Goodbye Franklin High

On Friday, June 14, Elizabeth was the last of the Kurzweg girls to graduate from Franklin High School.  She was cheered across the stage by our parents, my mom’s parents from Minnesota, Emily and Bailey, and me.

Since I started my new role at Dell, I haven’t had the chance to travel back to Texas.  16 months is too long to be away from the Lone Star state!  I missed the heat, the food, the pool, and most of all, my family!

We had a really fun long weekend celebrating Elizabeth’s achievements and spending time together.  One of the most amazing parts of the weekend was baby Bailey learning how to crawl!

My grandparents work their magic on babies when it comes to crawling and walking.  They taught me how to walk when I was about a year old and they taught Bailey how to crawl that weekend at 9 months.

Besides getting our fill of Tex-Mex and watching Bailey crawl, we spent a lot of time in the backyard pool.  I got my tan on in preparation for our trip to the Caribbean and we played a ton of pool volleyball.

Bailey and I had a pool party in our matching blue polka dot swimsuits

She LOVED taking splendid boat rides in that turtle!

Graduation was Friday evening followed by Project Graduation at the local amusement park for the seniors.  So on Saturday, we celebrated at PF Chang’s, one of Elizabeth’s favorite restaurants.  Then we came home for some cookie cake dessert and to open presents.

Elizabeth's favorite - cookie cake!

On Sunday, Dad enjoyed his first Father’s Day with all of his daughters and grand-daughter.  He had a nap with Bailey before church and then we had Sunday brunch at a great, local Mexican restaurant, Avila’s, with some family friends.

That evening, he opened his gifts and cards.  He got a new fancy grill for Father’s Day and made us delicious Hawaiian burgers on it.

Monday morning, we flew out to Puerto Rico for our family vacation.  We were meeting up with David and Kendal, who were already there.  Our flight was delayed by a couple of hours, which gave Bailey and Dad another chance to catch up on some sleep.

There they go again!

Our flight from Dallas was also delayed, which was actually a good thing.  We didn’t have to run through the airport, worrying if we and our bags would make it in time.  Instead, we had a leisurely lunch at Salt Lick (yum!) and stocked up on American magazines for me (I’ve missed Southern Living and Real Simple and Food Network) and snacks for the rest of the crew.

Bailey was a great flyer!  She sat still most of the time and hardly cried.  She slept most of the way to Puerto Rico, since it was an evening flight, and got lots of compliments when we landed.  (Elizabeth and I attributed this to having her aunts sitting next to her to keep her and her mama entertained.)

Thank goodness she was so good!  I didn't want to be those people with a screaming baby on a 5-hour flight!

After a full day of travel, we had arrived!  We couldn't wait to wake up the next morning to the sand and surf!