kiwi whose FB?

We are here!!!  Traveled by Southwest from No. CA.  Good flight, no problem getting the rental or getting through traffic.  $1 toll to our hotel (Homewood Suites).  Very nice hotel.  Hope to see a bunch of you tomorrow night.  We did go through Midway~thought we noticed the USO AFTER security. 

 

How do we "hook up" with our soldier at the airport (i know he is leaving Sat...just dont know what airport at this time).  Do they just dump them off..and he can wait someplace for us...or do they have to travel as a group?

I found it:)

 

Have a safe trip everyone and congrats to all our Sailors!!!!!

As I prepare for our PIR weekend, I am thinking of those who were instrumental in getting me through the past 8 weeks.  I want to thank diannep, Lala, JessicaB and Craig for all of the support and wealth of information you have provided us with.  I'm not sure how well I would have done in boot camp without you!  Lala, I am so excited to wear the ribbons you made for my family, thank you very much!  We will wear them with pride!!!  To all of the PIR 4/8/2011 moms, wives and girlfriends safe travels and enjoy your weekend with your Sailors!!!!! 

 my daughter is going to the air port Sat. too. she is going to be there at 3AM. for a 3PM flight to San Diago. we will be there with her for as long as we can.

Packing my bags! Hope to see you all soon. 1 day and 12 hours-never thought it would get here!
@Sandra, Kiwi meant FaceBook when she wrote FB. Have you all seen the photos on
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/NavyRecruitTrainingCommand

welcome to Waukegan everyone If you have  not been to Anatasia's  yet  the deep dish pizza is the bomb  but  get the small  size

kimberly:  On behalf of all of the veteran moms/Craig, we say you all are very welcome.  We love helping--- and guess what?  Now you all are veterans too so feel free to join us if you like!  Enjoy PIR...it is phenomenal! 

sandy:  You can ask for the gate pass from the airlines counter with your sailor with you.  Have ID!  That will allow you time to wait with her at the gate.  Very precious time! 

Thanks so much Kimberly, that was so sweet. Congrats to all of you and your new sailors. I know you will have a wonderful time with your Sailor this weekend. Tomorrow night at the Meet and greet take a pic for me of all of you wearing your ribbons. What a great birthday present that would be for me :-) I will be celebrating tomorrow morning by getting my very first massage lol. I am a little nervous about it haha. Travel safely!!!

Well I am all packed. I just want to say thank you so much to everyone in this group!! This was an amazing source of information and I don't know how I could have gotten through without it! Good Luck to all! and once again Congratulations to all!! PIR is going to be amazing!! <3 Travel safe!! :)

Okay! Im almost all packed and ready! Just gotta dye my hair! Haha. Im sooo nervous! I CANT WAIT! I know I didnt talk on here a lot but thats because everything I had to ask was almost ALWAYS already answered! Which was great!!! I love reading all of this. It helped me stay positive knowing I wasnt the only one feeling the way I feel! So thanks soooo much! :) Have a safe and fun trip everyone!

Thanks for the pizza tip, Terry!

I found out today my daughter leaves for San Antonio on Saturday as well :( I will cherish every second that I get to see her beautiful face!

Congrat to all these recruits...  Congrats to the entire 4/8 PIR group!

 

Honor Recruits and Award Winners

Recruit Review Graduation April 8, 2011
Divisions 121-128, 807-808, and 920-921

Each honor graduate and award winner will receive a commemorative token from the commanding officer in recognition of their superlative achievements during recruit training.

