Universal Studios

Let me back track to the week of Tracy's graduation and finish off the posts from then.

The fun continued with our guests arriving Thursday evening. Tracy's dad, brother Sam, his cousin Brent and his cousin's wife Andrea and daughter Ellie (not 100% sure on the spelling) came to attend his graduation. To kick off the celebration now that everyone was here we had a BBQ and pool party. It was a fun evening full of good food. James even made friends with his 2nd cousin Ellie (I think that is what you would call them).

Friday us five adults Tracy, Sam, Brent, Andrea, and I went to Universal Studios. We left the kids with Tracy's parents. It was nice of them to be willing to watch them. It was fun to go back to the place we went to on our honeymoon. It was also fun to go with some first timers to Universal Studios. With Tracy's help his parents got Sam a special VIP ticket since he is going to school to be a part of the movie industry. He got some extra behind the scenes set and sound stage tours. Plus some other extras that we didn't get. It was a great day for all.

The following pictures are from Sam, since we didn't take very many.

Such a great way to celebrate this guys graduation.

The four of us down below.
Sam was up on a balcony getting a VIP breakfast.

The famous Universal Studios Globe.

Our pictures:

Sam on the balcony getting breakfast.

We saw Curious George.
With a big little fan at home I had to get a picture with him.

While we were away the little ones and Tracy's parents had fun too.

They played at the playground.

Had water breaks.

Played at the splash pad.

It was also fun to recreate this picture from our honeymoon.

Tracy's Defense

Yesterday was the big day where Tracy gave his thesis defense. He'd been staying up late for the past week working on the final touches on his written thesis. His adviser and committee members read through it prior to his defense. He didn't received any major revisions needed on his thesis from them so that was good news going into the day.

Monday night Tracy's parents flew in for the occasion. I had to make my famous dinosaur cookies to bring as part of the refreshments provided for the guests attending the defense. I had a babysitter lined up but the night before one of her kids ended up sick so James ended up coming with us. Tracy hid away that evening finishing his slides for the defense and you could tell he was very nervous for the next morning.

There were 2 other grad-students giving their defenses that morning. Tracy went second. During the first one James and I sat in the hall. He had a bit of a melt down because I had forgotten to pay for parking so I had to run back to the car to do that. He wasn't happy that I wasn't there right when the first person started. But he did really great during daddy's defense. We missed the 3rd one too because we had to run back home for Tracy's dad to pack up his stuff to head back home that afternoon.

Tracy did a great job. I enjoyed listening to him talk about what he's been working on the past two years. I'm so proud of him for completing this step in his education.

During his presentation.

Answering Questions.

After we left the room for the committee questions,
James kept running around and wouldn't hold still.
At least he waited till daddy was done to go crazy.

Grandma and James

Grandpa and James

James was showing me daddy's poster outside his office and
telling me about the swim tracks while pointing to them.

After the defense I had to drive Tracy's dad to the airport. He had to go back for work. Him and Tracy's little brother will be back on Thursday night for the graduation on Saturday. I also did my last school drop off today. I'll admit I got teary eyed after dropping off the last boy. I'll miss those cute kids and I'm sure James will too.

Then as we were trying to decide what to do for dinner in celebration Tracy decided to head to the beach. What a great way to celebrate this big accomplishment he has made.

James being cute as always.

I love this guy and I'll say it again so proud of him.

Me, James and Grandma (Tracy's mom)

Love the ocean.

Family Graduation Celebration

I'm going to try to keep up on blogging the event of this week. 

Yesterday we attended a Family Graduation Celebration. It was a celebration for student-parents. This was the first time the University has done one hosted by the R'Kids and Student-Parent Action Committee. 

When we arrived and checked it all the kids received hats and stoles. James refused to wear his. :( Then all the graduates and their families did a dance in. We then got fed breakfast.  A delicious meal of eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, fruit and biscuits. They also had some short speeches. The speeches were good. Mostly talking about the challenges of being a parent and a student and the great accomplishments they all have made to be graduating. After the speeches they presented all the graduates and their families certificates and the graduates were given 30 sec to give a shout-out/thank you to those who have helped them get to where they are. Everyone cheered everyone on. It was neat. Afterwards all the kids were given gift bags.

 

It was such a fun experience. I hope that this becomes regular celebration for future student-parents. 

I forgot my camera, but people hosting were taking lots of pictures. So maybe we'll get copies of those. I did take this picture once we got home.