Boot Camp Graduation: Part 1

As stated before the first part of this trip was to go to Doug's boot camp graduation. It was two great days, aside from it being a little warm and getting sunburned. Thursday was Liberty day. This is the day before graduation when the family and loved ones get to see their marine and he tgets to show them around the base. The days starts with The recruits doing a run in their short little shorts and then the families watching a presentation while the recruits go change. We were late getting there and missed the run and decided to skip the presentation and just go sit in the grand stand and wait the 20 mins for the recruits to come back. For whatever reason the 20 mins turned into an hour! I thought that marines were supposed to be punctual! Fortunately, Curtis was being a happy camper.

Anyhow, they eventually came and we got to see Doug in formation with his platoon. That was cool. Then they were released and we got to give him BIG HUGS! This was really special for my mom because Doug wasn't too fond of my parents when he left for boot camp. But he wrote my parents every week while in boot camp and really had a change of heart. He went to church every week, which is big because he hadn't been going for some time. It was just really great to see the change in him.


First thing on the agenda for Liberty Time was to go to the luncheon that LDS Branch put on for the recruits to show their appreciation for their sacrifice to serve their country. It was a great lunch and Curtis thoroughly enjoyed it too. I fed him some lunch and then he decided that he wanted to eat the ketchup coated hot dog bun. He ate the whole thing!


After lunch the recruits participated in a cake cutting tradition where the cake is cut with a ceremonial saber and then the oldest marine feeds cake to the youngest marine to make sure it is edible. The cake was deemed edible so we all partook.


After lunch, we went and did some shopping. Doug wanted to buy things for the family and he needed some clothes and he wanted a lap top. Really I think that he was just excited to have money and to spend it. Fine by me! He bought Curtis a cute little dog that he spit up chocolate cake on before we even bought it. That's my boy. Doug was also very excited about getting to eat a cheese and berry danish!



It was a great day and very enjoyable to see Doug and hang out with him. He's grown a lot; emotionally and spiritually and maybe even a little physically. But he will always be my Juggie.