Erm... And Peter's Graduation

Remember when I was good at blogging?  Oh, okay, maybe I was never good, persay, but I did ramble more than once every other week...

Even about food!  I haven't babbled on about food for awhile now...  And you know there have been some dinners since last time.  But, I'll save that for "next time."

This time, I'd like to congratulate my littlest brother (who doesn't read my blog) on his graduation from college.  Congrats, Petey!  This is my lovely family with the newest "adult":

Simon, the middle child, and I reminisced about some Peter stories over the weekend.  I won't spend too long on them, but here's a taste of why we're so proud of the youngest sibling...

Fourth Grade - In Virginia, we have standardized testing.  I'm not sure if it's changed since I was in elementary school, or if there are earlier tests, but the Iowa tests are in fourth grade.  Or they could be called something else - it doesn't really matter.  Every fourth grader takes these tests.  The Iowa tests (as I am going to call them) have several parts, one of which is an essay.  During his year, Peter's essay questions was something along the lines of "You have a box.  What's in it?"  Simple prompt.  Kid could have written anything.  A new toy, a puppy, a helicopter, a computer, an original raft from "Oregon Trail"...  Anything.  What does my brother do?  He turns in a blank piece of paper.  When the teacher discovered this, she pulled him aside - heaven forbid he hurt the school's average test scores - and asks him what was going on.  His reply?  That he didn't have a box, so how was he supposed to know what was in it?  Even after the teacher explained again that it was a creative thing, he wouldn't write anything.  Eventually, they called my mother in, and she walked him through writing the essay.

High School - Peter didn't like English or Social Studies.  (I can totally respect this part!)  I'm not entirely sure what prompted him to fail his first class, but, after doing so, and then going to summer school, he realized that summer school was way easier than normal school.  Obvious thing to do?  Fail all the classes that he didn't like, take them in summer school and get better grades than he would have during the normal school year.

And in what did this all culminate?  Peter now has a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech.  And he graduated Magna Cum Laude!

... And the rest of the family exhaled loudly...