Trip to See Nic

What a fun trip! It was amazing to see Nic go through his graduation, commissioning, and becoming a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corp. I was honored to be there and witness it. It was so cool!

The trip started out on Tuesday afternoon. We drove five hours to Columbus, Ohio. The girls did pretty good. I think Aubrey watched three movies, and they did both take a nap. There were a few fussy moments, but I tried to keep them occupied with books, colors, and food. After checking into our hotel, we went to a McDonald's that had an outdoor playground. The kids loved playing on it. It was the perfect size for them. Chloe could even play on part of it. She went down a small slide all by herself. The girl has no fear!

Early Wednesday morning (around 1:00 a.m.) I came down with the flu. Chloe had previously thrown up Sunday and Monday nights, so I'm pretty sure I got it from her. I was up all night throwing up and going to the bathroom. I haven't been that sick in such a long time. By the time morning came, I was exhausted and had absolutely no energy to do anything! Calvin was amazing and got both girls up and dressed and everything packed and taken down to the car. Jenna ended up riding with us to take care of the girls, so that I could just ride and sleep. It was a long drive (8 hours) to Fredericksburg, Virginia. The girls did very well. Jen was amazing and I was so thankful that she was with us! I finally started feeling better after lunch, and ended up eating some saltines and chicken broth later that evening.

Thursday morning I felt much better and was back to normal. (Mom wasn't feeling too good though.) We ate breakfast and then headed to the base for a short information session with the colonel in charge of OCS. After about an hour of sitting (Chloe was such a handful! Anytime she has to be confined, watch out!), we were able to go out to the parade grounds and get Nic. He was standing in formation with the rest of his platoon. He looked great! He's so skinny! After talking to us for a few minutes, we went and got the rest of his stuff out of the barracks and then he showed us the obstacle course that he had to run. We didn't do much looking around the base, because it was cold, windy, and starting to rain. So we left and went out to eat and then back to the hotel for some relaxing and swimming. Nic got to stay with us for the rest of the day until about 4:30 p.m. when Ingrid took him back to the base.

Waiting for us on the parade grounds (Nic's in the front with the bright blue shirt.)

Getting ready to go swimming. Aubrey was so excited!

As much as Chloe loves her baths, I figured that she would love swimming, but she wasn't too sure about it. She wouldn't sit in the little raft that I brought, and instead clung tightly to whoever was holding her.

Aubrey loved sitting by the hot tub.

Mommy and Chloe

Riding on Daddy's shoulders - she wasn't too sure about this either.

Swimming together

On Friday, we had to get up early so that we could leave around 7:30 a.m. to get to the base for the parade and graduation. It was cold! We had to sit on bleachers, so they had blankets out for us to sit on. We wrapped up in blankets and cuddled together to stay warm. Chloe of course didn't want to sit still. She loved walking around in front of us and going to other people (strangers). We went through two packages of fruit snacks, cheerios, and her pacifier, and she was still noisy. Dad ended up walking around with her and then Dani went and traded him. The parade/graduation was cool. I felt sorry for those guys just standing there - they had to be cold! It was really hard to pick Nic out too, because they all looked the same. They were dressed the same with the same haircut. We did get to see him after the graduation was over. It was funny, because he didn't have anything to do, yet he couldn't leave Brown Field, because he had no rank yet. So we hung out in the parking lot for awhile, and then left to get him and Ingrid something to eat. After we ate, we got on a bus that took us to the Marine Museum just outside of the base. We walked around there for an hour and a half. Chloe fell asleep on the bus ride over and actually stayed asleep while I carried her around the museum. It was then time for Nic's commissioning. A general spoke and then the candidates took an oath and were given the title of second lieutenant. It was really cool! Nic then got his officer bars pinned onto his uniform. We ended up taking the bus back to base and went to the store on base for a potty break before we took off for home. We were hoping to see Nic again before we left, but he had to check into TBS, so we didn't get to see him. We ended up driving though the night. Danielle was with us, so we took turns. We got home around 5:00 a.m. and slept for a couple hours before Chloe got up. The girls did awesome! Chloe only woke up once the whole trip and Aubrey did pretty good too. She kept waking up because her head would slump forward, but she'd go back to sleep. I was pretty tired Saturday and did take a nap when the girls slept.

Waiting for the parade to begin

Nic's platoon as they paraded onto the parade grounds. His platoon was pretty easy to pick out, because it was the smallest.

Nic, Ingrid, and the boys after graduation.

Nic with Mom and Dad

Me, Nic, and Dani hanging out in the parking lot

Playing with Solveig in Nic and Ingrid's warm van

Waiting for the commissioning to begin

Trying to keep Chloe occupied

Grandma and Aubrey waiting

Ingrid pinned on some of Nic's officer bars

What a cute couple!

Me and Nic

My family with Nic

Everyone who was there (Solveig took the picture)

Needless to say, it was a long trip, but definitely worth it. We're still working on getting back to normal and catching up on sleep!