It was a busy weekend here. It started out Friday night going to big city of Jarrell to watch my niece, Sarah, graduate with her other 43 classmates in the gym of their new high school. That was in comparison to the ceremony we attended Saturday night for Matt and the 760 other classmates in the Frank Erwin Center at UT’s campus. And yes, Matt did graduate.
There were so many graduating that they go through the kids double time. The A-L were walking on the left-hand side of the stage and then the M-Z on the right....so Matt was on the third row at the beginning. Terry’s sister, Nikki & her gang left as soon as Matt's name was called to go back home to their packing and moving. Everyone else stayed the next two hours to wait for the end and to take pictures. We then all head back to the house for more food and pictures.
I was surprised that Matt let us take pictures as much as we did, both at Erwin Center and then at home. I then dropped him off at the school around 10:30 for project graduation, which again I was surprised he did, but the next morning at 5 AM when I picked him up he told me how much he enjoyed it. He won a few gift cards (around $30-$50 each) and a memory stick. There were other big prizes won by other kids. (Again, in comparison to the small school Sarah attends, where each kid received a Visa card with $380 to spend as they wanted in addition to tons of other prizes.)
The next day, Sunday, was equally exhausting. I cooked breakfast for my entire family as a brunch before Ashley left for the Navy. I was thankful that Jared and Alex, two of her best friends were able to join us.
You could tell Ashley was very nervous, she had been up over 24 hours straight, drinking way too many energy drinks to stay awake to pack. Of course in her lack of sleep, and a late night run to the ATAM, she forgot to remove her ATM card from the machine when she was getting cash and when she finally realized what she had done, about an hour later (about 3 AM), someone had taken her card….so if life was crazy enough for her, she had to call and stop her card and close her account from anyone taking money from it.
Before she left, we all sat around talking, trying to fill up the time until 12:30 PM hit and it was time to take her to the recruiter’s office. There was just one other Navy recruit there, who had just signed on a week ago. Ashley has been signed since last June, maker her an “old timer.” The van was having some issues so we kept sitting and sitting, then one of the guys said it was time to go and we all gave her hugs and tears and thought maybe she would change her mind, but she didn't. She was ready to go…..but the van still wouldn’t start….so we waited another half hour before she left without much fanfare. Off she left in a white, unmarked van, full of Army and Marine recruits that had already been picked up, with just one spot left for Ashley. And she was off. I’ll be updating her blog, the link is to the right, with Navy updates. I won’t get a call from her until Tuesday night and it will only be for a minute.
Back home we go because it is now time for baby Kiana’s first birthday celebration with the family down in Texas. Her birthday isn’t until June 18th, but Colorado is just too far to go to celebrate then. She was so funny, not wanting to get dirty at first, but she finally got the hang of grabbing the cake with both hands and getting it everywhere. Oh the sugar high she must have been on. After the celebration was over it was time for the rest of the Trainer gang to head down to Corpus Christi for vacation on the beach.
Finally, it was quite around the house. Boy am I glad I have Monday off to catch up on some much needed sleep.
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