From the Chicago Airport

We got home early enough last night that I was able to put up some photos from Dustin’s graduation. Obviously, at 11:30pm, I wasn’t going to go into too much details about the day so I will briefly summarize now…in a plane somewhere between Chicago and COS.
It was a good trip up to G-ville…we actually got out of the house around the time we planned (1ish). That was after I had biked with my Dad, ran with my Mom, packed my bike box, showered, ate lunch, and prepared for my flight today. After picking up Dustin at his house, our first stop was the UF campus for some photo opportunities with his teammate and classmate, Lucas. (See the photos posted yesterday). A couple of snapshots later and it was time for a meal. We had no guarantees about eating at Stonewood, but I was willing to take the chance by showing up to the restaurant at 4:30 and assuming that there was not going to be a huge crowd.
Fortunately, my assumption proved to be correct and we were immediately seated in a quiet corner booth for a delicious two hour family dinner. We spent the time between mouthfuls of good food laughing and reminiscing about our family’s eight years at the University of Florida. I also got a chance to verify that Dustin wants an iPhone…this is going to be my five-part gift to him. I’ve decided that this one present is going to cover the following ‘gift-worthy’ occasions that occur in the next few months: Graduation on May 2, Birthday on June 9, Olympic Trials on June 30, Lifesaving World Champs in July, and Enrollment in Grad School in August. (Side note to Dustin…don’t even expect a card…well, maybe an e-card, those are free!:)
Continuing on with the day’s events, we drove back to campus and parked near the O’Dome where the ceremony was to start at 7:30pm. Before we even got into the center court at 7:15, they were already parading the Engineering students out to their seats! Dustin and Lucas were a bit late but managed to walk out on the tail end of their Aerospace group. The guest speaker was pretty bad and the order of events was a bit confusing (like they had the kids move their tassels before walking across the stage) but it was great to see Dustin’s hard work pay off. He had a big smile on his face and tossed his hat in the air afterwards.
The ceremony concluded with two student speeches (see what I mean about confusing order of events) that were both very well written and funny…and then we booked it out of there. It was already approaching 9:30pm and we still had a two-hour drive in front of us. Dustin actually came home with us for the weekend…he’s got his News Journal photo shoot today for the swimming Olympic Trials article…so we had a car full of McLartys.
After uploading some photos, packing my toothbrush, and saying Goodnight, I got a whopping four hours of sleep last night before heading to the airport this morning at 4:30am. BIG THANKS to my Dad for driving my car home so that I don’t have to pay the ridiculous airport parking fees. Now that I’m on my way from Chicago to COS, I can add the three hours of flying time from O-Town to Chicago onto my sleep total:).