Mommy's 10 Year College Reunion: Boy She's Old!

Last weekend the three of us flew to Chicago for my 10-year college reunion. It was an exhausting but wonderful and fun weekend.

The flight there was the best flight with Katie so far -- there was an empty row of seats so she got her own seat in between us. Then we fed her some donut pieces at the beginning of the flight and she spent almost the entire flight bouncing in her seat and waving to everyone around us. When she started to crash after her sugar high, she fell asleep in my arms in minutes. Amazing. Thank God!

Once we landed, we decided to do a little sightseeing before my friends arrived. With our new GPS (thank you, Grammy and JayPa!), we were able to make several spontaneous detours without getting too lost. First up: Superdawg, a 1940s-style drive-in hot dog joint. John loved his burger, and the shake was so good we went back for a super sundae.


Next we drove over to Lakefront Drive to enjoy the views of Lake Michigan. We stopped long enough for John to hop out at Soldier Field and enjoy the spectacular architecture of the Chicago Bears' stadium.

That evening my three college roommates arrived, and spending time with Ruth, Karin, and Kelly (some of my best friends ever) was definitely the highlight of our trip. Here the roomies visit the suite where we first lived together our sophomore year (though we'd been inseparable since September of our freshman year):

We also lived together in an apartment our junior and senior years. Our senior year, we lived next door to an apartment that included Kelly's future husband, Jeff, as well as three other guys (Dan, Josh, and Jason) who became close friends. In this photo, that other apartment is represented by Rachel on the left, who was dating Dan that year and is now married to him with two kids; Josh making a muscle in the background; and Kelly on the right (my roommate and Jeff's wife) with one of their two children, Riley.

And here are the roomies with our unforgettable friend Duane.

While roommate time was wonderful, I also enjoyed my time reconnecting with friends I don't have as much contact with. Friday afternoon we met up with the professor I used to TA for who just got married for the first time at the age of 74! Then we met up with Emily and Morgan, a friend from home and her five year old daughter. And Sunday, just before we left to go home, we had lunch with one of my prayer partners from college, Amy, and her family (husband Kris, children Elena, Ian, and Anneliese). Here are photos from that fun afternoon:

Katie's highlights of the trip were playing with all the children she met -- Amy's three children, Kelly's daughter Riley, and Emily's daughter Morgan. She learned the word "baby" that weekend as well, and got to practice it on Anneliese. Unfortunately, a college campus isn't very babyproofed, and Katie has been sporting "war wounds" on her face this week from the four faceplants she did while in Illinois.

California, Here We Come (Part 6)

I promise, this is the last of the California posts! I need to finish them up so I can move on to more current happenings in KatieLand. :-) For other California reports, see here.

Saturday, May 31 was a HUGE day. It was my brother's graduation day! It was Katie's 1st birthday! And we also spent a lovely evening in La Jolla to celebrate our last evening in California. I'm going to tackle these photos in that order.

Seminary Graduation

First of all, my brother Stephen graduated with an M.Div. from Westminster Seminary. While I would have loved to have heard R.C. Sproul deliver the commencement address, I couldn't hear much while chasing a crawling Katie around the lobby. We came back into the ceremony in time to watch Stephen receive his diploma -- and quickly wished we hadn't.

Stephen decided to goof off during his moment in the spotlight. In the first photo below, you can see him clapping as the gentleman in front of him receives his diploma. In the second photo below, John tried to capture Stephen's big moment -- and as you can hopefully see, all eyes are on the floor, where Stephen landed after "tripping" and sprawling. Afterwards he "limped" to get his diploma, as the audience expressed pity and worry that my brother might be hurt. The seminary president reassured them with, "You all obviously don't know Stephen Roberts."



Here are photos of the graduate with (1) John and Katie, and (2) his new fiancee Lindsey.

We were also surprised and happy to run into two of John's college buddies and Christian brothers -- on the other side of the country from his alma mater!

Katie's Birthday

While we were saving most of Katie's birthday festivities till we got home, we managed to sneak a few things in. First, the waiters sang "Happy Birthday" to her at lunch:

Secondly, and most impressively, my sister-in-law Sharon spent her ENTIRE last California afternoon driving around the area looking for any store that would personalize a birthday cake on the spot. It literally took her hours! I was so touched when she surprised us with a cake that afternoon:

Here's a video of Katie enjoying the cake:

Here are a few more cute photos of Katie on her birthday:

and an adorable video of her waking up in the car, cuddling her favorite stuffed animal Eeyore, and eventually trying to eat him:

La Jolla

After resting for a few hours, most of our family headed to La Jolla for one last glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. My brother Jason had never seen the Pacific before, so he decided he would brave the water even though it was freezing:

Lindsey's mom, who had flown in for Stephen's graduation, gave hugs to her daughter and my daughter:

I gave hugs to my husband and my brother Stephen:

Katie cuddled up with my mom and with me:

Lindsey cuddled up with Stephen, and then with Katie later that evening after giving her a birthday gift of animal-themed tights!

The next day we all flew home except for Stephen, who had to drive cross-country to get his car and belongings home. What a wonderful and exhausting trip!

California, Here We Come (Part 5)

Our day at the San Diego Zoo was fantastic. We saw many animals much closer up than we have seen at the National Zoo -- elephants, pandas, giraffes, zebras, peacocks, gorillas (esp. one's butt), hippos, camels, and meerkats are all represented in the photos below. The highlight for me was seeing koala bears for the first time -- I wanted to take one home so badly! Katie enjoyed seeing all of the animals, and she especially enjoyed the petting zoo, where she pet several goats. Well, "pet" isn't the right word. She "pet" the goats the way she "pets" our dog Bella -- in other words, she hits them with both hands like a drum. :-)

My mom was my hero that day (as she usually is) for holding Katie while she napped in her arms. We rode in a ski lift over the zoo, which was much better than having to walk all the way back to the entrance. And it was a blast spending getting to know my future sister-in-law Lindsey that day -- she and Stephen had gotten engaged the week before, and the Zoo was our first time to spend time together in person. (She is currently staying with us this week as she hunts for a job and apartment in our area.)