Moms/Dads/Families with Nukes in Ballston Spa, NY

ok - I'm heading up to Ballston Spa tomorrow too for the Graduation.  How are we going to meet one another??  I'd love to put faces to some of these names.  I must have missed something though.  We'll be leaving the house at 5am for the drive up - my husband has to work tonight so we can't go tonight.  Did someone post the name of the Rec Center?  I have to find the address for the GPS.  Thanks Ladies!  Can't wait.  I'll take lots of pics but if you have a grad and can't make it, send me the name so I'm sure to try and get a few for you.

NJ Navy Mom - not sure if you found it but PattiP says it's at the Milton Community Center - I looked up the address: 310 North Line Rd., Ballston Spa.

ktrsb - I hope you made your flight ok!

That's awesome that you are all going to be able to meet each other!

Have fun everyone and I can't wait to see pictures and here all about it ;-)

Mommamac - glad you found your way over here!  Now we just need to track down the mom of the 3rd musketeer in our guys group ;-)

PattiP - glad you made it there safe & sound.  Hope everyone else made it there safely too!  Have a great time today!

Hi bethr311 - just sent you a friend request.  Looks like we'll be starting this portion of the journey together! My son is saying sometime in March for classes to start.  What about yours?  He said he is class 1306.

PattiP - glad to hear you made it home safe & sound!  Sounds like you had a nice visit with your son ;-)

So how many people graduated and were there many families there?  Where will your son be assigned?

We spoke with our son yesterday - he said it was cold and he had driven in the snow for the first time on Saturday!  His roommates were gone so he went to Chipotle by himself - said it was quite interesting driving. I asked if he knew of the graduation on Friday and he said yes they all heard about it....

I'm anxious to hear from everyone else who went how it was - and where your sailor will be heading - updates please!

We skipped the other two graduations but went to our son's graduation from prototype.   In my opinion that is the graduation ceremony that really counts,because that is the one where are nukes now and have their new orders.   We got to meet the commander and the master chief and take plenty of photos, because it is small they know each of the sailors personally.

PattiP congratulations to your son and all the other newly minted nukes.

PattiP and Laura - It was wonderful to meet both of you and your sons at the Graduation.  I had heard their names many times from my son and knew they were all friends.  Lunch was great and we really had a nice time.  Hope at some point we can meet up again.  Laura - I'm holding you to the idea of meeting up midway between our homes.

B'sNukeMom - Thank you so much for the message about the address for the Prototype graduation.  I couldn't respond back and this was the first chance I had.  I really appreciate the effort you put in to let me know where it was!  You have to go to that one when your time comes.  What a beautiful little ceremony!  The Officers are so funny and accommodating.  It's unbelievable how much time they spend just talking to the parents and making you feel at home.  They invited everyone to come to the front and take as many photos as you want.  They even stopped the sailors while the photos were being taken.  I'm sure I wasn't the only one who has a lot of pictures of a red-faced sailor!  Great stuff.

NotDaMama - Thank you for the heads-up about the Prototype coins. 

For all the rest of you moms planning on attending the graduation - they have a gift table as you come in where you can buy a bunch of items.  I got the coins, and a bumper sticker for my Mom and Dad that says "Proud Grandparent of a Nuclear Reactor Operator".  Go if you can it's absolutely great!!

Slezak's Mom - My son was originally scheduled for a Dec 20something Graduation.  Due to the shut-downs and delays - the Grad was moved to Jan 24.  The other plant however, didn't have a graduation due to the delays.  Those sailors just received their orders and were shipped out.  I felt sorry for them but that's just how it went.  Some of the sailors from the MARF plant didn't qualify and pass the final boards until last week and then just shipped out.

Deeski Navy Mom - My daughter and I drove my son's car down to him in Charleston and then attended the A-School Grad.  We went a couple of days before and did our sightseeing and then flew home with my son so his car could just stay there.  If it doesn't cost you a fortune or cause a hardship - it was a really lovely ceremony.

Zoraida - As far as the shipping goes, I have used UPS and USPS-both regular mail and priority mail.  I have shipped to both my son and my nephew and my nephew was deployed.  I never had a problem with any of it.  I would text or email my son and my nephew when the packages went out and then they knew to watch for it.  What happens in the mail room at Goose Creek is that they have to do a notification to the sailors room when a package is received.  Sometimes there's an extra day by the time the mailroom gets the notification out to the sailor and then they may get it after the mailroom is closed - it could be another day.  I'm not saying there couldn't be problems but both shipping methods worked fine for me.  In fact, my son considered the bedding that they were issued to be no better than what he thought would probably be issued to Lifers in prison and asked me to ship bedding down to him.  They were teasing him when the bunch of large boxes was delivered to the mail room.  They asked if I was shipping the entire family down by USPS!  They try! 

