Saturday, June 12, 2010

"Anna" graduates

Chris, Jessica and I are down in Van Nuys/LA this weekend for Wilson's graduation from UCLA. We arrived yesterday afternoon right around 3:00 pm and spent some time stretching our legs and unpacking before meeting Wilson for dinner after she was done with her main college graduation (this morning was the departmental graduation). Wilson, with her friend Jeraldy, came to the hotel and took us to a late night dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Chi's after our initial attempt at sushi was abandoned due to long waits and empty bellies.
After a few hours of sleep we were up again early for a 6:00 am breakfast in order to make an 8:00 am graduation. Since we forgot to get our graduation tickets from Wilson the night before we had to do some last minute scavenger hunting this morning for the tickets she left at will-call for us at her work. Luckily Drake Stadium was a big venue and there was still plenty of great seating once we were able to make it back from our little ticket detour.
Even though Wilson was very close to the beginning of the processional, the way they were dismissing rows to go up and receive their diplomas made her the next to last row. Oye!
Even though Wilson gave them a name card they still mispronounced her name as "Anna". Brilliant! After graduation we gathered on the field for some family photos.
Wilson even did a little tribute for Little Man on her cap who died 9 years ago today, but would have been so proud of his "big butt" Wilson. 

After graduation Wilson took us on a quick tour of the campus trying to avoid the dozen or so other graduations going on at the same time. 
Lastly we went out to lunch with Wilson at a Koren BBQ place of her choosing. That's when we gave her her graduation gift of the cruise for her and Raquel for a week to the Mexican Riviera. She was appropriately excited. It was Jessica's first time at Korean BBQ (grill insert in the middle of the table to cook the plate of raw meat they give you) and I think she liked it. 
Chris was a sad panda though when there was a lag in the meat delivery. 
Look at that pouty lip! Once we were done with lunch we released Wilson to go have a good time with her friends while we raced back to the hotel so that we could promptly sleep off the 12 pounds of meat we'd just eaten. We met up with Jessica at 6:00 pm for a dinner date downstairs at the hotel restaurant where we just got some salads and calamari to share. After breakfast in the morning we'll be packing it up and heading back home. More photos (and video) to post when I get home.

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