6:00 a.m. Friday to 12:30 a.m. Sunda

Early Friday morning we dropped Katie off at the airport. I found myself terribly excited for her. I was surprised at the extent of my excitement for her, but excitement is much preferable to worry, so I went with it. As soon as we had said good bye and were certain that she made it through security, we hopped in the car again and drove from L.A. to San Luis Obispo for the graduation of two of my cousins.
It was two days loaded with fun! We were going non-stop from six o'clock Friday morning to 12:30 Sunday morning.
When we arrived in SLO we went to the beach house that my aunts and uncles had rented for the occasion. My cousin is a chef and he made delicious fajitas! After dinner we went to a concert at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. All of the band members are really good friends of my cousins. They are also amazing musicians (in some opinions)! The band is The Pat Little Band (you should check them out on youtube or iTunes). After the concert we went back to the house, had some dessert, told some funny stories about the two graduates, and then returned to the hotel to go to bed. Katie called about 1:30, but I was asleep and didn't realize it until the next morning.
The graduation started at 9:00, so we were at Cal Poly at 8:30. Personally, I can't stand graduations. Hours of sitting in the sun listening to people speak who say they won't speak very long, but then extend their speech until it seems endless. There was one particular man who wasn't on the program. He stood up at the end and said something like "I just briefly wanted to say..." half an hour later he was still going.
There were so many graduates, that after the speeches and the official "graduating" of the class, they split up into colleges and received their diplomas. My cousins were in separate colleges so our family split. I quickly found out which college was smaller and attended that one (how does one choose between equally beloved cousins?).
On our way back to the house from the graduation we stopped at Madonna Inn. It was like stepping into a live fairytale castle. The walls were huge stone, the decorations all shades of red and pink, a huge fireplace with a giant wing-backed chair beside it, the staircases are spiral with intricate designs etched into the wood. Each room is themed. We weren't able to tour any of the rooms. The closest we were able to get was the bathroom, which was also charmingly decorated as if it were a royal vanity.
A barbecue and lots of visiting followed the arrival of everyone at the house. Once they had finished eating, Brian and Alan (the graduates) brought out their guitars and presented the first part of a two part concert (we missed the second part because we had to leave). They are both very good musicians and they can both sing. Those who knew the songs sang along with them.
It was very sad when we had to say good bye. I haven't seen my family from Northern California for a year. There's such a huge age difference between myself and some of them, that I've always been one of the babies. Now that I'm growing up it's easier to have conversations with them all. The age difference doesn't seem so big any more.

Alan is in this picture, I promise. He's facing the camera about half an inch from the green spot that is really someone's decorated cap. You won't be able to see him. I had to zoom up really close on my camera to see him.

Brian is the one waving with the sunglasses on.

Someone from Africa was graduated. His/her family had the most beautiful, fabric. The styles of the dresses were a little odd. They had huge poofs and giant turbans, but the fabric was amazing.

My cousin's son (another cousin) is twenty months. He's here with his grandpa. He was fascinated with the orange cones (Tucker, not his grandpa). I was very sneaky and was able get a couple of shots without either of them noticing.

We saw this car on the freeway on our way home. We were trying to figure out if it was legal.