The Honor Graduates for this week’s recruit review graduation are as follows:

SR Trisha Smestad, Division 121, Wake Forrest, North Carolina
SR Armando Flores, Division 122, Demotte, Indiana;
SR Chad Tacito, Division 123, West Memphis, Arkansas
SR Jason Bennett, Division 124, Baltimore, Maryland
SR Joy Erasmus, Division 125, Cape Town, South Africa
SR Danielle Holcomb, Division 126, Wasilla, Alaska
SR Mark Spinney, Division 127, Newton, New Jersey
SR Mark Madla, Division 128, San Diego, California
SR Patrick Ryan, Division 807, Chicago, Illinois
SR Timothy Ross, Division 808, Meadville, Pennsylvania
SR Andrew Lamb, Division 920, Cambridge, Massachusetts
SR Jamie Roberts, Division 921, Buffalo, New York

The award recipients for this week's recruit review graduation is as follows:

NAVY CLUB OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY EXCELLENCE AWARD
SR Mark Plaat, Division 920, Columbus, Ohio

NAVY LEAGUE AWARD
SR Thomas Stevens, Division 128, Lake Elsinore, California

MILITARY OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA AWARD
SR Cody High, Division 127, Greencastle, Pennsylvania

THE MILITARY ORDER OF THE WORLD WARS AWARD OF MERIT
SR Daniel Grosso, Division 808, Medford, New Jersey

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AWARD
SR Anthony Martin, Division 128, Poquoson, Virginia

UNITED SERVICES ORGANIZATION SHIPMATE AWARD
SR David DelCastillo, Division 921, Norfolk, Virginia

Boarding plane in 15 mins.  Can't wait to see all the Sailors tomorrow.  Congratulations to all Sailors and Families. We are so proud. 

Thanks everyone for all of your help- being here has made the last two months go by quicker and has really helped. Congratulations to your sailors and you and  your families. Have a safe trip and a wonderful time with your sailor, see you tomorrow

Good morning! Had three hours of sleep and on our way to the airport. So excited! Can't wait to see my son and all the Sailors. Thanks to everyone on this web site for sharing information. It was very helpful.Have a safe trip everyone! God Bless

Wow, in less than 24 hrs we will be seated for the Graduation! We are driving over night(from Michigan) straight to the ceremony. I really wish we could attend the meet and greet :( Ah well, we will be staying at the Ramada anyway and hanging out for the day with our son. I left it up to him as to what he wanted to do...that definitely would be to relax :) So, we are going to chill out by the pool. I have to admit, I was really worried about my younger children being able to attend the ceremony. We were going to take a chance on getting them in and if not, one of us(my husband or I) would hang back to sit with them. I just learned that children 12 and under are automatically in as long as they are with someone on the guest list. Whew! Safe travels to everyone!

Just got up here in Cali.  We're leaving for the airport in about 2 hours.  Safe travels everyone!

lidsterzoo:  Make sure your new sailor brings the navy issued swimsuit to wear by the pool!  Navy requirement.

I hope it is an indoor pool. Weather forecast has highs in the 40's. You would not find me in a swimsuit at those temps!! :0) 

 

Heading to the airport in a few myself. I think I have everything packed. I seem to be a little absent-minded though and haven't been getting much sleep the last 2 nights. STRESS! (and I am a seasoned traveler) This has definitely been a completely different experience than I have ever gone through. I have been emotinal and everything else.

Courtyard actually DOES have an indoor pool and those staying at Residence are allowed to use it. Maybe Springhill Suites guests can also....all 3 are Marriotts! 

We are here... On our way to the hotel.

Went to the Navy Museum~the volunteer there mentioned that many families go there after graduation to wait for their SAILOR to call when they are ready to be picked up.  Just a thought...not very far from the gate.

IM HERE!  Im in Libertyville, IL  Fixin to go to the meet and greet at the Ramada Inn.  PIR TOMORROW!  WOO HOO!

Can't wait to see my Sailor tomorrow!

Travel safe everyone and we want to hear details when you get back.

We are here and what an experience. Where is everyone at?

 

Congrats Sandra.....would love to here your PIR story my Dau PIR 4/15 i cant wait to go there.

