PIR 12/22/2010

I'm with Betsy...and vote for the SHUTTLE, NDG.  We were also at Residence and took the 6:30 shuttle...also in our seats by 7.  No hassle, no lines...right in.  No problem leaving on the shuttle either.

When your sailors go back to get their packs and pictures after PIR, it may take a while so plan a place to meet up with them.  My son took forever to get back to us...seems he decided to start talking to alot of shipmates....

This is SOO annoying. Hertz has bad customer service. I keep trying to rent a car to come home in and they keep passing me to other people and the people are either rude or can't speak a lick of english. I haven't had this much trouble with them before.

desiree:  I believe your son will be going through BattleStations tonight...so your call should come tomorrow!  Congrats ahead of time on your new sailor!

nicksmom:  Yes, he should have BattleStations tonight.  Sleep well because he won't be calling you until tomorrow (finishes BattleStations in the morning)...usually in the afternoon, but since it is the day before PIR, calls can actually come in the morning...so have the cell phone handy!

Dianne, you are right, it did take my son about 40 minutes to get back to us.  We just waited in the NEX for him.  We did still have plenty of time to get the shuttle back since graduation ended at about 10:30a.m.

Betsy, go look at the chat box now. :-)

Thanks Betsy and Dianne for the info. The shuttle it is!! I have a rather large bag all packed with the things that were on THE LIST, it is larger than a purse. Should I shuffle stuff into purse (tight fit that), or just take the large bag. It is a VERY (if I don't say so myself) Vera Bradley, so it is really purse looking, just duffle bag size.

And Betsy, OMG, you have saved my life!! I talked to IB, BUT was SO excited to talk to him, and SO emotional working out some GF problems, that I TOTALLY FORGOT to ask where he was sitting. I was just telling my mom, that oh darn, don't know where to sit. And now i do thanks to you!!!! :-)

NDG:  Betsy is so right on the seating...it is easy to find because your division honor guard will be standing in front of your section with division number displayed.  They are very helpful in the PIR Hall for any questions you may have.  For those of you in the first 2 divisions, you will be right in front of the big rollup door to see the first "reveal" of your sailors standing outside!  GOOSEBUMPS!  They march in with their trenchcoats on because of the cold...and another goosebump moment when they all remove "outerwear" to reveal their navy blues!  Get ready!

Got the call this afternoon.  He's a Sailor!  We are so proud.  Flying out tomorrow morning leaving all this Rain behind but with no consolation right into the cold/windy/snowy adventure.

Congratulations to you all and your Sailors!  Thank you all so much for being the constant in our lives from the very start.  You all deserve a pat on the back!  Great Lakes here we come!!!  God bless and safe travels.

Dianne, my son was 2nd coming in and it was amazing.  My son's division won Hall of Fame!

diannep-you got me even more excited to him!!

Hi everyone,  We arrived at here @8:30 pm, it is snowing pretty hard. We drove from ky, it took us about an extra 2hrs, we had snow pretty much the whole way. Around Chicago was the worse, they were having freezing rain/snow the roads were horrible.  At one point it took over an hr to drive 12miles. Got our around 2 from our Sailor, div. 031. He was actually dozing off while talking, he was so exhausted, I had to pry the words that I had anxiously been waiting to hear out of him. I asked it went he said it was fine. LOL  If you are driving allow extra because of the weather, warm clothes, I brought my winter boots glad I did. Congrats to everyone.  Be safe.

I really hope the weather lets up a little and you all can make it there for PIR. Please be careful and have a safe trip. Have a great time with your Sailor and Merry Christmas to all of you.

My prayers are with everyone for safe travels.  ((hugs))

We found a great place to eat, the food was good & not pricey. It has pizza, pasta, ect.. Its on S. Greenbay RD across from America best value inn. I can't remember the name but it was excellent plus  tonight pasta dinners were half price we ate for $12  they were huge plates. That was nice after driving all day in crappy weather.     Lala  once again the ribbons are wonderful, I actually wore mine up here & had a lot of compliments on it.  MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!      Oh yeah, I suggest  if you have long underwear to bring them, I have silk ones & boy I'm glad I wore them today. Just a thought.

Leaving in a few for the airport. I won't be on here anymore til I get back home so I wish everyone safe traveling and I really hope they don't delay nor cancel my flight... we will see. I hope everyone makes it to PIR and makes it safe! Merry Christmas to everyone and congrats to all the new sailors!

