Graduation Weekend / Mother's Day

What a weekend I just had! Thursday, Dave and I made the LONG TREK from Pipestone to Bemidji to start graduation weekend.

We finally made it to the hotel just in time to sneak into the DLiTE program celebration. Actually, we were 30 minutes late, but we weren't the last to show up! We shared pizza and laughs and tears with the other graduates and their families. I was a little sad that Tricia and Ryleigh were not there, but we had fun anyway. After getting the kids settled into their respective rooms, the graduates and their spouses moved over to the Green Mill for some adult beverages and conversation.

In this picture is: me, Heather B, Dr. Boyle, TC, Julie, Dr. Bridges, Melinda, and Dr. Anderson. This was after the pizza and before the drinking!


Friday morning we awoke to SNOW! Yep, May 7 and snow on the ground in Bemidji. The rest of the crew got to Bemidji just before I had to be at the track to line up. While they sat in the bleachers and killed time, my classmates and I hung out in eager anticipation. Finally it was time to head into the auditorium for the ceremony. Cohorts K and L were well-represented at graduation and we decided to shake things up and did a bit of a conga line as we marched in. After hearing the same speech (essentially) by too many people, it was finally time to take those steps across stage. I had not yet found the crew in the seats but I knew they were there.



After an entirely too long ceremony, we made our way back to the hotel where the kids got to swim in the pool for a while. Dave finally took Ry back up to the room and I let Tricia stay with me. I was there until midnight, sharing a bottle of champagne with some of my classmates.

In this picture: Karen, Jamie, Julie, Heather B., Melinda, me



Finally, Saturday morning came. The sun was shining, although it was still a little chilly. We had some breakfast down in the hotel lobby, saw many of my classmates and wished them safe travels. The four of us went back to campus to take a few pictures, then stopped to pose with Paul and Babe before heading out of town.





Thankfully, we took a wrong turn and ended up stopping at Itasca State Park so we pulled in to the Visitor's Center. As luck would have it, Jamie and her family were there at the same time and we were both so excited to have someone there to take family pictures at the headwaters of the Mississippi. And as we were watching Jamie's family cross the river, Heather's family showed up! It was so great to share that cool experience with two of the lovely women I have traveled with on this school journey. We all managed to take family pictures for each other and finally Ryleigh was running out of patience so we headed out.






We took the scenic route around the state of Minnesota and finally made our way back to Nisswa - we promised the girls we'd stop there at the little shops so that they could pick out a gift for being so patient during the long weekend. We had not had anything to eat, so we had "lupper" - lunch and supper together - at the A&W. The girls each picked out one special item, some candy at the candy store, and a couple books from the book store and we were on our way. We had one final stop to make at Aunt Diane's to pick up Reno. We finally rolled back into town at about 10:30, quickly unloaded the car, got the girls in jammies, and collapsed into bed.


Today we celebrated Mother's Day with yummy stuffed French Toast for brunch and then a trip to Dar's with Mom, Dad, and Grandma.






It was a LONG and SHORT and BORING and EXCITING weekend, all rolled together. But I don't think I'd change any of it.