Well it sounds like you all had a great time at graduation!  Even nicer that you were able to meet up with each other.  NJ Navy Mom - glad I could be of help with the address - thanks to PattiP for posting it! 

I'm hoping when my son's turn comes there will be more moms (& dads) on here so we can all meet up.  I know mommamac already.....maybe bethr311 will be in our group too.....

Well.

Finally a minute to share my scattered thoughts. 

Wow.

Start saving now to go to Proto Grad.  Never have I been so honored or affirmed as a parent. 

Sorry I couldn't catch up with you, Patti - we split with a group and ended up at Denny's with Bum-G's mom, sisters and a few other sailors.

Still processing, but goodness, everyone should go.

ktrsb - nice that you were able to bring your son home!  Where is the Truman stationed?

Hey, all. Thanks for kind words.

Truman is currently with the 5th Fleet, supporting a variety of operations, including Enduring Freedom.

Thought some might like to see this pic.  Was my very great honor to have lunch with these folks.

Thanks for sharing the picture ktrsb - a fine looking group of nucs!

Ok, last pic, I know it's prideful, but d*mmit, he deserves the accolades:

Son has been texting me pics all morning of the snow - it's crazy watching how much has fallen just in the last 6 hours!  He said he's worried about driving in tomorrow......

On a lighter note - I borrowed this from another mom - too cute!

Patti and Laura (and anyone else who's experiencing this storm) stay safe!

Well we finally got some much needed rain in our area yesterday.  Not a whole lot but at least it's a start!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Spoke with our sailor last night - he thinks his prototype class may start 3/17.  He just came off 4 days off and today starts mids for the next 6 days.....and he's adjusting to the weather in BS! LOL 

Happy Valentine's Day to all my sea sisters!

Wow! My son just texted that he got his orders- USS George Washington!!! So excited for him! 

Had a nice chat with sailor last night.  He still thinks they might be starting prototype on 3/17.......we are hoping to visit NY near the end of June.  Hopefully it will warm up by then LOL!

Reneec that is great, I bet he will like it in Japan.

Thanks Laura I'll start looking into this - do any of you have any recommendations on where to stay? Sailor is in Ballston Spa but we can't stay at his apt as he has roommates and there will be (possibly) 4 of us coming to visit. We are also planning to go into NY city while we are there - sailor says we can take the train.....

Patti - I will check the hotel you recommended - thanks!  I looked at flights last night and geez they are expensive - they range from about $700-$1000 per person for the end of June!  I texted sailor this morning and asked him to look for some other dates (before summer) that maybe we can visit....It's just hard with him not having a set schedule yet.  And now he is hearing it might not be until April that classes start.  We have a (small) Southwest Air credit that we have to use by 7/24 - maybe we can go sometime in April or May and fares will be less. I just hope we can spend some time with Sailor while we are there!

My son called this morning (when he got off his shift) and we have come up with a couple of different weekends near the end of April.....going to look into those.  He said the weather was beautiful - it was 35* and he was outside in jeans and a t-shirt - yikes!  I told him it was 60* here (and even warmer inside and I still have on my jacket and a scarf!)  I'll probably freeze - but oh well!  Hopefully we can make this work ;-)  He also mentioned his class might change from MARF to S8G....but all that is still up in the air!

Patti, he didn't.  Everything closed earlier in the day.  The car was doing ok, and we were hoping it would just need for him to stop every couple of hours.  And then it died after running only about 10 mins.  Still, he got it to the hotel, so we are hoping that he might get another couple of couple-hour runs tomorrow.  But I have the Delaware USO number, so if he gets stuck in the boonies, he might have some backup. 

Any possibility he can find a auto zone or auto store where he can find a replacement fuel filter for his vehicle?  There may be a couple but they can tell him where they are located on his vehicle.  It is one of the first things to go after a car has sat for a bit (besides the battery).  Unfortunately, the ethanol (corn syrup) in the gas gums up the injectors and filters and can be a problem.  Fuel filters are also the cheapest thing to replace out to make sure it isn't a more difficult problem.  

All, many, many thanks for the suggestions about what is wrong. I have the identical vehicle, am a former mechanic, and spent about an hour yesterday going through the electrical system with him.  I am certain that it either needs a new engine computer (which needs a dealer to reprogram the replacement) or a very unusual wiring problem.  So fixing the vehicle today is probably out of the question, unless someone knows a dealer shop foreman in the area.

I do have the DE USO director's number, so if he can't get it started this morning, she  might have some options.