Travelfest 2008

Last week was a bit of a whirlwind. As you can see from my previous posts, both of my sisters graduated. As Pete was preparing for his finals, I was lucky enough to be able to attend both of the ceremonies. I went out to Pittsburgh a few days before Shayla's graduation so that I could watch Dean (my nephew who is about 6 weeks younger than Caleb) while she and Sean were in Erie, PA doing some pre-graduation things with her class. I am proud to say that although Norm the dog at formula, a dirty diaper and who knows what else, both babies and the dog survived the ordeal. Her graduation went well and I can't say how proud I am of her for making it. She really did a great job.

Mom, Shayla, Dad, Sean and Dean at Shayla's Graduation

I got to visit with some friends from high school while I was in Pittsburgh. Katrina, Caleb, Karen and Beth

From Pittsburgh, I went to visit my other "sister", one of my best friends, Lauren. She and her husband are working in Virginia Beach for the summer and I thought I would take advantage of her relative closeness. (They live in Utah). Lauren and I have been friends since her parents dropped her at my doorstep while they went house hunting some ten years ago. The past decade has been filled with memories of Lauren-- in high school, we were practically the same person. We had the same friends, took the same classes, went to the same ward, worked at the same place, even had a habit of dating best friends (and yeah, we even dated the same guy... sad.)

Caleb wasn't too sure about the sand. Or the water.

Caleb had his first encounter with the ocean. He wasn't too sure about it and was definitely not a fan of the oppressive heat (neither was I though). Lauren and I also went to see Rembrandt's Etchings at the Chrystler Museum in Norfolk. They were incredible! It was great to see her husband Marcus as well. He's a great guy and I love them together. It's great knowing that someone you know so well (seriously, I can tell you about her mother's toilet bowl brush I know her so well) is being taken care of. Corny, I know.

From Lauren's Caleb and I flew to Baltimore to attend Katie's graduation. The flight went well, however, sadly, my luggage had a bit of a rough time and ended up being pretty damaged. Southwest Airlines was great though, they gave me new luggage and the lady who helped me was so nice, I couldn't be upset. Strange as it was, Katie's high school had their ceremony on a Friday morning at 9:00. Weird. The ceremony was nice (and HOT!!) and relatively short. We went to lunch at a fabulous Mexican Restaurant to celebrate and then Pete (after finishing his last test) came down to Maryland to meet us.

Katie and my dad at her graduation. His little baby is growing up!

All in all, the week comprised of family, three flights (they made me take off Caleb's shoes to go through security. Seriously...), two graduations, one three hour drive, a shopping spree, the beach and a best friend. Not too bad if I do say so myself.