Mary's Graduation!!

 We have another Michigan grad!! Mary joins her mother, brother, aunt, grandfather, and great-grandfather in the ranks of Michigan alumni. My father always hoped that one of his grandchildren would attend U of M but sadly died before it happened. He now has two grandchildren who have graduated. I can feel his pleasure.

International Studies graduation at the historic Michigan Theatre. Mary had a double major in French and International Studies as well as a pre-health concentration. Essentially, she had no electives and studied very hard.

She was determined to graduate the year of the 200th anniversary of the University of Michigan and she pulled it off. Here was the graduation from the Big House. (U of M football stadium, the largest college football stadium in the world, seats over 107,000 people.)

We had a good showing of family members, including Mike, his wife Esther, and our youngest grandson Joey from South Bend, Indiana.

Couldn't be prouder of this girl.

Someone kindly took a photo of all of us! John would join us later and only Liz was not going to be able to make the festivities. (More on that in the next post.)

 

AND....the icing on the cake! Mary decorated her cap with flowers and the words, 

"Thanks, Mom and Dad."

I get all teary-eyed thinking about it even now. God is good. Go Blue!

Easter Egg Hunt!

 Haven't been blogging for a bit so there are some life events to catch up on...One very significant one was Blaise's first Easter egg hunt at our house.

 He did pretty well, with a little help...

But it's also fun to dump the eggs out. Of course.

 We always have an Alleluia egg for the egg hunt. It's gold and has ALLELUIA written on it, signifying that it's Easter and we can again say, "Alleluia!" It also usually has an extra special prize.

 Blaise spotted the Alleluia egg!!

 And nabs it, with a little help from Uncle Jim!

 Family pictures.

Turns out Blaise loves peanut butter cups. But then, who doesn't?

My youngest daughters and I. How did they all get so much taller than their mother? (Well, some of it is with the help of heels.)

Mike and I savoring the fun with a new generation.

 It was a glorious day with the Autumn Cherry tree blooming in the background. Alleluia! He is risen. (We Catholics celebrate Easter for 50 days)

The Oaklands on the Campus of WMU!

We recently visited my daughter at Western Michigan University and stayed at this bed and breakfast called The Oaklands right on campus.

It is a lovely 23-room Italianate villa. We reserved an individual room for the night, but we had access to the entire home. It was simply gorgeous.

Such a beautiful, historic place, it was just lovely. Read about the history of the home here.

It's quite reasonable to stay here. I was surprised and delighted. And if you're visiting Western Michigan University it could not be more conveniently located.

 Just look at these lovely touches.

If  you're visiting Western Michigan University, this is the place to stay.