Virginia Moms

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Comment by Vivian and Glen H. on November 20, 2009 at 4:47pm

Hey, gang. My wife and I are having a house full for Thanksgiving; some friends from up north and all 3 of our kids...PLUS a bonus: Dan is bringing home a couple extra Sailors for the holiday weekend cause they can't get home to be with their own families. So...we'll let 'em borrow ours. Lots of turkey and trimmings are gonna bite the dust in our house next week. Glen

Comment by Kimberly on November 19, 2009 at 3:12pm

Hello Everyone, I started an USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) Family and Friends group since there wasn't one! Come join me if your loved one is on USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) or if you just want to support them

Comment by Sonia on November 18, 2009 at 4:16pm

Hello all you Virginia Mom's How are you??? Hope everyone is doing well!!! My sailor is on a short trip to Florida for past 3 weeks and will return to Norfolk sometime this coming week. I hope he to get to see him for Thanksgiving....
Hope all have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving....

Comment by judy on November 13, 2009 at 11:11am

Paula, I have left a reply to your message on my wall

Comment by Lora Gibson on October 28, 2009 at 11:11pm

If you want to stay close to base for PIR, call and book a room at the Navy Lodge. It's clean and cheap. Plus it's close to base. After PIR we went to Gurnee Mills and just hung out for the day. The next day, we caught the train into Chicago and did some sight seeing in the city. The on off trolley tour is great. You don't have to walk alot and you get to see the sights. I don't think the kids really care what they do as long as they are back in the "real world" again. The only request we had was wanting a good steak dinner.

Comment by Linda on October 23, 2009 at 4:39pm

It's been 5 years since Jenn graduated, but she was allowed to leave base with us. She had to say in her uniform and go by all the rules while in public. Sometimes that have to stand watch which means they have to stay (or go back) in order to do that. Luckily Jenn had her watch assignment first thing in the morning and we just picked her up after she was done rather than at 7:300 am.

The Holiday Inn we stayed at had an indoor pool and she was allowed to go swimming as long as she used her Navy swimsuit. Mostly what the girls want to do is take a long hot bath. We brought some sweats with us and she took a long nap in the hotel room too. Because Jenn's PIR was12/30, she actually had 4 days of liberty afterward due to the New Year holiday. We stayed in Gurnee and picked her (and a friend) up every morning, found things to do, places to go/see, shopped, etc. and had her back on base in time for her to walk back to her 'ship'.

There is a train stop right beside the base. We parked on base, walked to the train stop and had planned to go to Chicago for the day. Found out after we waited for about an hour that we'd missed the train by about 10 minutes. Check the schedule before you make plans, like we didn't.

She PIR'd on Thursday, 12/30 and I left on Monday to fly home and she left on Tuesday for her A School in San Antonio. She called me from the airport as they were about to board the plane. It was snowing like crazy there and she was heading south just in time.

Comment by BelievenAngels on October 23, 2009 at 4:08pm

Thanks sooo much for the ideas! Will my son be able to leave the base after the graduation and spend time with us (go out to eat,shop,visit?) Does he go back to the base at a certain time in the evening. How long did anyone stay after the graduation.....Im getting ready to book hotel/flight and interested to know!!

Comment by Paula on October 22, 2009 at 7:07pm

I was wondering if there was any other meet and greets in Va? I live in central va and would really enjoy meeting other moms. Thank you for any information.

Comment by Linda on October 22, 2009 at 4:33pm

BelievenAngels,
My daughter graduated in December 2004. I booked flights. rental car and hotel on internet. We flew into Chicago picked up our rental car and used the Mapquest information that I'd printed out before we left VA. (Today, we would taken a GPS but they weren't readily available then.) We stayed at a Holiday Inn across from the Gurnee Mills Mall and had absolutely no problem with anything. The Mall area is about 10-15 minute drive from where PIR will be held, but we had no problems at all.

Overwhelmed with patriotic pride is an understatement! You're sitting there feeling so proud and emotional, and your kid that you haven't seen in 7-8 weeks is right there in front of you and you can't run out there an touch them, I was about to explode. It took everything I had in me to not cry.

Be sure to buy the video of the graduation. There is so much to take in -- I barely heard anything. I was too busy trying to see my daughter. I just watched the video again 2 weeks ago. Actually, it was a lot better than I remembered this time because I now understand so much more of what was happening then.

Comment by Lynn on October 22, 2009 at 11:50am

We flew into Milwaukee! It's about the same distance from Goose Creek as O'Hare, w/o the Chicago traffic. Airtran flew there, and they are great! We stayed in Waukegan, IL, only a few miles from the base. Definitely check around. We are in Stafford, so used National airport. And, I agree with Judy, I'm so glad we went, wouldn't have missed it for the world! The music, the parading, the pomp and circumstance of it all makes you so proud! and the mall is a HUGE thing, since they've been out of circulation for 8 weeks. Our son could hardly wait for a White Castle burger and Starbuck's!

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