East Coast Livin'

I finished up my summer internship on August 3rd and flew home the next day for my cousin's wedding in Lancaster, PA. What's there to do in Lancaster, you ask? Not much, except taunt the Amish and stealthily take pictures of them.

It was also really nice to see the whole extended family. My mom has six siblings so there are a lot of cousins and good times to be had. It's also death by pictures when all my aunts are around, but I survived. Here's one of my immediate fam.

My beautiful Mom and I.

Alright, enough sappiness. On Sunday I went home with my cousin Jordan and her husband Josh so I could volunteer at their ministries. Josh runs the Camp at Old Mill and Jordan runs an inner city ministry at the Bridge Academy (BACC) in Coatesville. On Monday, we got the camp ready for a group of kids from Brooklyn by doing a lot of odds and ends: fixing the zip line, getting the crayfish buckets ready, fixing the fishing poles, cleaning, and goofing off. On Tuesday, I went to the BACC and hung out with kids the whole day. It was raining for most of the day so we spent a good chunk of time playing trash can basketball in the sanctuary. You should have seen some of these little kids play. Unbelievable talent. At one point after lunch one of the middle schoolers turned to me and said I looked like Dirk Nowitzki. I told them I was Dirk's cousin and played along for the rest of the afternoon. Some of the kids were skeptical, but they all wanted to be hooked up with apparel. While they weren't paying attention I entered a fake number in my phone and titled it "Dirk N." At the end of the day I was hanging out with Javon, Naseer, Quinton, and Tiggy and I showed them Dirk N'snumber... you should have seen their faces. I couldn't leave them with a lie, so I told them I was joking as I left. They were disappointed, but still asked me when I was coming back. I don't know when I'll get a chance to go back, but I definitely wish I had more time to spend with them; such a blessing to spend time with underprivileged youth. Puts a perspective on life.

I came home late Tuesday night and got to spend a few days at home in VA. On Thursday I drove down to my grandparents house in Culpeper to have dinner. While waiting for dinner I went out to pick the last of the fresh blackberries. Blackberry cobbler may be the best dessert there is. The last few blackberries weren't enough to be cobbled, but still made for great dessert.

Don't worry, though... lots of cobbler to be made later this year.

When it's warm outside my Grandpa spends the evening outside on the deck with his dog watching the sun set over the field of grazing deer. He doesn't talk much while he's out there. He just lets peace settle around him. Sitting out there with him was probably the best 45 minutes of my entire trip.

Friday evening I went to the Georgetown waterfront to go canoeing. I've lived outside DC my entire life and never knew the Key Bridge had this hiding underneath it. I'll definitely be back.

My friend Roxie did the rowing. I tried and we just went in circles.

I'm on a (handmade) boat. Roxie built this canoe earlier this summer and it's AWESOME. I was only able to take a few decent pictures before it got too dark. Check out her blog to see what the boat looks like, adventures, and more pics of the waterfront.

(Washington Monument and Kennedy Center underneath the moon).

I'm not one to carry a camera around, so these are about all the pictures I took. It was good to catch up with friends, family... and somehow end up at a random Indian dude's suburban house party.

Back to LA tomorrow.