Graduation Party for 2023

Note: I don't have many photos. I was a chaperone and couldn't think about photos. 

I helped with the planning for the party. I was the only one on the committee who had previously helped plan a grad party. The planning committee was quite large. About 20 people. The two ladies who were the lead organizers are moms of C's friends (Micah and Eli). I was secretary for the meetings. 

The party went until 2:30 in the morning. I wasn't a big fan of this but I was in the minority opinion during the planning. The pool was booked from 10 pm until midnight, after it was closed to the general public.

First was check in at CPC. The graduates lined up. There were about 73 kids who came to the party. We checked off their name, they were asked to sign their name on a thank you card for the hosts, and they received paper wrist bands and raffle tickets.

Once we had our final count of kids, the two charter buses left. I was a bus chaperone. The bus company required two adults on each bus.

First stop was the property near Maltby. The moms and dad that were already there and preparing welcomed us with music on speakers and cheering and they videotaped us walking up the long driveway like we were a sports team. It was funny.

The kids could put away their bags and then line up for food which was Qdoba. Qdoba is Mexican food, build your own burritos. There was a caricature artist. We hired a DJ so there was dancing.

A blurry photo of kids dancing.

The DJ called names for the various raffle prizes. Some were large (an Apple watch) and some were small.  One gift was a set of towels to take to college. Prizes were donated or purchased with the ticket money. $175 was the fee for the party. This allowed us to charter the buses and pay for the food and the pool rental.

The outdoor games included corn hole, spike ball, and playing with a giant beach ball.

At 8 pm there was line dancing led by an instructor. I like line dancing because you are told what to do.  We also had some country dancing which is with a partner and quite simple and similar to square dancing. Back to more line dancing. I enjoyed watching this one girl who has been in ballet for years who danced so effortlessly. 

I forgot my jeans at home( I was wearing shorts and knew that I'd need something warmer once it got dark) so I asked A to come bring them to me. He was happy to have an errand since he was a bit bored.

Next it was time to get back on the buses and go to the Snohomish Aquatic Center.  I had never been to this facility. Lots of fun things to do there. The highlight was the Flo Rider surf simulator. I took lots of photos of the kids doing that and sent them to their parents. Here is C, first with the instructor and then alone.

There was also a water slide. C spent lots of time playing dodge ball in the water. For dry activities there was karaoke and a room in which to play board games. In the hallway was set up free popcorn and Italian sodas.

At midnight we loaded up the buses. We had to do multiple head counts since a few kids left and or changed buses. It was stressful for the main mom in charge. We went back to the property for snacks and hot chocolate.

Kids gathered around the fire pit. They recounted funny memories. 

The evening finished with a devotional from John Shorb which was a lot of good advice. Shorb (as we call him) was the Bible and drama teacher for many years. He is now the principal of the Lynnwood CPC campus.

At 230 am, kids and chaperones boarded the buses to go back to CPC.

C was planning on driving home but his contacts were bugging him so I drove. The Jeep needed gas so by the time we got home it was 3:30 am. I woke up and was able to go to church the next day even though I told everyone not to expect me.

Christopher really appreciated the party and said he had a really great time.

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Christopher's Graduation

My baby graduated from high school on Saturday June 3rd.

Early in the morning, I got my hair blown out and curled by my hairdresser. I took a selfie. 

We had some last minute scrambling. The dress pants C intended to wear were too short and the next candidate needed ironing. I did that at the last minute, even though I told him to get his clothes ready the night before. C forgot his tassel (for the cap) at home. I'm thankful that A could drive home to get it. 

We had to get there early (11 am) to line up for seating. A's graduation had assigned seating but that was a much smaller class size and it was still during Covid protocols so there weren't tons of people crammed into the sanctuary. J stood in line. Once the line started to move, we realized that the tickets we needed were with C and not with J. Luckily, a mom of one of C's friends had an extra ticket to give him. I was parking my car at the time. We got some good seats in the center section. Not super near the front but that was fine. Here we are waiting for the show to start.

I was surprised that C and B were the first to walk down the aisle. C's friend Brenden was the valedictorian and Eli was the salutatorian. B and E got to choose a friend to walk with and B chose C.

The speeches by B and E were excellent. I am proud to know these young men. One of C's friends was wearing bread shoes. Actual loaves of bread as shoes!

The graduates:

Here is the cap toss.

Afterward I tried to get as many photos as possible. There wasn't a designated photo location unlike in 2021. C was hard to nail down since he wanted to see all his friends. 

Here's an explanation of what's around C's neck. The yellow cord is for a high GPA, the blue and gold ribbon leis were for student leadership, the medal for STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) honours.  The orchid lei was bought by a friend's mom. She ordered and bought about 20 or 30 for other kids and I paid her back. The weather was perfect. This is me with the valedictorian's mom. 

We know them from soccer. C carpooled with her son B for many months this past year. Some more outdoor photos.

C and I went home to change and get ready for the big party. 

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