Celebrating the completion of another year of school...

A busy week (a good busy), Tis the time to celebrate after all : Mother's Day, Martin finishing his thesis , Philip finishing his final paper and exam for his class, me finishing my sophomore year (not to return to BC until next spring!). We did, however, miss the presence of a few loved ones - miss you all very much!
So how did we celebrate? (you may ask in consternation). I shall tell you...I (Dietrich) finished on Monday at 3:00 pm when I handed in my last final paper. It was so very refreshing but I think Philip was almost as excited as I was *big hug*. It felt like I was spending more time in McKinney hall than at home, so it was nice to rest my eyes from the computer screen (possible blood vessel explosion in the eye?). On Monday evening Mom made us some excellent lasagna and then Mom and I went bowling. Ma was pointing out the fact that it had been many years since she had played - and then proceeded to win the fist game. She, however, could not stave off my thirst for victory and I ended up winning the match 2-1. Thanks for helping me celebrate Mom!!! On Tuesday I was very lazy indeed. I slept in and then at 5 pm went canoing with two friends, Parla and Jen. After canoing we made a fire and made some mac and cheese and hot dogs - and later, smores of course!
On Wednesday Philip and I (Dietrich) went camping at Sherando with some BC friendsThis is a tent that was loaned to us from the BC outdoors program. It was very smelly and we actually found some wet undergarments inside. Needless to say, we did not use this tent because it was both smelly and slightly broken at a few joints (we tried duct tape and sticks but to no avail). Like I said-we gave up on it and settled for a smaller tent. Me, Philip, and Ian ended up sleeping in a very small tent - Ian and I were squished up against the sides while Philip got the middle (luckeeEEee). Oh yea, on wednesday evening we tried to start a fire and, as we were just getting ready to start it, the rain came. Then, right after we got it going (after attempts to shelter the fire and ourselves from the rain with 1 lg umbrella and 2 sm umbrellas) the rain stopped. I was thoroughly soaked but we had a fire!
Enjoying salties along the lake. I think Philip chose to enjoy every chip to the fullest (just look at the way he's looking at it lovingly).
Here's the sand castle that we (back to front: Philip, Me (dietrich), Parla Cline, and Jen Payne. We are standing in the river of life that is running through the middle of the city. As you can see, the wall on the left is quite angular and substantial (yay, Parla!) while the wall on the right is very rugged (more character) and rather insubstantial (boooo, Me!). We called it "Ugly Duck City" - you may be able to see the wings and the beak (facing up). If not, use your imagination.
Here is the governing body of the city: Queen Parla, King Philip, King Dietrich, and Queen Jen (think Narnia).
Here we have the erudite BC students (and alumnus) playing boggle along the lake while the rest of us throw Frisbee. I hear (from one of my most trusted sources) that Philip utterly and systematically crushed the two poor ladies - beating their combined score.

It was a very fun camping experience over all. On saturday, Mom, Dad, Anita, Philip, and I headed off to Durham, NC. On the way we stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then continued on. We got to Durham around 4 and hung out until we ate and then left to go to Martin's hooding ceremony (congrats Martin). The next morning we ate a scrumptious breakfast and then went to Mt. Level Baptist Church. The sermon was very fiery and the pastor spoke in tones that were not whispering. He had many good things to say about getting the message out by "going natal" and preserving that message in children by getting rid of the "septic sounds" and "toxic tunes" that are found in mainstream rap these days. I very much agree with him and I'm sure not a small amount of older people were nodding and amening. After church we had a mother's day lunch, consisting of grilled chicken (angelic voices), hot dogs, asparagus, and bean soup (not grilled). It was serry good. It was very fun hanging out with the Witmer side of the family (I believe Jefferson was scared of the animal on my chin). I also enjoyed getting to know little Eliot a little more - he had grown so much since the last time I had seen him. He's going to be one cute little kid.
Last night I got to say my farewells to BC friends that are heading out - some never to return. We went to Klines and then went over to enjoy the warmth of the truck stop/travel center. After an enjoyable time together we departed (but not before enjoying Matt Costa with a friend). Twas a very good week altogether - lot's of rest happened and that is very good.
Cheers to Philip for finally finishing his finals for Perspectives - woot woot!