May Milestones - Congratulations Aidyn!

 May was a whirlwind of a month so we will start with the biggest news.  Cousin Aidyn graduated from high school on May 23!  He had a particularly big month starting with a 4th place finish with his robotics team in a state competition.  He also landed his first job - a full-time

position thanks to a recruiting event at his school looking for students from the robotics program.  His graduation gift from his aunts and uncles was a trip to Florida - his first beach vacation.  You can find photos of all the festivities HERE

Graduation weekend in Ohio was a rainy one, but the weather did break for the actual graduation.  Theresa flew in early to organize the festivities, which included a pulled pork and chicken barbecue and of course a graduation cake with Aidyn's photo on it (a must have).  The graduation was held at the World Harvest Church - a local megachurch down the road from the school.  It was HUGE and looked like a theater for a major production.  It quickly became apparent that half of the crowd ignored the rules about noisemakers as several seemed to have whistles among other things for their graduates.  The family decided NOT to wear matching t-shirts with Aidyn's picture on it (that was not the case for other graduates).  There were 340 graduates, which were listed in alphabetical order in the program as one would expect.  They were not called up in alphabetical order but in different groups (what groups were not clear).  We kept waiting for Aidyn, only to realize that he had already walked across the stage (the announced mispronounced his last name as "Cooler."  

After the ceremony, we returned to the house for some quick decorating and a small party for family and friend

s.  Grandma, among other things, was in charge of the decorations.  She got several balloons, but there was a minor mishap.  Apparently while driving down to Columbus, she decided to throw her chewing gum out the window.  One of the balloons (a giant owl with a graduation cap) was sucked out the window and the rest of the balloons were sucked up to the front seat, blocking Grandpa's view while driving.  Fortunately, the rest of the balloons made it, and Grandpa recovered control of the vehicle.

Sunday was the trip to Florida.  Theresa flew back to DC Saturday night to pick up Anna and Joe and then flew to Orlando on Sunday where they met Aidyn and Courtney.  They crew spent the week at Cocoa Beach at a great house with something for everyone.  The ocean was down the street.  The house was on a canal that was surrounded by wildlife preserves and included manatees swimming up to the dock each morning and evening.  They had kayaks and paddleboards and bikes and a swimming pool.  There was also a day trip to the Kennedy Space Center. which was 35 minutes up the road.  There was even two rocket launches on the last day, which could be seen from the beach or the river (Anna, Courtney, & Theresa got a fantastic view of the evening launch from the kayak).  Temperatures were in the 80s with warm ocean water.  Aidyn learned to boogey board in the ocean and enjoyed looking for shells.  He also got some fishing in off the dock.  It was a great week and a fun vacation.

In other events for May:

• Anna bought a car!  She is not the proud owner of a 2021 Suburu Impreza.  She is also thoroughly educated on the car buying process and financing thanks to her Dad.  An unintended consequence of this purchase may be less family communication as there is no longer a need to juggle cars.
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• Anna and Theresa attended the longest table Vienna in early May.  This is a giant potluck for 400 people with the purpose of building community.  Theresa volunteered to be a table captain, which meant coming up with a table theme and coordinating food (the these was a Midwestern picnic).  The event is free and there was a lot of shuffling at the end as people canceled, but it was great weather and lots of fun.

• Theresa performed at the Big Jam on May 9 as part of Jammers Gold.  She happened to stop to say hi to Anna at work after the show and it was open mic night at the coffee shop.  One gentleman saw her Jammers shirt and asked if she was there for open mic night (ummm....no).

Happy Memorial Day!