Lia Does Homecoming, Times Two!

Lia has gone to Homecoming both her sophomore and junior year with her close group of running buddies.  She has always had a great time and was looking forward to continuing this tradition her senior year.  So, you can imagine her disappointment when she found out that Homecoming had been scheduled super early this year (on Sept. 19th) on a Friday when all of her running buddies would be travelling to Oregon for a big, XC meet.  As a result, none of them could go with her.  After getting over the initial disappointment, Lia decided that she was determined to go and asked several friends to join her.  Sadly, no one was available, so she decided to ask her good friend, Isabelle, from theater if she could join her group which consisted of three couples.  I was proud of Lia for having the courage to do this.  Luckily, Isabelle agreed, and so Lia joined her group for the evening.  They stared out by eating McDonald's take out at one of the kids' houses before driving into Tacoma for a photo shoot on the waterfront.  They then went to the dance at the Tacoma Convention Center before driving back to Puyallup to eat desserts at BJ's.  I was so relieved to hear that Lia had a good time, even though she was the only one in her group that didn't have a date.

Lia posing with the other three girls: Abby, Brooke, and Isabelle.

Lia and Isabelle doing the classic, Titanic pose together.

Lia with the rest of the group.

From left to right:

Logan, Isabelle, Lia, Abby, Lawrence, Brooke, and Dominic

Lia's running buddies decided that they still wanted to have a Homecoming experience of their own, so they picked October 4th as the date to go out on the town.  They all bought dresses and met at the flower garden at Point Defiance to take pictures.  Lia's good friend, Alyssa, agreed to meet them there and be their photographer.  Here is a darling group photo they got with dahlias on both sides.  I couldn't believe that these flowers were still in bloom at the beginning of October!

Another group picture on a bridge over the pond.

From left to right:

Erika, Ani, Emma, Lia, Esley, Willow, and Hope

Another group shot.

Lia and the dahlias.

After the photo shoot, the girls all drove to the Olive Garden in Tacoma to have dinner.  They then returned to our house for a slumber party and chose to watch a Barbie movie from Lia's vast collection of DVDs from her childhood which I thought was the funniest thing.  I then fed them a homemade breakfast of eggs, sausage, and pumpkin muffins this morning before they all headed home.  I'm so glad that these girls were still able to make Homecoming happen this year, especially for the seniors in the group!