Safe travel for all today...hoping that all are able to receive the I'm a Sailor calls from the final group of SAILORS from your PIR group today...HOOYAH for the 800 and 900 divisions!  STAY WARM!

Betsy:  What a TREAT to see your son as he walked in!  I wasn't able to spot mine for the entire ceremony!  UGH!  He was "lost in the middle' of the group.  Thought we would be "wise" and stand in the bleachers and let all others run on the floor at LIBERTY CALL...he would see us and then come over...didn't happen...not only did we almost get trampled by the crowd, but he wasn't looking for us in the bleachers...we finally found him calmly talking to some of the other sailors...but it was a sweet reunion!

His division was Hall of Fame also at his PIR...quite an honor for them!  Congrats to your sailor!

Safe travels to all.  Boy they stay on top of the roads, they spent all night clearing the roads. i heard the snow plows going all night. Can't believe 1 more day!  Congrats to all!

Safely arrived in Chicago! Can't wait for tomorrow!

:)

Got the call, my son is a Sailor. He's still sick, asked for chocolate covered cherries and a Red Bull.

Congratulations to all your new sailors!  Your fun is just beginning.  My head is still in the clouds from having my sailor home with us.

We have started an Alumni group for the graduating classes of 12/17 and 12/22. When you have time after PIR, we would love for you to join us there.  There are discussions on the different A schools, a chat and all the fun things we had on our pages, will be there soon.  Here is the link:  http://www.navyformoms.com/group/alumnipir121710?xg_source=activity

ahhh today is the day ladies!! been literally up since 4am!!! i am too excited!!!

long and wild ride, but this is all we've been waiting for! wishing everyones gets to enjoy their new sailors! :) God bless us all. 

CONGRATS TO ALL THE NEW SAILORS CANT WAIT TO SEE MY DAUGHTER SOOOO EXCITED BE SAFE AND AND ENJOY YOUR TIME EVERYONE

Back home with my Sailor :D ....Congratulations everybody!!

Got my Sailos and we are home!!!

Priscilla-Tell me about the talking the whole way home my son talked about so much but it was so nice to hear about the different things they did.

Hope EVERYONE enjoys the time we all have with our Sailors

Bravo Zulu to all the PIR 12/22 graduates! It is so awesome to be with my son! When those doors opened I thought I was going to burst with excitement! The Meet and Greet was a lot of fun! So nice to meet the women who have been my lifeline to sanity for the past 8 weeks! Well done "MOMS!" I must say the 14 our drive twice in three days wasn't quite as awesome, but I did love staring at my son for 14 hours! The only time I'll have him to myself! He is already off with friends! :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Penny

What a busy couple of days!!! I LOVED getting to put a face to so many of the ladies I have met on here. :-)  Sara, I am SO glad you stayed at the same hotel and we got to meet. Thanks so much to Mary for helping to organize this site and helping to coordinate the M&G too. And kudos to Maggie for her work with Anastasia's. Kinda sad that so many were not able to attend, but those of us who did had a lovely dinner along with a chance to connect.

The actual PIR was incredible. A combination of stress and excitement augmented by moments of sheer boredom (OK...you have to understand, we were on the second shuttle to arrive so we were there for a LONG time). The anticipation was the hardest, and Penny is right (LOVED meeting you btw!!!), the doors opening was the very best. I thought that I was going to totally fall apart and cry the whole time, but amazingly enough, I didn't. I could tell that IB could see me. He couldn't move his head, but his eyes kept shifting over to where we were sitting. (the binoculars were a MUST! Thanks Jessica for telling us to bring them) We spoke about it later and he said he knew that I would be wearing the pink scarf and he saw us right away. He laughed a little, as he said he could see US looking for HIM.

I am incredibly proud of my son. I can tell already that he has matured in many ways and this path he has chosen is an excellent one for him. He told me last night that so many people were thanking him and he hadn't even done anything yet, I could tell he both amazed and appreciative.

IB is home, well...kinda, he got off the plane last night and immediately went to visit his big brother in his apartment. They will be home tomorrow night for Christmas Eve when all of the holiday celebrations will begin. I miss him; however, I know that they are having a blast doing "brother" stuff, and they won't have a chance to do this again for a very long time.

Wishing all of you the happiest of holidays with your new sailors!

Nancy

So happy to be reunited with my Sailor!

:)

Nancy...N is off with friends again! I know that is normal...wish he would just stay home so that I can just look at him...but that is a mom thing! haha! I love that his friends are so happy to have him home and have organized a get together for him for tonight! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas! Love to all!

Penny