Graduation

Now, a weekend go Cale could've swished that tassel off to the side, adjusted his gown (okay, a "robe" sounds better for a guy) and full of confidence at his achievement, walked onto a stage and graciously taken his high school diploma. Rather, upon his request, he found himself sitting in front of a large stove at a Japanese restaurant, laughing as the oriental chef "sprinkled" him with pepper, offering congratulations for Cale's graduation. No joke! Our whole family spent the evening celebrating my little brother's milestone. The chef, who really reminded us of Mr. Miyagi (he was cleaning the stove and chanting "wax on, wax off") - accent and all - did a great job entertaining us with bursts of flames and fancy knife handling. But, at one point during our dinner he had Merritt convinced he had lost a finger...poor girl just about lost her appetite, but thankfully his finger appeared in time.

Here is the only picture we got of our evening out (so sorry it's blurry!)

(all the flashes from the camera surprised us!)

There were no tears that evening, just smiles. I don't think any of us want to face the reality of homeschooling is now complete for Cale and now he'll be heading off to college this fall. *sigh* But this is just another stage in life.