A Week of Graduations

It has been a crazy, emotional, incredible week here at the Knopf's. in 4 days time we had 3 different graduations. Our oldest 3 boys have given us much reason to be proud so please bear with me as I gush on about them and share some photo's from the week.
Thursday afternoon Dave's parents rolled into town in time for Aric's Graduation from 8th grade. We headed to the Middleschool for graduation to celebrate Aric's completion of 8th grade and the big step to High School in the fall. Aric hates the camera so I only got a couple of shots of him... here's my favorite



On Friday was High School Graduation for Ryan. Dave's parents were here already and his brother Mike got here in the afternoon with his 2 boys for the weekend.

The weather was not cooperating and as we sat in the stands it got dark, windy, rainy and COLD! But toward the end of graduation ceremonies, the sky lightened and the sun attempted to peak out through the clouds and the most beautiful double rainbow filled the shy over the football field where graduation was held. It was a beautiful way to end the evening!



I was determined not to get emotional and cry seeing my oldest son graduate, but he had other plans for me. As we sat watching the long processional of maroon gowns looking for Ryan to appear all of a sudden he was right in front of me, he smiled and then nodded his head to reveal the top of his mortar board and this is what I saw...


This is all I needed to start the tears flowing... I am so incredibly proud of this kid.
Dave and I with Ryan:



This is Ryan with his Grandparents...



And one of Ryan and Kellie




We had a big family party for Ryan and Aric on Saturday that was a lot of fun... we were surrounded by friends and family all helping to celebrate the accomplishments of Ryan and Aric.

As if all of this wasn't enough to make my heart feel like it was going to burst with pride for my kids, Alex was chosen to attend the Connecticut Fire Academy Cadet Program. He has been waiting for 2 years to get into this program. He missed all the weeks festivities as he was at the Academy all week completing his cadet training. He has belonged to Gardner Lake Fire Department for the last 3 years and is the Cadet Chief for his cadet group. He completed the program on Sunday and we went to addend his graduation ceremonies. We were awed to see him in dress uniform and receive his certification. Then the cadets were dismissed to the fire station to put their gear on to give us all demonstrations of the things they learned. Their instructor told us that the cadets had been putting in 14-16 hour days, most of that in full gear doing hands on training. We saw ladder demonstrations hose demonstrations, forced entry demonstrations, and several fire demonstrations. These young people worked very hard to achieve their level of training... we are very proud of Alex.
Here is Alex Receiving his Certification from his Cadet Advisor who was there to present the Certification to the Cadets from Gardner Lake:


Here is my fireman... this picture makes my heart feel like it is being squeezed... I am so proud of him...



I will finish this entry with this photo... Alex (#6 GLVFC) taking charge of the situation...




Stay tuned for vacation photo's in a week or so... we leave for the lake on Sunday!

~Vicki