Yesterday, mom, Lindsay and I headed upstate for my cousin Thomas’ high school graduation party. It’s events like these that really make time feel like it’s flying. Thomas, along with my aunt and uncle, Carol and James, used to live with us in the basement apartment at my grandma’s house (well, THEY lived in the basement apartment, and we lived upstairs… we did not all share one tiny basement apartment) for a couple years after Carol and James first got married. Thomas was born when I was fourteen, so he really was my living doll when I was a teenager. We spent everyday with him (and his little brothers when they came along), reading books and watching videos about construction trucks. So I can hardly believe that this little baby is now almost eighteen and a high school graduate!

The party started at two, and since I hate being late, I insisted that we get going by noon. Usually this would be enough time, but with traffic we didn’t end up getting to the party until 2:30 which, as it turns out, was still early (most people showed up in the 4:00 area). We greeted the family and waited for Thomas to arrive (he had apparently decided to sleep late, and his dad had to go and pick him up). Other family members started to arrive and we spend some time just catching up with people we haven’t seen in a long time.

As is generally the case for one of our family parties, there was lots of food, which we made quick work of! (I think we were there approximately long enough to greet everyone and then we headed for the food. Typical Roberts sister behavior!)

The above picture is of Cinnamon and Pepper, Carol’s relatively two new dogs (we just met them for the first time). They were pretty funny – they spent the day outside, and trotted around as a pair for the most part.

We also spent most of the day outside. It was warm but there was a really nice breeze and, for the first time in a couple of days, there wasn’t even a threat of rain. So it was nice to just sit out on the lawn and catch up.

One of the dogs, Pepper, took a liking to mom:

And Luke, a cousin of James’, took a liking to the dogs:

And a few more images from the day: