The birthday boy in action. And here's some more shots from the day, including the BBQ we had after.
Michael's friend Duane has family connections to the people who own this track. Michael has often gone to help out, this year we went together. It was a lot of fun, we got in for free and had to do some work, but also got to watch all the racing.
Watering the track, to keep it from getting really dusty when the riders are on it.
For part of the day, Michael manned the gate, and he had to blow all the dirt off the cement pad before every race started. I think he really enjoyed this part, since it makes pretty awesome noise and send a lot of dirt flying.
A cool shot of tires and color. 
Unfortunately, due to space constrictions (see first picture), I didn't follow my usual, get everything out and put it away once I've used it method. See the cookies in the picture above? Those are Oatmeal Raisin cookies. Don't they look a little strange? Yes, they do. Why? Because I forgot the oatmeal! Normally I consider my convection oven a beautiful thing, since baking three pans of cookies at the same time makes it possible to whip out three dozen cookies in an hour including clean up. Today, I am wishing that I hadn't put all three pans in at once, since that meanst I ruined the entire batch.
Sigh.
I suppose that everyone has kitchen mishaps at one time or another. Although if you're me, they happen all too often (but not usually the kind that ruin the food). My favorite kitchen mishap is what I have affectionately termed "watering the counter." See, we have one of those separate taps for filtered water at the side of the sink. Sometimes our kitchen sink is so full of dishes that I swing it to the side to fill my pot, or kettle or the pitcher of water we keep in the fridge. This tap pour extremely slowly. I often will go do other things in between (bathroom break, fold a few pieces of laundry, or chop veggies). If I'm still in the kitchen working on something else, I usually catch it pretty quickly (this means I probably only used 2 tea towels to wipe it up). One time I went to sit down at the computer. Then I noticed what sounded like running water, which I thought was strange because I was home alone. So, I went to the kitchen to find out what was going on. There was water covering the entire counter, running onto the floor, which was also completely covered, almost to the point of making it under the fridge. This time I had to use every bath/beach towel we own to clean up. Most of you are thinking, she must've learned her lesson after this one. Nope. I still "water the counter" at least once a month. Dan asked me the other day if I was making progress, if the counter was growing at all.
need I say more? aren't they awesome!?
Aunt Mari, do you recognize this yarn? I bought it when I stayed with you guys for Christmas way back when, I can't believe how long it took me to finally make something with this yarn, but I'm glad I waited and did something pretty and lacey, rather than plain old stockinette stitch (which is all I knew how to do back then).
Here I am afterward, holding the very expensive piece of paper!
Michael's Mom came too, but this is the only shot I have that she's in.
Last, but not least was the formal grad dinner the following evening. Here's a few shots from that:
And this one I'm putting in, because I can't get over how much it reminds me of another picture of a much younger me. This pose (which my Dad took when I didn't know) reminds me of a picture he took when he wanted to play around with lighting and needed a subject. Dad do you know which one I mean? Do you have a copy of it around still, I'd like to compare them!
For those of you who are wondering how long this is, this is the last picture and then the post is finally done. These are the actual cap & gown studio shots:
Proud owner of said socks!
