<p>If you see a naked kid standing in line I-Day, that’ll be the Spider. After talking to mids at the going away picnic, he’s convinced he needs to bring nothing but paperwork. Guess I’ll be returning the underwear. His funeral.</p>
<p>Man, I love the Navy. Through the graces of the USN, I:</p>
<p>*Learned all kinds of great skills that led to my current happy employment
*Met my husband
*Am getting my son educated
*Getting said son away from GF (We love her but…)
*Even getting rid of that GD tattoo!</p>
<p>Getting all sentimental here. We leave for Annapolis this Thursday!</p>
<p>SPIDERMOM! ALWAYS COUNTED ON FOR A GOOD CHUCKLE! And I suppose there will be two nearly naked kids as Lola is pretty much saying the same thing!</p>
<p>ATRMOM… I forgot the sunscreen for the care pkg! Thanks for the reminder… and I will just put the small “bonus” bottle of vitamins in the care pkg that we recieved with the big bottle… that way if they take them no big loss.</p>
<p>I swear by the heavens, the bag I took with me on I-Day is still sitting in the corner of my room with the same shirt and shorts I wore that day.</p>
<p>That could either be a testament to the uselessness of wearing clothes on I-Day, or my being extra lazy at home to make up for constant Bravo conditions on the yard…you decide.</p>
<p>Mom2lola2011, that’s a good idea (sm bottle vitamins). My son was issued ‘strength and endurance’ pills during plebe summer and being skeptical, he tore off the label and found the strength and endurance pills were actually One-A-Day vitamins. I guess the powers that be figured teens were more likely to take something that said ‘strength and endurance’ rather than plain old One-A-Day’s!</p>
<p>Everyone who’s coming in early for I-Day, try to get to the Mid Store as soon as you can. I’m not sure how soon you can pick up your shopping card, but I suspect they’ll be ready for you as early as Monday. Wednesday the place is going to be mobbed and those coveted class of 2011 T-shirts go quickly. Also, on the day itself, you might want to stake out a table at the Dry Dock and rotate family members to sit there and hold it. It can get mighty hot and humid in Maryland and it’s nice to have an air-conditioned place to sit and relax. There’ll be closed circuit television so you can watch the plebes visiting the barber shop and getting their gear.</p>
<p>One more thing, if you choose to stand outside Alumni or the Mid Store to see your plebe, remember that stealth is the watch-word. Do not put your plebe in the Cadre’s sights by calling out to them or worse still, moving the Cadre out of the way to get a better picture (trust me, this did happen two years ago). I personally didn’t want to see my son being yelled at nor did I think he needed an audience so we stayed away from the places the plebes were. Just something to consider. </p>
<p>Go luck to the class of 2011 and their parents!</p>
<p>Wow. I can’t believe they asked the cadre to move! Reminds me of when the boy came home from NASS and I had to ask Brett Michaels (from Poison) to get out of my way; I couldn’t see my son. He looked as if I had worms crawling out of my head. I CANNOT imagine what the cadre would do. Probably treat my son like a worm. Bad move!</p>
<p>I will be shopping ASAP!! Especially for scrapbooking stuff! </p>
<p>Boy is in the 0630 group. That had to be someone’s sick twisted joke, that’s for sure! They probably looked at who was coming in from a pacific time zone and put them in first. C-R-U-E-L!</p>
<p>That wasn’t the only thing we saw. My friend and I were at I-Day for the class of 09 (volunteering at the Family picnic) and walked around a bit after we finished up. The parents were amazing…calling their kid’s name while the kid was in formation, moving cadre for pictures and one mom even got on the bus after her kid to hug him!!! Don 't do that!!! Don’t do anything that will put your plebe in the cadre’s crosshairs…they’ve got enought to deal with without that.</p>
<p>They’ll be serving hot coffee at Dry Dock and you’ll probably be able to get a good seat that early.</p>
<p>We leave for Crabtown 0500 tomorrow. We’re lugging a laptop so I’ll touch base with y’all later this week. Hope Spider stays out of trouble tonight! He ended up packing all the underwear I bought him, hehehehee.</p>
<p>We will be the family wearing the “Team Spider” t-shirts, keeping well away from the cadre :)</p>
<p>Allow me to do just one of these countdown days. Going on vacation tomorrow so I will miss the big event when it rolls down to ONE DAY. You guys get back on here when you can & tell all those good stories. Good luck to all your Plebes (& to you). So proud of these young men & women. Safe travels to all!</p>
<p>We’re packing! We’re packing! THANK YOU THANK YOU JAMZMOM! And Thank you for all your support! We love all our SA Mom friends!! Have a great vacation and I guess you will be hearing from us all in about a week and a few after the BIG EVENT that we have counted down the past 120+ days. I guess the PPW countdown will commence next.</p>
<p>For the past couple of years, the weather forecast’s been the same, but the rain has always held off until AFTER the Oath of Office. Let’s hope that’s the case this year!</p>