Tio Charlie's Graduation

Charlie and Diego survived an 11 hour car trip to see uncle Charlie graduate from Middlebury! It wasn't exactly planned that way - but then again I can't remember the last time anything went according to plan. The plan was for me to take Diego and for Charlie to stay home with Carlos. Once Charlie realized that I was taking Diego he was horrified. I felt so terrible on the way to the train station that I cancelled my ticket and decided to drive with both kids. Luckily uncle Seth drove all the way from Philadelphia to Middlebury and my mom packed plenty of supplies to feed Charlie's abyss of a stomach. They did great until about 6pm when we all were unraveling at the seams just wanted to get there and then....we got pulled over by a cop! speeding in a vermont town! Officer Barnes asked if we knew the village speed limit I kept wondering where the village was, but Seth was more diplomatic. Despite the delay we arrived - slightly beat-up - but right on time for the Friday football team dinner.

The weekend was great even though we didn't participate in many graduation events and those events we did attend were hampered by the chaos of chasing 4 young children around. Despite having 7 adults and 4 children at meals the table usually had no more than 3 people sitting at any one time and the conversation centered around if any one knew where the other people were and who had which children. Here are some shots from brunch when everyone ended up on the floor.

Even more hysterical than trying to have meals all together was trying to sleep in one bed with Charlie AND Diego! Diego was so tired he slept like a rock and was cozy as can be. Charlie, on the other hand, has some special sleep habits. At one point he was laying against the headboard, perpendicular to my head. At another point his head was off the bed and his feet across Diego and me at another point his head was down at my feet. And of course we were up at 6am. To make it even more special we stayed in a flea bag motel - yes, the kind with fake wood panelling. Luckily Nathan and Soogy were at the nice hotel so we mainly camped out with them. Here we are "cozy" in one bed at the Sugarhouse Motel...

Days can be quite full when you wake up at 6am. By noon we had stopped by the John Deere tractor store to stock up on tractor toys, had a first breakfast, then a brunch, then sat on the porch, then a leisurely walk to the river, then a tour of the farmers market to collect a picnic and back to the porch for more eating. We then all alternated in taking naps. Charlie passed out in the car so we opened the doors and sat on the porch drinking lemonade watching the car. Here is our picnic on the porch:

Sunday was equally fun as we made our way to the graduation. We moved the chairs to higher ground for a better view, drier ground, more shade and better access to the bbq. It was perfect! We found uncle Charlie as he processed up the hill tired from staying up all night. I guess it's a tradition to stay up all night before graduation and watch the sunrise together. I'm so tired with the little sleep I do get that the thought of an all-nighter makes me nauseous. Here are some pictures from graduation:

In my absence Carlos moved Diego's crib into Charlie's room. Carlos and I had plans to go out so the poor babysitter had to deal with the kids' first night together. And....well, it didn't go smoothly. We tried to put them to bed before leaving, but Diego had gotten used to sleeping in bed with over the weekend and so was pissed off. Charlie started crying because Diego was crying. He was banging on the door yelling "Diego is crying. Make him stop crying." The next morning Charlie told Carlos "Get that bed out of my room." That's not a successful start to being roommates....