Really hard to believe we’ve gotten this far. Seems like not too long ago, Madysen was still my baby girl–and she listened to at least a portion of what I said. But this evening, she’ll officially graduate from high school. And she’ll do so with a lot more honors than I graduated with.

All of the graduation stuff really got started last Sunday morning with the Baccalaureate Service held at the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Dallas Arts District. All of the kids got to attend as did Holly’s mom and Grandma Flossie.

The service was nice with the keynote address by Donovan Campbell, former Marine and author of Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood. We managed to get seats on the aisle that Madysen entered and exited, but Madysen and the lighting failed to cooperate.

Then it was time for lots of celebratory photos.

(Nice choice by whomever chose the spot near the recycling wall plaque.)

And because we are the worst parents ever, we made all the kids pose for a handful of pictures. You can see the pain increase in Speed’s face with each picture.

Even one of Madysen with all the Speed women.

Sufficiently drained from all of that, we went to a brunch for Madysen and 24 other graduates at the Brook Hollow Golf Club.

Emma graduates from elementary school today as well. Not sure we’ll make it through the day.

We did the usual stuff–steak dinners at the Leona Steakhouse, lunch at Pecan Grove, a trip to Buc-ee’s and Walmart–along with our first stop at the somewhat recently opened Leona Drug Store, which houses a soda fountain.

But the weekend was really about being out in the elements on ATVs. All of the mothers made them promise to be careful, and Speed assured his mother that all ATVs are meant to be ridden two at a time. Wrong on both counts.

But this weekend won’t be remembered for the good food or ridiculously awesome convenience stores. It will be remembered first for Noah crushing the mule against a tree within the first 45 minutes of use.

Second, for Ryan splitting his forehead open with the Mauser bolt-action rifle scope (hence, the need to trek to Walmart for bandages, etc.).  A little competition for Madysen.

Amazingly, the last 24 hours went accident free. And the boys claim to have had an awesome time, injuries notwithstanding. I hope Speed enjoyed it because I doubt I’ll say yes to future similar request.

Last Friday, Layla and I were invited to join a group of school friends and dads to attend a Chick-Fil-A fan event. Riding to/from the event in a limo bus was nice (complete with a rose for each girl).

Of course, we were greeted at the door by cows.

Dinner was–what else?–chicken sandwiches and sweet tea. Nothing wrong with that.

After dinner, we watched Tim Hawkins, a comedian/parody singer. He was fine for me, but Layla and Hattie laughed amazingly hard. During his last song, “Peed Just a Little Bit,” he threw out adult diapers. Layla and Hattie both got one, which they got Hawkins to sign afterwards.

A nice event capped off by one of the dad’s mistaking construction booms on the way home for gunfire and diving into the bottom of the limo bus and freaking out the girls. Good times.

But even before his birthday got here, I took him and his friend Grayson to the OU-Texas Tech game, which was a lot like the last time we played Tech at home. And poor Grayson, he’s a Tech fan and was at both beatdowns.

But Grayson and Speed remained friends–at least for the weekend–as they spent two nearly sleepless nights playing Call of Duty: Black Ops Edition. Of course, this being Holly’s parents’ house, playing the game meant Speed had to take his PS3 and the boys had to help Papa install the TV that had been sitting in a box in the corner for several months.

Papa, Speed, and Grayson place the TV on the mantel

Still a bit surprised that Holly thought that game was a good idea in her parents’ house–the same house in which she didn’t see any R-rated movies until we were married. But PatPat and Papa were good sports–even buying Speed (and me and Grayson) dinner at the original Cocina de Mino and posing for a picture that Emma needed for Greatfriends Day at school.

Papa and PatPat in their new kitchen

And then his birthday actually got here, Holly went to all the trouble to get him an appointment for his drivers test, gave him last minute, probably faulty, and probably ignored pointers. And he passed on the first try.

That evening, we kind of opened presents. He’d already gotten most of them–OU/TX tickets, OU/Texas Tech tickets, Call of Duty: Black Ops Edition, etc.–so there wasn’t much drama.

Speed attempts to read as Layla and Emma watch

He even pre-picked out these ugly black/white/purple things.

Ugly shoes; I guess that's teens for you

And he pre-ordered a Dez Bryant Cowboys jersey even though he’s a former OSU Cowboy.

Ginger Dez Bryant

For his birthday dinner, he decided on trying a new (to him) burger place, Maple & Motor. It’s very, very good, but the best part was that Madysen got to see her former freshman English teacher, now Maple & Motor burger genius.

Finally, Holly told Speed to endorse a birthday check. Apparently, he has no idea what that means. I guess he’ll sign anything, anywhere.

He actually practices that signature

So we are two weeks into Operation Speed Drives–he’s even taken Emma to basketball practice–and we are all making it. FINGERS CROSSED.

We’ve got a few more photos in and around Tignale, including some locals, Lake Garda, and Speed’s favorite pizza oven; the boys on their via ferrata outing; yachts, Rolls, shopping, and the beach (with some background skin) in Monaco and Nice; and the trouble they had getting everything into the vehicle.

Layla took plenty of pictures, including an alarming number of pictures of dogs. Who knew the Bahamas was so canine-infested? Other than that, plenty of pictures of stingrays, seashells, starfish, something that looks a lot like a giant slug (a sea cucumber?), a tree swing, and general revelry. I’m sure Layla will eventually show up in the comments to add her thoughts.

Speed had a great opportunity this summer, and he took it! Progress. He is friends with twin brothers who were going to Italy with their parents for two weeks. And they invited him and one other kid to go along.

They spent the vast majority of their time in the small village of Tignale on Lake Garda where there were plenty of Italian relatives close by. And they made a short trip to Nice and drove through Monaco–where Speed was impressed by the number of very high-end vehicles.

They ate lots pizza and gelato, played soccer at the non-gress field right next to their hotel, were regularly awoken by church bells, and generally had a great time roaming the countryside. His favorite things were canyoning and via ferrata–both of which were guided by a German man who had been to the States several times, but only to Bentonville, AR to visit Walmart HQ. Americana!

I’m happy to report that all that seems to be behind her. Sometime before Christmas, the jolly old guy showed up at a friend’s house to say hello (technically, ho, ho, ho, I guess). Emma talked to him, smiled, and even took some pictures with him. She is all growed up!

Listing, in great detail, all the things she wanted for Christmas

Smiling while he's right there!

With Gigi and Santa

Leah and Layla with the FC Dallas mascot

As for the game itself, it ended 0-0 and FC Dallas recorded zero shots on goal–all of which sounds pretty boring. Nevertheless, Becks took possibly 10 cornerkicks, had a couple of freekicks, and had a couple of picture perfect 40-yard passes. And he got into a bit of a fracas with several FC Dallas players. Not as boring as a scoreless game might otherwise be.

Becks lines up a corner

The corner in flight