Riding to Delaware went smoothly. It was our first route that would avoid all highways. I must say that the more I see, the more I’d rather drive past every city’s shopping and business district than see every city’s Interstate. It was also the hottest riding day that we’ve had so far and with my Motorcycle Jacket in the mail, I rode in short sleeves, enjoying the sun and wind. Getting to see Sarah and Jimmy was a big priority for me on this trip and I was getting pretty excited to see them. I went to High School with Sarah and have stayed quite close. Jimmy I met last year and feel that if we lived closer together, I would force him to hang out with me as often as possible. The final member of their family is by far the star and that is young Sampson. He is just coming up on his first birthday this summer and I’m always amazed at how fast young kids grow. He is quite the crawler and having mastered that, is now working on his walking. After arriving, settling in, and spending some time with Sarah, Brendan and I volunteered for babysitting duty while Sarah went out to run a few errands. We had a blast with Sampson and found out how curious he is about the world around him. His attention span was so short with all the stimuli around him, but at the same time, so intensely focused on whatever he was interested in. The son of an engineer, we noticed pretty quickly that he already has an affinity for gadgets of any kind. He was especially interested in Brendan’s camera and clearly amazed at seeing himself live in the screen. I’ve always been excited for that day down the road when I get to try on being a parent even though it’s a lot more work than just blowing in and out of town as “Uncle Scott”. Something that excites me is trying to match and satisfy that high level of curiosity that young kids have. It seems like it can be both the most exhausting and yet rewarding part of being there. Sarah and Jimmy were busy getting ready to leave that evening for their week of vacation and kindly let us stay the night in exchange for locking the place up and a few chores.

Packed up and ready to go Saturday morning, I finished the leftover lasagna from the night before(Delicious! - Thank you Sarah) and we headed down to Brendan’s stomping grounds. Maryland and D.C. should be exciting to visit and take in. I’ll be spending the fourth on the Capital Mall at the summer festival and hopefully near the Washington monument for fireworks. More writing tomorrow.