February 3rd Brad's Graduation Day

It seemed like the alarm went off as soon as we closed our eyes.  We quickly got ready and headed to the Naval Recruit Training Command Center.  Since the area where graduation is held is only used for graduation, going through security went very quickly.  Once we got parked we headed to the end of the line of people.  I was glad that they let us walk through the Navy Museum instead of standing and waiting in line outside in the freezing cold.

They  had some great displays of what happens while attending the Training Command Center.

State Flag Presentation

Graduation was great to watch with all the pomp and circumstance.

Brads Division

As soon as the sailors were released for liberty people tore out of the bleachers and ran to their sailor.

Brad & Christine happy to be reunited.

Amanda & I wanted to give the lovebirds some alone time so we headed to Costco which just happened to be right down the street from where we were staying.

We then all jumped in the car and headed to Chicago.  It was good to see that some things never change.  Put Brad in a moving vehicle and he falls right to sleep.

We  parked at the Navy Pier and headed out to see Chicago and find some pizza.  It was a little weird because there was no one else around except for the occasional sailor and their family.

We had fun with the Fun Maze mirrors.

 Amanda was a little upset that Ben & Jerry's was closed.

We had some fun walking through the park.

We walked the streets of Chicago in search of pizza.  It kind of reminded me of the strudel search but we didn't climb any hills nor laugh as much.

It is nice to see the old buildings next to the new buildings, but I am not sure I would be going out on the fire escape of the old brick building.

We had asked some local people about where to go for some great Chicago deep style pizza and they directed us to Gino's East Pizzeria.

The atmosphere inside was really fun.  The walls are covered in graffiti and signed pictures of famous people who have eaten there.

The best part is that Brad got what he wanted and Christine was able to get a gluten free pizza too.

So with leftovers in hand we headed back to the car.

The girls were so excited to get some warm air that was coming up from the underground vent they did a happy dance.

It was time to head back so we had to pay for the parking at a kiosk on Navy Pier.  Can you believe it costs $18.00?  I know for some people that doesn't seem bad, but where we live you don't usually have to pay for parking.

Trying to get out of downtown Chicago at 5:00 was a little harry but we made it and were able to go back to the hotel for about an hour before taking Brad back to the base.  I am glad we were able to see Brad graduate and to spend some time with him but the time went very quickly.  I am very proud of Brad and hope this is the beginning of a great opportunity for him and Christine.

Some random pictures of Chicago.

Recognized from Four Weddings

Underpass wall art

Navy Pier Tiffany Gallery display of stained glass 

February 2nd Heading to Chicago

Amanda, Christine and I were dropped off at the airport by Lynn who was nice enough to leave work early and help us out.  Since we didn't have any bags to check we were able to head straight to security.  Amanda used her smart phone along with her American Airlines app to use as her boarding pass.  She was given an orange card so we thought she was going to get pulled to the side for a check but I guess they gave her that since she didn't have the paper to show if needed while going through the screening process.  The bad thing was I got through using her paper boarding pass which I used on accident and didn't realize I had done it until later when I noticed her paper was the one that they had marked.  Since we got to the airport early we took advantage of the time to eat lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen.

We were worried about our connecting flight at LAX because we were scheduled to land at 5:05 and our flight to Chicago was to leave at 5:45 with boarding beginning at 5:15.  Our flight from Fresno left a few minutes late but we got to the American Eagle terminal quickly after landing but then had to stand and wait for our carry on bags to get to the gate before we had to go and get on the bus to take us to the main terminal.  We did get lucky though and our gate wasn't too far once we got into the main terminal and they were already loading the plane.  Amanda was supposed to sit in row 15 in the middle section and she was very worried because the gentleman sitting in the isle seat was on the larger side and that the person who would sit in the window seat would be just as large and she would get smashed in the middle, but she got lucky and the window seat was left open so she was able to scoot over and take advantage of the extra room.  While Christine and I were seated in the back of the plane and by the time we got to our seats there wasn't any room in the overhead compartments by our seats so we had to put or carryons further back so when we had to wait for everyone to disembark the plane so we could get our bags.  We did have some turbulence to the point that the stewards had to stop our beverage service but it didn't last too long.  They played the movie Money Ball, which I thought was pretty good.  We arrived into Chicago early and headed to the rental car shuttle area.  The shuttle bus for Avis pulled up just as we got to the curb and as soon as we were seated he pulled away.  It took us about 15 minutes to get to the rental lot.  With it being that late at night there was only one person working the counter and he was helping someone that did not have a reservation or a credit card and after talking to him for what seemed like forever he finally left and headed to Hertz.  The other guy that had been on the shuttle with us had also pre-purchased his car rental online so it didn't take him long and he was on his way and then it was our turn.  So we then headed out to find a midsize car which we got a Hyundai Alantra (after driving this car I know I do not want one).

We got to our hotel, Hilton Garden Inn, just in time according to the hotel clerk because if we would have been just a few minutes later we might not have had a room because he would have put us down as a no show.  As soon as we got to our room Amanda had to do a bed bug search.  Since Charleen & Ben had stayed at a Hilton in Hawaii and were eaten alive by them Amanda has been adamant about searching her hotel rooms for them.

We quickly got ready for bed and as we finally laid down we could hear music.  Amanda was not happy with our neighbors how could they be so inconsiderate playing music that loud, when suddenly she recognized a Glee song and she jumped up and checked her bag and realized her Ipod had come on and she was the inconsiderate neighbor.