Lisa's Graduation

We're cleaning for our guests. Grandma and Grandpa Cooper arrived on Wednesday, June 13th.

Roger was telling Grandma a great story.

Grandpa tried Roger's game of badminton with soft balls instead of birdies.

Honoring the graduate.

Glen took his parents and Roger to the beach on Saturday. They had a chance to see this starfish that someone had caught.

Alan snuggled right up to Grandpa, on the same shoulder that used to settle Glen.

Lisa is one of several students who graduated with honors. They all had a 4.0 or higher grade average, thanks to 5-point A's for AP classes in Lisa's case. Here she is receiving her special medallion.

And here's the happy graduate. She quickly removed the costume and Roger was having fun dressing up.

It's official! The honors seal is gold, and the other special seal is for getting very high marks on a set of Golden State Exams, sponsored by California.

This is a subset of Lisa's group of friends.
From left to right: Erica Saldivar, Matt Grey, Lisa, Anees Abbas, Vi Le, Justin Worth, and Jennifer Hobdy.

Mrs. Fulghum (on the right) had a lovely buffet available in her classroom for the seniors in her English class. Since they were leaving right from the school for Disneyland's Grad Night, the meal was appreciated and so was having a place to gather. The other person is another English teacher, Mrs. Kolodny.

One of Lisa's favorite teachers, Mr. Carlyle teaches calculus and physics. The kids got him a coffee mug and chocolate. They also made (actually Lisa and I) him a pseudo karate belt to go with the karate lessons he received earlier in the year for being a special teacher. This was a joke since he is unlikely to actually use the lessons and certainly hasn't earned a black belt. But the kids all signed it and he is wearing it here on his head. They told him he could use it to intimidate next year's students.

A couple of euphoric graduates: Lisa and Natalie Newman.

Lisa has been borrowing Erica's clothes all year for special occasions, rather than going shopping, which she dislikes. So we were entertained by the fact that Erica forgot to pack socks to wear to Disneyland and Lisa actually had an extra pair in her bag that she could loan Erica.

This group of Lisa's friends posed for an official grad night picture at Disneyland.

The paper printed all the names of the graduates, but they specifically called out the names of the honors graduates.

We waited until Saturday (graduation was Thursday) to have a party for Lisa. Since the kids went to Disneyland for an all-nighter, we figured they would be sleeping most of Friday once they got home. Anyway, Lisa had several friends over and talked them into playing her "Game of Life and Death." The guys were delighted to be the winners.

This is an overhead shot of the UCSB campus where Lisa will be in the fall. Poor Lisa, she'll have to pack a bathing suit for the beach. They also have a Borders book store nearby.