The Only Time My Son Will Be Seen In Burnt Orange (aka Ashley's Graduation)

The weekend that Jimmy was returning from Germany was also Ashley's graduation weekend from that little school up the road from College Station. Because we love Aunt Ashley, Nathan wore a special shirt just for her special day. I was pretty sure it was going to give him some kind of bad rash, but he was okay after all. Her graduation was at 8:30am Saturday morning, so I packed the two of us up and headed to Austin Friday afternoon. Let's just say its a lot harder to go on trips without Jimmy along to help. We stayed with Aunt Kimberley on Friday night and got to play with cousin Breydon and cousin Chance for a while (oh, and we saw Uncle Kevin too). They even got to take a bath together before bedtime. What a cute bunch of boys!

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to the auditorium where the ceremony was being held. We sat with Lolo, Momo and Popo as well as Aunt Linda and Uncle Pete and Ashley's beau, Miguel. Nathan did really great and even slept for about a half hour or so. The rest of the time he spent lap hopping and we took turns letting him walk up and down the corridor outside our section. Of course the Textiles and Apparel college graduates were the last group to go, so we were there for a good long while. You could tell when that group got up to go primarily because of their shoes. I wish I had a close up picture of the shoes Ashley was wearing. Calves of steel and the balance of a ballerina were required to function in them, but she walked like they were flip flops!  Here's the best I can do:

After graduation we took pictures then all went and met a bunch of her friends and some more family at Russell's Bistro for brunch and had a really yummy meal. While we were waiting for Ashley to arrive, Lolo and Linda did some window shopping at a little boutique right down the sidewalk. Lolo took the next step and bought Nathan the most adorable hat I've ever seen. He wears it now to church sometimes and always gets so many compliments.  Nathan was good for the whole meal but didn't really get that much attention, as usual. 

We left for home right after brunch since Nathan was exhausted at this point and I wanted to be home in time for Jimmy to get home from the airport. Nathan slept almost the whole way back (wonderful). Soon after we got home we quickly changed into our play clothes, which just so happened to be in more appropriate colors (Whoop!). 

It was an exhausting weekend for me traveling with him alone but I had so much help while we were in Austin. I'm so glad we were able to be there even though Jimmy couldn't make it.  We are so proud of our Ashley!!