Graduation Day

Another busy weekend has come and gone and left my head aspinnin'. This was Graduation weekend for Rianna. Jennette and her family were coming up for the weekend too to be there for the Sunday afternoon ceremony. Christopher got to miss most of it all by having to spend time from Thursday afternoon until Sunday morning in Juvenile Detention due to violating his probation, but that's another story for another time.

Friday afternoon, after leaving work I made a stop by Boston Motors and purchased a set of Highway bars (or engine protectors depending on your focus) along with foot pads so that the next time we go on an all day ride I have a second option of where to place my feet and keep my legs from cramping up. I got home a bit after 4pm and Ri was waiting there to take me up to their house to drop some stuff off. So, it was back up to Muskegon again. Along with the stop at her new home to be we also made a stop by "Recordings and More" where I picked up a Rory Gallagher CD I hadn't seen before. We got back home about 5:30pm. Jennette and her clan were already there. We hung out a bit, finally got to meet her husband and spent some time playing with Ryan before we all headed down to Clover Bar for pizza. By the time we got out of there it was getting late so Jen and company headed back to their motel for the night.

Saturday morning I got up and tackled the installation of the highway bars. I had 'em about 90% done when the Polgar clan finally showed up at the house so we could all go to breakfast together at Russ'. After breakfast Jen and company went up with Ri and Adam to check out their house while I headed back up to Boston Motors again for help in getting one of the bolts in that just didn't want to go. By the time the mechanic had fixed my problem Jen and family and Wanda were at the Holiday Inn, hanging out by the pool, so I headed there to meet up with them. We were there just a short while before they decided to take off and make a visit at Grandma Fritchen's to show off Ryan and Eric. I went on home and spent some time cleaning up the bike until everyone returned to the house. At that point it was mid afternoon and it was decided that we were all going to El Caminoes for an early dinner and then I would be babysitting Ryan while they all went to play bingo for the evening........so, after stuffing ourselves with mexican food, I drove Jen's car back home with Ryan in the back while the rest of 'em all went off to lose money and have fun.

The evening with Ryan went pretty smooth and we had some quality time together before everyone got back home about 9:30pm. I spent the evening trying to catch up on the writing from the trip to Virginia and sorting and formatting pictures. Jen and crew headed for their motel again not long after they got back here. I ended up staying up until about 4am working on website stuff.

Sunday morning I got up and made the usual breakfast menu for everyone. Pancakes for me and the dogs and scrambled eggs for Wanda and Chris. Jen and family arrived about 11am and we all just hung out until it was time to head out to the high school for the graduation ceremony. We got there about 2pm for the 3pm start and claimed our spot on the bleachers. Things started promptly at 3pm and after some droning speaches that were barely intelligible from our seats and a couple pieces of music from the band, rollcall started. By the time they 'd gone thru the entire graduating class it was almost 5pm. A couple closing remarks from some administrator and we were headed outside for a couple pictures of Ri in her cap and gown.

Jen and family had taken off during the ceremony and headed back to Indiana. After the graduation pictures, Ri and Adam took off for their house to work on getting things ready for their official first overnight stay and Wanda took off to go to Bingo, leaving me and Chris the only ones at the house. I decided that seeings how it was a nice evening and we hadn't been down to Jeannies yet this year for the Sunday evening cruise in that we'd head down that way, get something to eat and see what was shakin'. We hung out there until a bit after 8pm, eating, talking with folks and taking pics of this year's new cars. It was a good turnout with about 70 cars showing up for the evening. By the time we got back home it was almost 9pm and time to start winding down.

It's hard to believe that Ri is all done with high school already and moving out on her own with Adam to test drive married life until their wedding in September. With Ri gone to her new digs it's down to just Wanda, Chris and me all of a sudden and that's pretty much the way it's gonna be from here on out until Chris heads out on his own. As fast as the last 4 years have gone I expect the next 4 will go just as fast, if not faster and all of a sudden it'll be back to the way it was at the beginning of this trip, just me and Wanda Lynne.....and the dogs of course. Almost afraid to close my eyes for fear of missing something but I'm beat right now and need a nap.



CONGRATS TO RI ON GRADUATING.....WE'RE VERY PROUD OF YOU AND YOUR ACADEMIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS OVER THE LAST 12 YEARS. DON'T EVER STOP LEARNING AND GROWING. MAKE LIFE AN ADVENTURE TO BE LIVED TO THE FULLEST. DREAM, SET GOALS AND DON'T FORGET TO MAKE TIME TO HAVE FUN.

Love ya, Mom & Dad