A Graduation etc...

Last week, I was home in Evanston for my baby sister's high school graduation. This made me feel really old. Could it really have been six years since Mason and I graduated high school? It was unfortunate that Mason wasn't able to come home, but he had to stay in Louisiana for academics and to work on his Master's class. Fortunately travel between Shreveport and Chicago is pretty easy. I flew out of the Shreveport Regional Airport, which is actually larger than the one in Wichita Falls; here we have about five airlines that make small hops to other places. It was about a 45 minute flight into Memphis, and then only about an hour and a half into Chicago from there. It was nice to not spend an entire day traveling. My mom had me come in on Thursday so that I could help clean and prepare, she apparently thinks I have skills in party planning/organizing.

I had a really great time home with my family. I was sad Mason wasn't there, but I was able to see some of his family while I was in town. I was glad to get some Chicago style food while I was home, there's nothing quite like it, and you can't find it anywhere else, no one can make a good deep dish pizza like Chicago restaurants. YUM! The weather was a much colder than Shreveport, but was in the 70s a few days so I was able to go out to the boat twice. It's so hard to describe the awesomeness of Lake Michigan to people who only have the Bayou as a reference.

More Chicago Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30879045&l=6cc1a4df17&id=77800450

Jill's graduation party was lots of fun, kinda like a wedding reunion for me since I got to see lots of my aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends, and neighbors who I haven't seen in a long time. I of course was inundated with the typical questions...but I guess that's fair. The actual graduation was about two hours, but it was pretty easy to spot Jill since she was near the end of the crowd.

More Graduation Photos:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030105&id=77800450&l=f247dc0567

It's nice to be back home but we're super busy! Mason has tests almost every other day, so he's studying a lot every night when he gets home. I just had my hours increased at work, since I'm going to begin testing students in the mornings. I also am now able to teach reading and math at Sylvan, so I'm hoping to be working a lot. This morning Mason and I went to the Shreveport Farmer's Market. We went just an hour before it closed, and were a little disappointed...but maybe that's because we went late. We hit up the commissary and then headed to Frierson, LA to check out this Yogie and Friends Cat sanctuary. I was glad we went on a free military day, because it was kinda ghetto. Basically someone turned their backyard into a large cat sanctuary. There were about a dozen large tigers and lions, and a few other cats. It was so hot today so we even got to see some of the tigers playing in the pool. We're trying to explore the local area more, but it's SO HOT! In the high 90s today!!! We'll see where the highlander leads us next weekend, perhaps, the pool.

More Yogie and Friends Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030109&id=77800450&l=fd913faa35