I will tell you all about it and share all the dos and donts. Live and learn. Lol. Thank you:)

We are here waiting to see our Sailor and her Div. From what we have seen they all look great

So happy to be here! Can't wait for PIR to begin. Starting to feel like a sardine ;)

YAY! It's over and they are all graduates! Wonderful day and I'm just sooooo proud of my guy! The 807 took the Captain's Cup and Hall of Fame, but everyone of these sailors are winners today! Thanks all. SEALPIG is the only one I got to meet. Lala-ribbons were sweet!

Congratulations to all 4/8 PIR Divisions, you looked absolutely awesome!  Spending some time relaxing with my Son.  So happy he will not be heading out today.  Get to spend some time at the airport with him tonight. 

Uploading Pics from today. Everything was so awesome, never seen anything like that before. Get to spend a few hours with my son at O'hare before his 10 am flight :) 

Wasn't it wonderful!  I was able to spend about 40 minutes with my daughter after PIR, then she had to move across base to corpsman school.  Impatiently waiting for my phone call to pick her up and spend some quality time.

so happy for you all sounded like a wonderful day thanks for the texts and  pics  and FB mesg those of you sent  me ...I loved  it all .... enjoy every minute of your time ... next week is my turn :)

Hubby is on the flight home right now from PIR.  I can't wait to see the pics.  He said the group of families at the meet and greet were wonderful.  Soccermom, I think you and your husband met mine. You seemed to know who I was.  I guess our kids got to know each other. 

My son said it's so nice to have people not yell at them anymore and treat them like the men and women that they are now.  My husband had a wonderful time.  It has been so nice 'meeting' you gals and being on this forum.  God bless you all and safe travels.

Hope everyone is having or had some good quality time with their sailor.  I was surprised to pick mine up at HM A-School last night to find out that she has weekend liberty.  She doesn't have to be back until Sunday evening.  Yeah!

It was a nice surprise huh, ntz4laa? I'm very happy about it and enjoying every moment :)

Well I met a lot of Sailors but I dont remember much names. Haha. So Im not sure whos son or boyfriend or husband I met. Haha. These past two days have been amazing. Got to see my boyfriend yesterday until 8 then went to the airport with him today til he boarded at like 11 15. I was heart broken to leave him. It was so hard to let go. But Im so proud of him!!! I really am. I miss him so much already but he is going to be an awesome sailor! All of them are! Im soo glad boot is over!!!! Haha. Im sure all of our sailors are too!!

Wow - that is amazing. They actually let them stay out overnight? The Navy does not like to let us know what is going on do they?

 

My son did not end up leaving until Saturday. I went to the airport around 6am to spend time with him prior to his 11:30 am departure. It was great to see him and have some time. Good luck to you all - wishing fair winds and calm seas to all of your boys!

Ragdollrae, I was VERY surprised!  I was prepared to bring her back every night.  She came out after moving and her liberty briefing and said she didn't need to be back until Sunday night.  Apparently it was just the sailors in corpsman school that got overnight liberty.

 we got home yesterday. we spent all day Sat. in the airport waiting for my sailor to ship. she shiped at 3pm. to Cal.

Friday's graduation was absolutely amazing! My son is a whole new person (a good thing) lol. I got to spend the weekend with him, since he was staying at the GL for HM corpsmans school. Anyone else have a loved one that started corpsman school today? I would love to stay in touch. My son, is in good hands, its like one big happy family!

 

Soccermom my daughter started HM school today also. The weekend was great and what an awesome surprise, overnight liberty, couldn't have been more happier:) Have to admit it did go by very fast though.

A M A Z I N G~PIR, spending time with my SR and my family has got to be one of the top 5 experiences of my life...

 

Thanks for all the great information it was all so helpful and made the entire time great!

@jajajo - Real fast! Do you know when they graduate? He is in class right now, I am waiting for him to get out to find out. I plan on attending his graduation and this time bringing the whole family

I think July 27 or 28. My daughter's first official day will be Wednesday, today and tomorrow I think is just orientation.