Wednesday, May 15, 2013

MBA Celebrations


Of course the whole weekend was centered not Larry's MBA, but on FOOD! ;) We enjoyed a special lunch, ran by the house to get changed, then went out on Grandad's boat for a cruise, fishing and... more food!
Lunch at The Columbia was a wonderful treat. It was a fitting choice, being from the same historic era as the school, established in 1905 and run by the same family ever since. Rosemary, Grammie, Grandad, and Uncle Wes got to join us too. After lunch, Rosemary showed us how delicious the mint candies were!
I think Georgia was about OVER taking pictures!




Congrats Daddy!! We are so proud!

MBA Picture-Time

After the Graduation Ceremony, we headed just across the river to UT's campus to get some good pictures, then on to The Columbia for lunch. UT is a beautiful campus; formerly a famous, posh hotel in the early 1900s. Its minarets and domes offer a beautiful reflection on the banks of the Hillsborough River. I love the quote from the Historical Marker: "Let those who have passed through these halls inspire us to realize that life is truly what we make of it."














MBA Graduation

Saturday, May 11th- Walking the Walk!

Saturday morning we were out the door early to head down to the Forum for the Graduation Ceremony, minus Grammie, Grandad and Rosemary. After listening to a baby cry through most of the hooding ceremony Friday night, Grammie volunteered to keep Rosemary home- a very helpful idea! And Grandad spent his morning getting the boat ready for our dinner cruise.
The big kids were pretty good during the long ceremony- entertained by cars, coloring and Curious George. We had discussed leaving early- right after Larry walked, but they put the gradate students at the VERY end! And Larry got stuck near the end of the graduate students- so we saw the whole thing! It was a very good thing Rosemary didn't come!!












MBA Hooding Ceremony

I guess I've become one of those bloggers that only posts about big events- such is life with a busy young family! And this past weekend was especially busy- on the same day that Larry and I celebrated our 10 Year Anniversary (more on that and the 10-fecta to come), we also celebrated Larry's Graduation from his MBA program at the University of Tampa!


Friday, May 10th: The start of the end.... 
Larry won't officially be done with his MBA classes till August, but since there is no summer graduation, they walked in the spring ceremony. Which was great, and we got the feeling that the end is getting near- very exciting! It's been a long two years of every other Saturday sending Daddy off to class all day while we did soccer practice, birthday parties and playdates. Of late-night paper editing, and even later nights of reading, writing and finance for him! When you work 60 hours per week, have 3 kids and a wife waiting patiently at home, and try to get 20+ hours of MBA homework done every week, you learn to get by with very little sleep!! Its been hard, but I've been very impressed with how well Larry has tried to balance it all and the dedication he's had. He's done great in his program and we are all very proud of him!

Friday night was the Hooding Ceremony and then we all went out for dessert. Larry's mom, Diane, and aunt and uncle, Frances and Ernie, came down to celebrate the weekend with us.
(Thanks for the great dress, Janet! I enjoyed wearing it for this special night- and thought of you! ;)


Pre-Hood...
Hooding...
Hooded!!


Larry's "Co-Hort"
We've enjoyed getting to know Jason and Joni and their precious kids- and it's pretty good to have the top student in your program as your study partner! Good job on the speech, Jason!
Go Spartans! :) 
Dessert at Bella's- the Tiramisu is great, but the chocolate molten Vesuvio cake stole the show!