Oahu Day 4

Today was Hannah's big day: graduation!

Our morning was relatively chill because Hannah's graduation was only due to start at 3 in the afternoon. We got to sleep in and have our coffee and breakfast fairly relaxed. Before lunch I headed out to meet my mom and dad to run some errands. Our first stop was to get a fresh flower lei for Hannah. It is a custom in Hawaii to give graduates lei, so we all needed to get a lei for Hannah. I picked out a purple and green orchid lei.

After running the errands, it was quick back to the hotel to get changed and then we went to go and pick Hannah up and head to the university. We were running a tad bit late, so finding parking and then seats in the arena with enough together for all of us was a bit stressful, but we got some! The ceremony wasn't too long, but the acoustics and microphone weren't great, so we struggled to hear the speeches. Hannah's kinesthesiology degree was towards the end of the degrees awarded, so we had to wait a while for her turn. It did mean that after she got her degree it wasn't long until the end of the ceremony! Most people left before all the graduates marched out, but mom, Allan, and I went down closer to the floor area where the graduates were to get a better picture of Hannah.

After graduation was over, we met Hannah at the football practice field where families and friends gathered with the graduates to give out their lei. Some of Hannah's friends came and found her as well as some of her teachers. Once nobody else was really looking for Hannah, Hannah went and found her friends that she wanted to give lei to. We followed her around until she was done and then we got in the car to head to dinner!

For graduation dinner Hannah picked Joe's Steakhouse. I think she mostly picked it for the mashed potatoes, which after eating them, were pretty good. The steaks are served individually, but the sides are more family style. In my opinion, the dishes were a bit small to be classed as "family-style" but they tasted good. After dinner, we drove back to the hotels dropping Hannah off at her apartment on the way. And just like that, the smallest Hawley is a college graduate.Read more