June 16 was Julian’s big day–his high school graduation, including a celebratory lunch and dinner. Katie’s parents, Scott and Carmen, joined us for a graduation lunch. The ceremony was at 5:00 p.m. at the fairgrounds, about a half-mile from the house, so we walked and avoided the traffic and parking hassles. After Julian was duly graduated, with all the rights and privileges thereof, we took pictures and went out to dinner in his honor.
Ted and Katie blew up purple and yellow balloons to decorate for the lunch party. Sefton’s second favorite activity (after books) is gathering and throwing balloons.
Thom and I made German potato salad while Julian whipped up brownies for dessert. (Julian is up to the licking-the-bowl part of the process.)
Katie made a candy bar bouquet (she’s so creative) and Thom hunted up photos of Julian to display on the table. Julian is apparently an M&Ms lover like his Grandma Schroeder.
After all his years of hiking and camping, Julian never had his own tent, so his graduation gift from Thom and Katie was a tent and some camping supplies. Julian loves hammocks, so Scott and Carmen gave him a hammock. Our gift to him was money–not photographed.
The weather was beautiful and the lunch was delicious. Julian gave it a thumbs up.
Sefton has his own toddler-size lawn chair.
This graduation was unlike any other I’ve attended. The graduates were allowed to select seats at will for the rehearsal. The seats they chose were the order in which their names were called. There were around 450 graduates seated in four sections of chairs–two sections on each side of the podium After all the speeches that no one remembers, two people called names in turn, bringing up a graduate first on one side of the podium, then on the other. This really moved the ceremony along, and it was over in less than two hours. There was a big screen on each side for a better view of the speakers and the graduates at the podium.
Here’s Julian on the big screen, waiting for his name to be called next. Unfortunately, the screen on this side was in the sunlight, so the picture is washed out.
Even with three cameras among us, none of us got a picture of Julian accepting his diploma. Here he is in the foreground, immediately after receiving his diploma folder–diploma to be picked up at the school next week.
This guy was the last to receive his diploma. He got at least a two-minute round of applause and a standing ovation before his name was called. He tapped his watch and gave the crowd a thumbs up while waiting for the noise to die down. After his name was called, he got another big round of applause.
It’s official: the graduates move their tassels to the left.
Mission accomplished. The mortarboards are in the air.
Here’s “our” graduate with his little brother.
After the picture-taking, we went out to dinner. Just inside the door, there was a sign to welcome us. It had four misspellings, but the one at the end of the second-last line was the worst. Really? Nobody caught that one? Fortunately, the food was much better than the spelling.
Julian, waiting for his dinner to be served. Congratulations and good wishes to our third graduating grandchild!