I have never been more proud of my son than on this very special day. We caught an early shuttle to MCRD. There was going to be a flag raising ceremony. We got on base and watched them raise the flag over the parade ground. It was then lowered to half mast because of the Navy Yard shootings earlier in the week.

We had been told that this was something we didn’t want to miss, and we were very unimpressed by it. At the very least, we were able to get good seats in the bleachers, right in front of Platoon 1013. Mom and Alyssa and I then went to the library to try to get internet access. We flew Southwest Airlines and we needed to check in 24 hours before our flight to get the best boarding position. No assigned seats will make you do crazy things.

As we were walking back, we noticed a large group of people in around a flagpole in front of a different building. Apparently, they were honoring some former Marines. Oh, well. Our good seats at the graduation and our good boarding positions were worth it!

The USMC band

The bulldog that’s the Marine mascot. I can’t remember her name, but she was cute.

Here come the graduates. The precision was impressive.

Brian in the third row from the left in the front.

Right in the center of the picture.

Proud of our graduate.

The family.

The siblings

Our handsome son

Actually, I should say that my favorite part was when the Marines were officially released to be on leave. Yay! We could take Brian off base. We took some pictures, then walked back to the barracks so he could get all of his gear. We waited a long time in that line for the shuttle back to the hotel. One woman got rather indignant with waiting.

We got back to the hotel and not too much later decided to go get a bit to eat. It was about [1:30] or [2:00]. We walked over to the Old Town Mining Company again. I changed things up and got pulled pork sliders. Yum. Most of the rest got burgers that they gave high reviews.

Across the street was a cute little shop where I bought a little Mexican pot for my printer’s tray.
The trouble is that I can’t find it anywhere. Wish I knew where it went. I’m bummed. On our walk back to the hotel, we passed a small deli/liquor store. We popped in and got some snacks and sodas for later on.

Jonalyn had been begging us to go in the pool. The days had been rather cool, but we let her go. The poor girl was freezing but having a great time. Then it was back to the room to catch up with Brian and pack.

I’m happy to say that we got to the airport in plenty of time and were all able to sit in the same area together. Brian was on our flight, too, which made us happy. The flight was smooth and we made our connection in Phoenix with time to spare.

What a wonderful trip it was. We made some amazing memories. We were so glad that my parents were able to come along and share this time with us. It is a vacation we will talk about for many, many years to come.