I also had the bonus of being able to spend some time with my parents since we flew into BWI and they were nice enough to pick us up from the airport. I am really close to my parents, so it was great to be able to see them and have a few hours to hang out on each end of our trip.
We flew in late on Thursday night before heading out to Annapolis on Friday morning. It was freakishly hot this weekend, so we enjoyed walking around in the sun while I asked Billy a million questions about his time at school. I got to see the giant dining hall where the entire brigade eats at once right as they were setting up for lunch. It's pretty incredible to see the logistics that go into something that sounds as simple as getting sandwiches, chips, and Gatorade for everyone.
Next, we watched Noon Meal Formation (along with a TON of other people...there were a bunch of reunions in town!) before heading out to lunch with Billy's roommate from school and his wife. They are both Marines and are both getting out at the beginning of the year, so they are really excited to start a "normal" life together! They've been through deployments and being on opposite sides of the world from each other, so they're looking forward to settling down.
I complain about not feeling settled and moving around and being apart from Billy, but talking to them really put it in perspective that we are really lucky to never have to worry about being continents apart from each other or that someone awful could happen to the other while they're just doing their job.
We got to hang out with them a lot this weekend, which was especially great for Billy since he hasn't seen most of his classmates for years. Friday night was the reception, where I got to connect more faces with stories I'd heard!
Saturday was the Air Force game, which nearly got canceled because of the government shutdown, despite the fact that it doesn't even require any government funding. The only bummer was that Air Force couldn't fly any of the cadets out to spectate, which was too bad since it's a huge tradition and gives everyone something to look forward to.
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| Fantastic football advice from a former Navy coach... |
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| March on before the game. All the Midshipmen! |
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| All smiles after a Navy win! |
After the game, we got take out and headed over to one of Billy's teammates house, where I had fun talking to the fellow girlfriends in town for the reunion while Billy and his friends could talk about Navy things. It was fun to get some girl time in so Billy could enjoy catching up with all the guys.
It was an awesome weekend all in all. The only way to make it better was if I'd had time to go to the barn of course haha! Annapolis is beautiful and there is never a dull moment on the campus:
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| Oh, just where we parked our car. |
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| Billy drove these at school! |
Yep, just a casual helicopter landing and then taking off from the intramural field. All in a normal day at USNA!
