Fine Trip Part 2

Hi All
Wednesday 23 June 2010
Tonight USA plays Algeria to see if they move forward in the 2010 World Cup. I will be joining English friends to watch to see if England can move forward as well. - should be quite an evening.

Back to the story.

25 May, Tuesday
Alex off to Yard again early to take care of business. Plan for day is upon his return to go to Marine Corps Museum in Quantico VA. About 1 1/2 hr away, south of DC. Christine, the Dad's and I putter around the house and I prepare making the tortellini salad for the party later in the week. Since we are in an unfamiliar kitchen, the whereabouts of many of the cooking utensils bowls mixers etc are befuddling us at times- however we persevered.
Alex returns about 10:30 and we are off. The museum is awe inspiring with the architecture purposely structured to mimic the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima. Inside we find a world class depiction and history of the Marine Corps. Two other wings of the museum are to open later in the year depicting earlier Marine Corps history. It was wonderful to read about and see irreplaceable relics of the Corps. We closed down the museum - but not after visiting the gift shop where we indulged in several mementos and gifts. (Christine and I need to shift our focus from the Naval Academy to the Marine Corps now hence the buying spree).
We returned to Annapolis trudging through evening traffic. Manny and Louise were to have joined us for the day but didn't go. They did however come for dinner that evening where we prepared Seafood pasta and salad. A family favorite - yummy.

26 May, Wednesday
Big day today - Blue Angels Air Show. A hot, cloudless day. Samantha, my cousin Sandra's daughter arrived in the morning and joined the growing household. We arrived at the Yard doing the bus routine again and joined the thousands of other spectators for a lovely day at a section of the campus called Hospital Point. At the appointed time the Blue Angels arrived ( do you think they would have been late? - not me either) and we greatly enjoyed the precision flying demonstration and simulated aerial combat maneuvers performed by this talented group. I found out later that the City of Annapolis public schools close for the day since some of the performance occurs over the city itself, there would be no way a teacher could hold the kids attention with the F-18's screaming overhead.
After the performance, leaving the yard became an exercise in patience as the lines for the buses were long and longer. We finally boarded and returned to the stadium, the car and back to the house. But today is not done. All of us (the two Dads, Alex, Christine, Samantha and I ) are scheduled to return to the Yard that evening for the Graduation Ball. Already half melted from the heat, we relaxed, ate lightly and dressed for the ball arriving at about 8p. We danced and had a good time - but by 10p we were petering out and I went to retrieve the car picking up the remainder of the group. It was back to the house with applications of green sunburn goop purchased on the way home from the airshow and off to bed -yes we all got too much sun. I need not forget to point out that the ladies looked marvelous in the Ball outfits.

27 May, Thursday
Arrival Day
Anyone and everyone who was coming to the graduation is arriving today so we are preparing for the dinner that evening for 28. But naturally there is another function which we need to attend at the Yard. Today is the dreaded (by the Brigade of Midshipmen) Color Parade. Here is where the Brigade - all 4000 strong with white pants and black wool jackets march onto Worden Field and do the manual of arms ( hoisting their rifles and changing them from the right to the left to parade rest etc ) Well with the heat and humidity, Christine counted 63 midshipmen pass out and carried from the field. We later learned that 3 went to the hospital and were kept over night. So the main complaint here is that the Supe feels that we are a nation at war but wants to protect his Plebes from possible harm but then permits the Color Parade to continue knowing full well that the weather conditions will have a devastating effect upon a larger percentage of the Brigade - makes no sense to me - but then again this is the military and the Supe is an idiot. ( ahhh that felt good)
So after the Color Parade, we all line up for the bus and finally make our way back to the house where the party starts, people are arriving and fun is being had by all.
Well I promised to pass out the tickets for the graduation and give a brief of who, what, where's and when. That done all departed by 9 p. We now have 11 people staying in the house who are all trying to get prepared for the next day's activities. Then the rains came - thunderstorms and torrential downpours.
We have unlimited tickets for an outdoor graduation but only 4 for indoors. I'm worried sick, Christine is ready to take the bridge. Not only will 30 people come to see nothing, the pomp and glamor is lost- no fly over, no underclassman, just the graduates and 4 tickets. I was up at 4a tracking the weather on the computer and I see that we may be looking good. I report this back to Christine at about 5a but still no official word on the website. At 6a, it's posted - Graduation will be outside . A huge cry of relief from I think all and the rush to get out the door and to the stadium by 7a is on.
I'll close here and discuss graduation in the next blog.
Love to all
Scott