Allie's Graduation

We are in the midst of a two-week trip to Houston for both of our sisters' graduations! We flew in from Seattle last Friday afternoon.
 

 

Since Claire has been getting really car sick lately, we were worried about her throwing up on the plane. That already happened once, during our trip to Pittsburgh in January, and it was not fun. We talked to the pediatrician and he recommend a small dose of Benadryl, only for very long flights and car trips. We followed his advice and were so, so glad we did. Claire easily fell asleep for the first two hours of the flight. We were able to keep her pretty entertained with books and snacks for the remaining two hours. Best flight ever!

 

My sister, Allison, graduated from Texas Woman's University with a degree in nursing this past weekend. She has a job offer from an awesome cancer hospital here in Houston and we couldn't be more proud of her! Her pinning ceremony, which is kind of a big deal in nursing school, was on Saturday. Our mom flew in from Shanghai for the occasion and had the honor of pinning her! Too bad I only have that super blurry picture of the moment...

 

But Claire was pretty excited about it.

 

Our next-door neighbor growing up, Mrs. Spiering, drove from Corpus Christi to be there. Claire is actually named after her, so it was really great to see her again.  Here they are last May.

 

And here they are one year later!
 

 

Allie and her roommate + best friend, Kailin.


  

Allie and Kailin with their good friends, Ashley and Natalie, who all survived those long years of nursing school together.
 

 

After the pinning ceremony, we had dinner at our favorite Tex-Mex place, Pappasito's. Oh, man, had I missed their chips and queso!

 

The graduation ceremony was on Sunday. Allie and Kailin were both in the honors program and had to write special capstone papers, so they got to walk first! They were actually the only honors students at the Houston campus (there's also a nursing school in Dallas) which made it pretty special.


 

 Allie receiving her diploma!

 

 

After the graduation festivities, we all went back to Adam's parents' house for a joint graduation + Mother's Day barbecue. Adam's oldest brother, Jeff, and his wife, Jenn, also live in Houston. Their daughter, Estelle, is four months younger than Claire. The cousins have only met once before, at Christmas, and it was so much more fun seeing them interact this time.

 

 

Now we're just enjoying the company of our family and friends until Adam's sister, Katie, graduates from high school over Memorial Day weekend. Oh, and all the amazing food down here, of course!
 

 

We might have been to Chick-fil-A three times this week...