Alice's Brush with the Famous

So while in Texas we attended Caitlin's graduation. While Tom went in with the family to attend the ceremony, Alice and I roamed the halls. All the faculty of the school were queued up near where we were roaming, and Alice was admired by many. One man in particular, near the front of the line of faculty, was very sweet and engaging with Alice. He playfully handed her his program, which she thought was great! In addition to noticing how sweet he was with Alice, I also noticed he had writing on his program. Another woman handing out programs to all the faculty walked by and noticed that Alice's admirer didn't have a program, and handed him one. In the meantime, I was trying to get his program back from the toddler (ha) since I noticed there was writing on it, and the person standing next to him in line was making comments about the notes for his speech. Ok, so this guy was giving a speech, so I tried to read the notes. I just saw a couple of words, and figured they were talking points. They weren't memorable, typical graduation stuff. He playfully handed Alice the new, clean program and she willingly traded. At that point I figured we had probably overstayed our welcome, so we exited through the crowd.

Ok, so what do we know so far? Man, about to give speech, at front of the line. Am I paying attention to this though? Nope, I am so wrapped up in my daughter and how adorable she is, I don't have any information for processing what is before me.

Another tidbit of info: I bought some trashy entertainment magazines for the flight (thinking Alice would nap and they are easier to read then a book--brain cell expenditure-wise). In the magazine thereaw s a story on the President's daughter getting married.

Once everyone filed in to the hall, Alice and I hung out for a while in the back so I could hear the ceremony. That didn't last long, but I was able to hear them introduce the main speaker, and hear part of his speech. (And he won me over with his speech because he told a story with an awful pun as the punch line which I of course found completely wonderful!) When they introduced him, they mentioned that he had recently been in Crawford, Texas and how glad they were that he could make it over to the graduation given his other commitments that weekend.

The man playing with my daughter was Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell.
A spiritual adviser to the President.
And he endorsed Barack Obama.

So Alice not only stops buses in their tracks, she plays with the famous! Would that I had taken a picture!


They lined everyone up by putting stickers on the floor. Alice was going crazy not being allowed to pick them up.


After everyone went inside, I finally let her play with the stickers. The cleaning crew thought this was adorable, and helped her by peeling the edge of one the stickers off the carpet.


They thought it was so cute that she was helping them clean up, when really she just wanted to pursue the normal sticker stance. Yes, I let my child put a sticker that was on the floor on her mouth just so I could capture this photo. I promise I took it from her immediately following.


Once the stickers were gone, we went outside where they had Alice sized chairs.


Here is our graduate and her boyfriend Will, We are so proud of Caitlin! She will (ironically) be going to school in California this Fall. So sad for us! We will start the campaign for transferring to Boston when she (hopefully) visits this Summer (as soon as I figure out where you can surf in Boston lol!).


Sean took issue with my action shots . . .


This is the pose-iest I could get. I really shouldn't be the family photographer as I am not that great at taking pics.


Alice thinks her Aunts and Uncle are pretty nifty.


The dress Alice is wearing is from Francois' store in Peterborough New Hampshire. She has given us so many gorgeous gifts, I feel overwhelmed by her generosity. Plus, she is super nice! (And is Tom's step father's stepson's wife . . . which makes her our sister in law?! I think that's right. She and her husband adopted their children from Russia years and years ago, and they have now graduated from high school and are into/onto college. Which is pretty cool for us, I like knowing Alice already had people in the extended family who share a piece of her experience). Plus, they rock!

Ok, as you can see I am dragging out this trip for a while to make sure I don't go so many days again without posting! More to come . . .