Graduation Weekends in Iowa
As I mentioned in a previous post, this spring my family celebrated both the graduation of my youngest sister, and my mom’s retirement from homeschooling. Curtis, Charlotte and I happily made the trip over to our hometown for two different weekends to be present for the graduation ceremony and my sister’s grad party. Besides being able to celebrate with them, these trips had the added benefit of being able to see a lot of family and friends in a short amount of time, including my grandparents and some relatives, Curtis’ parents and younger sister, and of course our sweet new baby niece!
The ceremony was on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, so we spent Friday through Monday with my family. Highlights of the weekend include seeing Nanna (now Gigi!) meet her great granddaughter for the first time, hiking at Wikiup Hills with my parents & the dogs, enjoying strawberry daiquiris with my parents while playing 5 Crowns, and treating my sister to graduation sushi.
Another fun moment from the weekend was getting together with our youth pastor/wedding officiant and his wife for the first time in years. The purpose of the meeting started with his wife misplacing her wedding ring, which they believed happened while she was mowing their yard. Curtis offered to look for it with his metal detector, and after about 30 minutes he was able to find it!
The following weekend was the grad party. We returned on Thursday evening so we could help with the set up, cleaning, and errands that needed to be done beforehand. Besides the party prep, we spent another enjoyable morning with our niece and had dinner with both of our families together on Friday evening.
The party took place on Saturday afternoon. The weather was cool and cloudy, and thankfully the predicted rain held out until the last hour, and the tent did its job of keeping those underneath it dry! The decor was so cute and had my sister’s style written all over it; the food was delicious and there was enough leftover to feed us through the next week. Another big hit from the party was dad’s beautiful yard and gardens — it’s come a long way since the derecho almost 2 years ago!
I’m so thankful that we live close enough to be able to drive back and forth like this and be present for special occasions. Congrats again to my sister on graduating, and to my mom on retiring from homeschooling!
