Day Two: California Trip

Graduation Day. After a rather odd and restless night of sleep (and waking up at 7 am which was 10 am EST which was a tad bit disorienting), we crawled out of bed and began the day. Laura called and let us know that she was bringing two friends to the hotel to get ready for graduation—showers, curling irons and blow dryers. They were all checked out of their dorms and didn't have a place to prep. Once they arrived the rest of us decided to give them their space and we left to run some errands. Target, haircuts for the boys and then we found a beautiful park to walk around and enjoy the weather. We eventually ate lunch at Chipotle and took Laura a salad back to the hotel. Graduation was at two in the afternoon so we had to be there a little early to ensure decent seats (i.e: a good enough view to use the video camera). The weather turned nasty at noon—rain, windy, cold— but it cleared right before the ceremony so apparently God was pleased. The ceremony was nice (and brief) and photos and video were obtained. Dad was pleased.

After the graduation ceremony they have a reception with food and lots of mingling, hugging, squealing and a few tears. William and Laura met with and said goodbye to all their friends which was pretty final since neither will be back to California in the foreseeable future. We were back at the hotel by five and as Laura took a nap the rest of us hit the hotel hot tub. It was a nice way to relax and wait on my brother and his family to arrive. Unfortunately, bad weather in Phoenix is delaying their departure so we are going to have to go eat without them. I will update before bed if there is anything to update.

Pictures are up for day two at the Flikr site. Check them out for a visual representation of the day.

UPDATE: My brother and his wife and daughter were delayed to the point that we decided to go get dinner without them. At one point, I received a text from Shannon that said: "Just slowed departures. We are #15. Tallulah is screaming from the depths of her throat. Buy wine." I'm guessing they are having a wonderful trip so far...