summer vacation (part two)

We arrived in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania at about 5:30 PM EST, to a scrumptious dinner prepared by the best Grandma in the world! It was a happy reunion and our cousins also came over later on (My two youngest siblings, Troy, 9, and Joelle, 11, are the same ages as two of our cousins, Jason and Danielle; they had a blast!).

We all slept very solidly that Sunday night following the weekend full of non-stop driving and fun acvtivities. I awoke around 8 'o' clock the next morning to drive my grandpa to a doctor's appointment. After that, all of us (Mom, sister Heather, 16, Joelle, Troy, Grandma and Grandpa, and myself) spent the remainder of the day before supper perusing copious bookshelves in both Hackman's Bookstore and Barnes & Noble; in between those two visits, we had a delicious mid-day meal at Panera Bread.

My grandfather, the generous fellow that he is, bought each of us some books as all of us are, or are becoming, voracious readers. The Messenger, by Daniel Silva, is the one I chose. Probably my favorite novelist, hands down, his books can only be described as part espionage thrillers, part art history forays rolled into one, written very artfully with a provocative style. His writing even controls the pace at which you read - some pages slower, to absorb every detail; some faster in anticipation of a climax. I highly reccomend reading any novel by Daniel Silva.

Tuesday (8 August) was a slower day, but on Wednesday, Heather and I went boating at Blue Marsh Lake with a good family friend, John Mann. We left his house at 8 am and didn't return until almost 5:30 pm! Slaloming was first, followed by dropping the wedge and filling the ballasts, adding 2,000 lbs. to the rear of the Malibu V-Ride boat, creating a monstrous wake. This action was to ensure the maximum launching potential for the second activity of the day - wakeboarding.

Heather and I had both wakeboarded on numerous occasions before, but Mike Landis, a friend who came along, had yet to experience it. After jumping the wake on the slalom ski, he caught on to wakeboarding pretty quickly, attempting to catch air at all costs. We were all sore the next day (no one more than Mike, though) but always anticipate the next outing on the Malibu with John Mann.

Exhasted as I was, I trekked down to Philly International to pick up my dad when he flew in from Tennessee at 10:30 that night. We didn't get back until 12:30...what a long day - 17.5 hours!

Thursday, Heather and I drove out to the Shady Maple Smorgasbord to meet our cousins there for lunch. It had been a while since we'd seen them and it was good to catch up. Later that night, my grandparents had some of our friends over for a little get together at their house.

It rained on Friday, but not before I went on a long bike ride around the Center Valley area. It was a great ride on my Uncle Chris's Trek 2200 road bike.

Saturday we went to a wedding, attended the reception, packed up the van, and then hit the road for Topsail Island, North Carolina early that evening. Our stay in Penna had come to a close...