Bentley's Graduation

Tuesday, June 4th, was graduation day for Bentley!  I actually had to go to work for a few hours, which sort of stressed me out.  But I managed to get home before he left to take pictures with his friends.  I'd been meaning to iron his gown, but we'd let it steam in the bathroom and I decided it looked pretty good.  I hate ironing, and I was afraid I'd just melt the stupid thing, so we left it as is.  It looks fine, right???

Just the gown

This might have been how he was actually feeling...

And with his mortarboard!

Then he left to take pictures with his friends.

I'm not sure who decided the girls all needed to wear white dresses, but that's fun.  (Bentley did not wear crocs for the actual ceremony, just for the record!)

{Sigh}  It's a Virginia thing.  And a teenage boy thing.  

We headed to John Paul Jones Arena plenty early with Tom and Donna, and managed to find Bentley and take a few pictures before he headed inside!

(Kendra is missing because she had to get there early and play with the band)

This pretty much sums up how Bentley feels about hugs

The ceremony was mostly long and boring, but we sure enjoyed screaming for Bentley as he was presented with his diploma.  Our friends the Huffs, Rawlins, and Adam had all come, and it was so lovely to have everyone cheering for him with us!

There's Kendra playing "Pomp and Circumstance" ad nauseum!

Look at all those seniors

We got a nice friendly wave from Bentley when he first entered the arena and spotted us!

Waiting for his diploma

My Mom took this picture of Bentley getting his diploma as she streamed it in Seattle!

And exiting the stage

A lot of Smiths and Huffs all mixed together here

More Smiths and Huffs, plus Adam, too!

A real hug!

We made it out of the parking lot with (nothing to see here, move along) and headed to Five Guys for dinner.  I was afraid the place would be packed, but it was completely empty!  So that was nice!  And by then it was perfectly pleasant sitting outside, so a great time was had by all!

Finally, we got the Rawlinses in some of our pictures!

Peter always manages to crack Bentley up, so he requested a picture with him

Gideon and Colton are always buddies

We finally headed home, said good night to Grandma and Grandpa, put the little kids all to bed, and then watched TikToks with Bentley until way too late.  Then Craig and Kendra and I all headed to bed, and Bentley went with his friends to celebrate by hanging out at Cook-Out.  Classic!

What a day!  Everything went really well, and I was exhausted by the entire thing.