| Nancy and I flew back to Iowa for her Master's graduation (yay!). The
graduation ceremony was on Friday evening, but we planned on arriving on
the Tuesday before so she could take care of a few bits of final paperwork,
and so we could visit with Amy and Dan for a few days.
It was fortunate that we'd left ourselves a little leeway in the schedule,
since we were delayed a day due to a blizzard that shut down the Chicago
airport. We finally arrived in Des Moines on Wednesday morning after our
overnight flight, and once we got up to Ames we were pretty much ready
for a good long nap in the loft guest room that Amy and Dan had ready for
us. :-) |
![[Dan and Amy's living room]](grad01.jpg) |
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You've already met Amy and Dan's daughter Sydney (left) and son Jonah
(below left), from the pictures Nancy took during her October
trip. But the newest family member, Lucas (below, being guarded
by Zack), is only a month old now. |
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![[Lucas and Zack]](grad04.jpg) |
| Over the next couple of days, we had lots of fun playing with Sydney
and Jonah. It was a great change of pace for Nancy (from all her thesis
work) and me (from a hectic work schedule). A 4-year old, a 2-year old,
and a newborn can be quite a handful (understatement of the year) so Amy
and Dan seemed very happy to have the help, as well as the chance for some
actual adult conversations :-)
"Grammy" and "Grumps", Amy's mom and dad, came over to visit one evening
as well. Amy is an only child, so they're very happy to have lots of grandchildren
to spoil. :-) |
![[Nancy]](grad05.jpg) |
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![[Amy and Jonah]](grad07.jpg) |
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![[Grammy, Grumps, and Jonah]](grad09.jpg) |
| It was pretty cold and snowy during our trip, so we spent
most of the time indoors. But one afternoon we all got bundled up and walked
over to Grammy and Grumps' house, which is only a block away just around
the corner. (Well, actually, everyone else walked, but I drove since Nancy
and I needed to go in to campus a little later. It's a tough job.... :-) |
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![[Sydney]](grad11.jpg) |
| And then it was Graduation Day! (You remember, this web
page is about Graduation Day :-) That's Nancy, walking left across the
stage, to receive her Master's Degree from the President of the University.
Congratulations!!
Another blizzard was coming in that evening, but Nancy's mom and dad
were able to make it up for the ceremony and dinner. |
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![[Nancy gets her disploma]](grad12.jpg)
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![[Sydney]](grad02.jpg)
![[Jonah]](grad03.jpg)
![[Sydney and Jonah]](grad06.jpg)
![[Sydney and I drawing]](grad08.jpg)
![[Sydney, Jonah, Amy, and Nancy]](grad10.jpg)