09/25/09 PIR Weekend (Ship 06/Div 945)

[Christine-OS2 proud mom]

Wow, what a weekend! The redeye flight was packed, it was harder to sleep on the plane from Sacramento to Houston because we were so excited about going. The flight from Houston to Milwaukee was good, got a good nap on that flight. Due to construction on the highways, we got lost (Cal says we were just diverted) for about 15 minutes getting out of Milwaukee, but got to Waukegan with no trouble, checked into the hotel early, which was nice, and got in a little nap after settling in.

We met up with Nancy, who's son DJ is also in Div 945 and became friends with Christian. We went to her hotel to meet her and her family. God adds wonderful people into our lives and he blessed Cal and me with friendships with Nancy, Joel, their sons DJ & Taylor, daughter Erin. We visited, went to the meet and greet at the Ramada and Flanigan's together. We made plans to sit with each other at the ceremony and go into Chicago to have some fun.

What can we say about that PIR ceremony? WOW, WOW, WOW!!! Those kids in Div 945 were OUTSTANDING in their performances. We didn't have to find our kids in the swarm after the ceremony, our kids came to us in the stands. It wasn't that long of a wait then it was our turn to HUG OUR SAILORS!!!! How handsome they were in their uniforms, and what confidence they had in themselves! We left the hall and got the opportunity to meet Petty Officer Santiago, he had praises for our boys and wanted to meet parents, so that was very nice.

Going into Chicgao was great, short trip when you get to visiting with new friends and hearing the boys tell you about their boot camp experience. We, of course, went straight to Willis (Sears) Tower and went to the top! What a sight that was! It was a little overcast, but it was still amazing. I couldn't believe that my ears popped two times on the elevator going up, 103 stories in 16 seconds. We came home, went to dinner, took our son back to base and said our good night. The next day we picked him up, went to NEX of course to get all the Navy goodies,and met up with his high school friend Cody Plowman and his family for lunch, had the best time listening to them talk and compare notes. We took pictures of the boys in their black/tan uniforms, again, very handsome! Headed back into Chicago to visit Navy Pier and catch up to Nancy and her family, which we did and when we got off the bus @ Navy Pier, they were getting back on to head back "home" so we skipped the pier and came back with them to have dinner together along with another 945 family. It was hard because the restaurant was messing up with our orders the boys had to get back to base before they could eat, we mom's were very upset and spoke our minds to the management. We mom's didn't get to take our boys back to the base to say our goodbyes, we had to say them in the restaurant parking lot and that was when the waterworks started for me as our flight home was leaving Milwaukee at 6 a.m. The boys got to eat their dinner today for lunch. Nancy adopted Christian for the morning, then Jake's family adopted both Christian and DJ for the remainder of the day, thank you both families for including my son into yours.

So now I'm home, loaded up some good pictures and will be making discs to send to new friends. It was too short of a weekend but it was so worth it. I'm proud of my son, of all the men and women who graduated on 9/25/09, they are now American Sailors and represent the finest fighting force the world has ever seen! Now he's still in Great Lakes for A School and I'll get to have him home for Christmas (cross my fingers). It was so fun to meet other mom's that I've met online, wonderful to meet your families and sailors. God bless our kids, God bless all Navy families.