I love having a photographer in the family

Check out the photo my dad took last weekend. I think it is beautiful!

Hanging with Uncle Tom

So, Saturday turned out to be a busy day, not only did we see the Studees in the morning, but we got to play with my brother Tom on Saturday evening. Tom even read Joshua a book!

It was really cool to see Tom interact with Joshua. We only see him once or twice a year, so it was a treat!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Chuck!

Today was Grandpa Chuck's birthday. At the last minute, my mom and dad arranged to meet Grandma Donna and Grandpa Chuck for breakfast. It was great to see them. Also, in a reversal of the usual birthday tradition, they brought me a present, a trike! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

Graduation weekend fun

We all had a great time over Jon’s graduation weekend. Here are some details on the weekend for those of you interested.

We stayed with Grandma Barb’s best friend from high school, Marlene. I (Laura) hadn’t seen her in 10 or more years, but she and her husband Frank are the sort of people it is like time has not passed since you saw them last. It was wonderful to enjoy their company and hospitality. If I have put on a little weight, you know the reason why.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and Joshua got a chance to play outside, his favorite activity. On Friday night, Jon and his girlfriend came up for dinner. She was very nice and took our family in stride. Later, I was told she thought I was the funniest family member, so of course I like her!

Saturday, Andy, Joshua and I decided to skip the Convocation ceremony and Joshua played outside for the entire day. His only nap was a snooze in the stroller when we went for a walk. (This was a theme, his naps were all kinds messed up). That evening, Dad, Andy, and I went down to Ithaca to attend a graduation dinner for Jon. Mom gets the rock star award for staying behind and babysitting Joshua so Andy and I could go. Thanks Mom!

Sunday we did the full on graduation hoopla. We had to leave super early to drive down to Ithaca. We then attended the big outdoor Commencement ceremony and then Jon’s department graduation ceremony. Thanks to Beck and Kim whose lent and hand-me-down clothes made me look so fabulous! After a late lunch on the way back to Frank and Marlene’s at the Glenwood Pines Restaurant, we went back to our hosts. Their daughter, Becky, was home for the holiday, so it was great to see her (she was the kid I hung out with on childhood visits). We all stayed up way to late (except Joshua) enjoying a great meal, good wine, and good friends and laughter. As usual, I went to bed before the party stopped, but Andy had a great time cutting it up with Becky and her fiancée Matt.

Monday we had to travel home. Our route was to drive to Buffalo and then fly from there to home. I gotta say the people at the Buffalo airport are geniuses. They had this small play area for kids to wait for the plane it. Trust me, plastic slides are much better to climb than waiting area chairs.

A few other highlights of the weekend:

* F and M had a digital photo frame with pictures of their grandson. During each meal, Joshua would say “baby” so he could watch the slide show while eating.

* F and M have a very old cat (19 years old), who fascinated Joshua. At first he would want to see her, but not get to close, as the weekend progressed, he worked up to petting her. Everyday when he got up he would ask to see the cat. When he saw her, he would say “Hi Cat”. Needless to say, everyone thought it was adorable.

My brother is smart, at least that is what Cornell thinks

There Jon is, in all his cap and gowned glory.

This past weekend we traveled to upstate NY to watch Jon graduate from Cornell. My parents also were celebrating having written their last tuition check for their youngest kid. He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering (MechE to you nerds out there) and will be working for Toyota starting in July, so I guess he is pretty smart :)

Congrats Jon! I will post other tidbits about the weekend in a separate post.