Dr. Daddy, Part II

Well, it's official: Dr. Daddy is in the house! Martin successfully defended his doctoral thesis Thursday. It was a thrilling day with an unthrilling lack of good pictures because I was so excited that my hands were shaking. (Tip: This does not make for good photography.)

However, here are Martin and Libby celebrating afterward:


And Martin, his committee (Michael and Judy -- the other two committee members were there via phone), and his good friend Staci celebrating.


What an exciting day! I am so incredibly proud of Martin and all of his hard work to accomplish it. He is a remarkable person indeed, and I'm lucky to call him my partner.

We followed up our wonderful day with a wonderful visit with Staci and her husband Paul and daughter Riordan. They were terrific hosts; our only regret was not being able to stay with them longer.

Rory, by the way, might be the cutest and smartest kid on Earth. She was so much fun to be around! Some highlights: We played "Care Bear Talking Game" (Rory's invention -- our Care Bears went to the park and had fun on the swings), had an impromptu jam session for a Care Bear conga line we'd created, and played word games.


Then Pop-Pop Marc came up and got us and we commenced a looonnnnnnggggg eight-hour drive to Maryland, so we could go home and visit/celebrate with Martin's family. Libby was an absolute trooper on the trip, and our visit with the Maryland family was well worth the efforts (as you can see below).

Grandma's apparently a sucker for a slobberpuss.

While the adults enjoy their celebratory crab-pickin' feast (and this Midwesterner was mocked for her pickin' style, I can assure you) ...

The kids all piled into the pool (kiddie and otherwise).


Mom, Dad, and Lib visit the horses that live right outside Aunt Clare's door (I swear, there's a horsey just outside the frame).

An attempt at an all-grandkids photo shoot goes madly awry thanks to the Libster.

We then climbed back onto a plane yesterday (I kept hearing Forrest Gump in my head: "So I went traveling ... again") and came home. Libby crashed out on Daddy's chest for about 98 percent of the flight, prompting many admiring and thankful comments from the people seated around us. What a gal! This kid put up with some seriously crazy schedules and travel demands over the last five days and hardly put up any fuss.


Apologies to Mary Beth for the Gump reference. Didn't mean to ruin your day!