Josh's Graduation Ceremony and Other Happenings

Josh's parents came for a visit and stayed with us for a week.  The main event was Josh's graduation ceremony.  I would probably be posting this in all caps, but unfortunately, the ceremony was sort of anti-climactic.  He's not technically finished yet.  He's scheduled to defend his dissertation on June 19th, so that's the post you don't want to miss.  However, the ceremony was nice (Eli even fell asleep through all of the talks and woke up just in time to see his daddy walk up to get his diploma), and since Josh didn't get to attend the ceremony when he received his optometry degree (we were in Albuquerque), it was good to have him walk.  It was a proud moment for us all, though my eyes are looking forward to June.  We've all been a little stressed around here.  Poor Josh is very sleep deprived, and I think he might go into hibernation on June 20th.

Still, we enjoyed Nana and Bampa's visit.  Eli especially loves for them to come and is always sad to see them go.  We celebrated Nana's birthday with her since she turned 60 (shh...don't tell) the day before they came.  Later we also got to celebrate Mother's Day with her. 

We (all except Josh; he had to stay and work) went out to Brenham, TX (about an hour and twenty minute drive northwest of Houston), to the Blue Bell ice cream factory.  For those of you who don't get Blue Bell in your state, you are missing out.  It's delicious, and the tour of the factory was fun.  At the end of the tour, we got a cup of ice cream, so it was fun and yummy.

Not far from the Blue Bell ice cream factory is Washington-on-the-Brazos, the birthplace of Texas in Washington, TX.  It's the place where a formal Declaration of Independence from Mexico was signed.  Texas became an independent nation (the Republic of Texas) for about 10 years before being annexed to the United States as the 28th state.  We got to see Independence Hall and the Brazos River and read about Texas history.  We also got to tour a living history farm, the home and farm of Anson Jones, the last president of Texas.  

We had lots of good food while Josh's parents were here.  This is a picture of Eli at Five Guys.  He loves that place, mostly because of the peanuts.  Every time we go, he's more excited about the peanuts than the burgers.  It's funny to watch.