We did it!

mandela at the beginning of the ceremony!

celebrating with friends at the end of the day...

here we are, with family. Alina took this picture...

Mandela graduated from college this weekend, and we're all so proud of him. He was really happy with being done, i'm just not so sure he's happy with coming back home though, since he's been on his own for 4 years! I need advice on how to handle this next phase of our life, because I want him to continue to be independent and on his own...should i encourage him to move out soon? start charging rent? let him live at home for a while? I dont know - what do you think, how should i approach this?

In any event, I am so happy and proud of him. Yes I did get a little teary eyed that Matthew was not there physically to share in the joy but I know he was there in spirit...it was a bittersweet feeling.

today being fathers day was also a bit surreal. My kids did really well though and no extremes today - we've had a busy day with packing his stuff up and moving him out of the dorm. I'm sort of stressing about how we 're going to do at the airport checkin! With 10 suitcases and 5 carry ons, we're going to have to make several trips to the airport!

On Thursday we went to this place called the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz where these folks built a house that was not level. It creates weird effects on your perception and feelings. I got a bit dizzy and disoriented so I decided not to continue with the tour but here's some photos the rest of the group took!

this is my friend trish trying out the mystery house...

lined up from shortest to tallest - or are they?

same people, lined up reverse, now who's the tallest?

she's not falling, she's standing up straight but she looks like she's falling because of the angle in which the house is built. The folks who work there claim that it's because the magnetic forces of the place are different but in reality, the skeptic in me thinks that the architects just did a really good job building a stable place what was out of level in the first place...!

pretty cool huh?