High School Graduates

Today was the big day – high school graduation for my twin stepsons Ryan and Gabe! They had a graduating class of about 450, but they ran a tight ship, and the surprisingly quick ceremony only lasted about an hour and 15 minutes.

We brought the drawing tablets and snacks for the girls, and they actually did really well for the ceremony. The ceremony was held in the coliseum for a small local college, and it was really nice. I was also shocked to hear the valedictorian’s GPA of like 5.572, because I didn’t even know a 5-something was possible! (I later learned from the boys it’s because of AP & honors classes.)

Emerson in particular has been very much obsessed with her brothers this trip, and was so proud of them, and kept wanting her picture with them, and absolutely loved wearing Ryan’s cap.

The boys picked a delicious pizza place for lunch, called Empire Pizza, so once we fought our way through the crazy parking lot of like a thousand other cars, we were more than ready for some food.

After a very late lunch, and finally getting back to the hotel around 3pm, I laid down with the girls for a nap. It still took addie about 45 minutes to settle down for sleep, and when I tried to wake her up at 5:30, she was still so sleepy and grumpy and didn’t want to get up.

We did eventually get out of bed and decided to go to Freddy’s for dinner. It was super close to our hotel, and even though it’s a chain place (we usually try to pick local places), it’s not something we have at home, so it was fun to try it. It’s very similar to Culver’s and/or Steak N Shake, but still tasty! I actually got a kids meal because I wasn’t super hungry, and I knew I wanted to save room and share some ice cream with Jeff.

We took the girls for a little night-time, post-dinner swim in the indoor pool when we got back to the hotel. Addie ended up not wanting to go in, but Emmie immediately made a friend and had fun swimming around for a while. I got her into the shower afterwards to wash the chlorine out of her hair (and to warm her up), and then my sleepy girl was ready for bed. Addie has been sleeping between Jeff and I in the king size bed, but Emmie has loved this little mini fold out couch, that’s the perfect size for her. I told her I wanted a picture of her in her big girl bed, and she just so happened to yawn right when I took the picture.

We started re-packing all the things we exploded all over this hotel room the last 2 days, so that we can get everything back in the car tomorrow, doe our (much shorter) drive up to West Virginia. Ryan and Gabe are actually coming with us too, so they’ll ride in the truck with Jeff and his dad, and nana will ride with me and the girls in my car. We’ve got a few fun things we’ll try to do in WV over the next 4-5 days, but mostly we’re going to just visit a bunch of extended family, and enjoy our little family vacay time together.