Jen's Graduation from Culinary School

We were so proud to attend Jen's graduation from culinary school.  She received an associate culinary degree from Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte North Carolina.  We were amazed by her ability to attend school full time and at times work work two to three other part time jobs to support herself.  

The graduation ceremony was held at the TimeWarner Cable Arena, home of the Charlotte Bobcats.  It was a very nice venue for the graduation ceremoney.  

There are Scottish roots at the college.  An excellent bag pipe group led the opening ceremonies.

The arena was full of proud parents, family, and friends.  

The graduate after the ceremony

A very proud father and his daughter

One of Jen's first jobs in Charlotte was as a pastry chef with Nobles Restaurant.  She was very interested in  pursuing this career and has learned so much at this wonderful restaurant.  She helps make all the breads and desserts for Nobles and several other restaurants owned by Chef Jim Noble.   She has to get up very early in the morning to have everything ready in time for the lunch and evening customers. This just amazes me, since mornings were never her best time of the day.  :)

While she continues to work part-time at Nobles, she has also recently started working at an Olympic Training Site facility called the U.S. National Whitewater Center.  She helps manage the restaurants and staff for this outdoor recreation area.  We visited this center and were amazed at all the activities available.  It is the worlds larges re-circulating  river and offers many challenges and lots of family fun. 

Rivers Edge Restaurant and Bar

You can white water raft rapid with a guide in Class II - V rapids.  Or, you  can also take your own kayak or paddle down a much calmer river in the back

There are  climbing walls and a very popular adventure course.  You are connected by a harness and balance on cables as your work your way through the course.  It an opportunity to definitely work on your balance and bravery.  Here is Jen on the Mega Jump-a forty foot free fall. 

Here she goes...I decided to just take pictures!

We had a wonderful visit and are so proud of her and all she has accomplished.  

Race Day-Indianapolis 500

Attending the Indianapolis 500 race has been a part of our Memorial Day activities for many years. I have probably attended at least 20 races and at one time lived in Speedway. There are many activities during the month of May that lead up to the race. It’s fun to also attend Carburation Day, Pole Day, and IPL 500 Festival Parade (my favorite). Over the years we have developed a “system” for enjoying the race such as good places to park the car, ways to avoid the traffic jams, excellent seat locations for seeing more of the race, necessary items to pack in our cooler, right type of gear to wear and take along, plus much more. It’s a great event.

This will probably be the last year we will attend, at least for awhile. Our workamping positions will probably conflict with our ability to attend. So, with a little bit of sadness we attended this year’s race. Well, first of all let’s just say it was very HOT! I’m going to have to say it again…it was HOT! Luckily, we packed a cooler stocked with lots of beverages and I spent some time under one of those misty things for some relief from the heat. It was announced that it was the hottest race ever. No kidding-over 1500 people were treated for heat related issues. That being said, it was a very exciting race with the winner almost coasting across the finish line running on fumes. Dario Franchit was this year’s winner and he certainly deserved the title. There was a lot of strategy involved and he ran a perfect race.

Our favorite driver is Helio Castroneves. He held the pole position but unfortunately made some errors in the pits and with fuel. Everyone’s favorite, however, was probably Tony Kanaan. He had the very last starting position due to wrecking his cars (yes, two cars) during qualifications. No driver has ever won the race starting in that position, but he almost did. He certainly helped make it a very exciting race

We took one last look around the track at the end of the race. Attending the race each year has been a great May tradition. Hopefully, we will be back sometime soon to watch another. If you haven’t been before, it’s another great bucket list item!

We want to extend a special thank you to all the men and women who are serving our country.  We are also so very grateful to all of those who have served in the past