rest of the day. In the evening we walked up to the stores for dessert after dinner and got caught in a downpour. After it stopped raining, we walked back to the house along the beach and the most incredible rainbow appeared over the Atlantic. I so wish I had my phone to take a photo! We were a little nervous to carry our phones around water, especially since Scott jumped in the pool with his phone in his pocket. (its done). 

We had some other interesting events at the house like the entire stove that needed replaced because the gas line was deficient and basically exploding every time it was turned on! Also a minor disaster when Dad Seitz fell through a small poolside table after he sat down to enjoy his drink because  he thought it was a footstool . Besides a very sore back, he lost a perfectly good glass of bourbon! Overall though it was so nice to get away, visit with the family and forget all about the pandemic. We especially enjoyed playing with Claire and baby Emma. We are also looking forward to meeting baby Elijah, Stacey and Matt's boy due in August. I brought along some gifts for the girls and for Elijah. His nursery has a space theme so I couldn't help myself and picked up a large Baby Yoda pillow along with some space themed toddler books including Darth Vadar and Son. Looking forward to attending Stacey's baby shower via Zoom next week. I also enjoyed spending time by the pool, reading my Dr Pol book that Allison bought me for Mother's Day and putting together another vacation puzzle. And basically there was not much thought about Covid. Except when we were driving back home on Saturday and found that several of the fast food restaurants that we stopped at still had their dining rooms closed, or limited staff interaction. 

We got home Saturday night but saved unpacking the van for Sunday along with laundry, lawn care and picking up Cookie and Allison's fish.