Daniel's High School Graduation

It was so wonderful to celebrate Daniel today! I got up at 5:30 AM to make sure he was up and out the door for his graduation practice at the school at 6 AM. We worked on some chores and got ready for graduation. We left right at 12:30 PM which was when I wanted to leave. We got there and parked in the parking structure right across the street and then we all walked to the arena together. 

We got in the line on the north side which was already pretty long and Daniel continued on to meet at the south side of the football field where he was supposed to go. We stood there in the sun for quite a while, it seemed, waiting to go in. We got in and got some pretty good seats. I liked the fact that we were way on the side near the stage because that meant I could look at the kids and see Daniel's face instead of the back of his head. 

Before graduation started, they showed some videos of all the candid photos and then they also did the video of all of their school pictures where you can barely see any pictures because they get changed quicker than you can see them but I could recognize Daniel. 

Steve, Erin, and Rich all came to watch but Rich had to leave early. 

It was a great graduation! The talks were short and sweet and really good. It was cool to hear Carson Wengert speak in Mandarin and then tell us the English translation. I knew he had a talent but it was pretty impressive. It was nice because they had closed captioning on. For some reason, Lucas Bradley was called first and then Sierra Grandy and then Daniel, even though Daniel's class ran was higher than theirs. It was really cool to see him called third. But then Jacob Morgan was later and so was Carson so that was strange. 

Anyway, once their names were called, we sat there forever waiting for almost 600 names to be called. I think it was 587. It took a full hour to read all the names. After they turned their tassels, it looks like Daniel threw his hat at the end but got it back quickly. It was pretty easy with him being in the front row. 

We all met up on the south side of the arena. We got some pictures in front of the yellow 2025 statue, then by some trees and then some more by some other trees. 

I tried to make sure I got all the pictures I needed. Then we all headed back to the parking structure. We had all parked there. It took a little while to get out but it really wasn't that bad. We stopped at Walmart and I went in to pick up the cookie cake I had ordered and it was really cute and delicious. We went to Gecko Grill for dinner. We had fun at dinner. The waiter was really friendly and reminded me of Benson Boone. It was nice to sit and talk. When we were all done eating, I got out the cookie cake and cut it into slices for everyone. 

Silly picture with our blue tongues from the icing

Eventually, we said we needed to go so Daniel could get home and get some rest. He has his Grad Knight at Fat Cats tonight. Funny enough, he had to come back to the exact same spot we had dinner. We drove home and got the mail and did a couple tasks. Daniel played some Fortnite with his friends for a little while. It was funny because I told Michael that Daniel was playing Fortnite and Jonny was playing cards with Papa and he said that's weird because it should be the other way around, which it usually is. Daniel took a nap so he was ready to go to his event at Fat Cats tonight.

Congratulations, Daniel! We are so proud of you!!!