Last of the graduation week festivities

I know I've already said a LOT about graduation but I have just a few more random pictures from our big week that I wanted to post. First off, Joe and I just LOVED having both sets of our parents in town! Having us all together plus Nate & Lori (and even Ben & Caitlin when they were free!) just made the week such a party and so much fun. My mom arrived first and we spent a day in Georgetown together and then Joe's parents flew in followed by my Dad. We had family dinners, went out to eat, spent some time at the mall, went on a couple of walks, and mostly just hung out. But with all the graduation stuff going on we were fairly busy and it all just went by way too fast.

As a side note, I just have to provide a little explanation about my cookie. In case you haven't heard of Great American Cookies it is located in the Columbia mall and they do those big cookie things with frosting. Since we've lived here I've never gotten one but I grew up with one in my Dubuque, Iowa mall and am somewhat obsessed. For the past 4 years I have kept trying to come up with a sufficient reason to get one, since they aren't exactly cheap. But every time a birthday or something would roll around I would change my mind and decide no, I am trying to eat healthy right now and the last thing I need to do is eat an entire huge cookie (since let's face it, that's probably what was going to happen).

Well this time I decided that graduation was THE occasion and I was ready for my cookie, no matter what. We had to make a special detour on the way home from graduation in Baltimore to get it, but here it is:
Looking pretty excited, huh? I was just hoping the cookie would actually live up to my highly-set expectations since I had been having trouble with that lately (see last two posts). :) Here's a picture so you can see what it said.

And the verdict?? Yes, it was delicious. I think I probably ate like a third of it myself. Based on how rough my first week of bar study has been (very mild compare to how it will get) I'm thinking that taking the bar at the end of July will be sufficient cause for another cookie. What do you think??

Another big part of graduation day was our amazing graduation dinner. I chose to eat at the Grille at Harryman House ... this was another part of the day that I had "high expectations" for and fortunately it did not disappoint one bit. We all had delicious meals and appetizers and the meal was very special and unique, which was what I was hoping for. Thank you to our parents who were kind enough to treat us to all these fun occasions as a celebration of us entering the "real world." Hopefully someday we can return a few of the favors. :)

The group outside the restaurant:

That night we hung out, played games, ate my cookie (w/ ice cream for those who wanted it) and I gave Joe his "graduation present." I just wanted Dr. D to be able to see his official new name in print whenever he felt like it so I thought this nameplate would be appropriate:

The next day we had a blast taking our family to hunt valley to the Amish market (love that place) for breakfast/lunch/way more food that you would ever need to eat!! So delicious though.

After lunch we stopped at the NCR trial for a walk. It was a perfect day.

We also stopped at Wegman's ... also a bit of a novelty ... and got food for Sunday dinner and just enjoyed the gorgeous drive. The next day was Sunday and my Dad had to fly out right after church while the other 3 flew out early the next morning. Joe and I, however, spent the day getting ready for our very highly anticipated Mexico vacation!!