Happy Graduation!

June 5, 2009 - H's Graduation Ceremony was really special. We were blessed to have his parents and brother come out to visit for the weekend.

The ceremony was held at the National Naval Medical Center. The speakers were engaging and, surprisingly, I really enjoyed the Navy Sea Chanters, an a capella group who sings there every year.

L spent the whole time playing with her Uncle's iPhone.

W argued with L about when it would be his turn, and spent the rest of the time facing backwards playing with the little boy behind us.

H received his postgraduate degree in Endodontics and a Master of Science with a major in oral biology from the George Washington University. We are really proud of him.

M was pretty good until I started taking pictures - as good as a 2 yr. old can be after sitting for too long and being "quiet". Once I started taking pictures and video, she knew it was her time to escape, so she did, in my high heeled shoes up and down the aisle while the graduates were receiving their diplomas. She always came back, and she was extremely happy and cute, but I worried she was disturbing other people. Reigning her in turned out to be more disturbing because of the fuss she made. After the ceremony the admiral came up and lectured me on the duties of a Navy wife in keeping the children properly under control during ceremonies.

Just kidding! He was really nice and asked M where her big girl shoes went. It made me feel much better about the whole thing. Then we were off to the reception in the rotunda.

It was a ton of people in a small area. I didn't get many pictures because I spent most of the time searching for the kids. I could only get the three of them in one spot for a few seconds at a time.

Then they would literally run off in separate directions. I thought getting them something to eat might help, but it didn't. Then they just wandered around with food in their hands. Ahh! I wasn't worried about them getting stolen or lost, but there were a lot of bright white uniforms in the room. Combine that with food, drinks, and loose children and it's a recipe for disaster. For a while they had differently colored balloons and I could track them walking through the crowd, but then they were accidentally hitting people in the faces with the balloons and tripping people with the strings. It made it even easier to track them by looking for the crowd of people recovering in their wake . H did end up with food on his uniform, but it wasn't from our kids. I finally corralled them down a hall and took this picture, but it didn't last for long.