Holiday Happenings

jamzmom

jamzmom

10-Year Member
Founding Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2006
Messages
1,957
With the holidays coming to a close and the anxiety of knowing that the Service Academies admissions offices will be 'open for business' again soon, why not share a few holiday stories.

How many newly appointed kids got service academy sweatshirts for Christmas & are currently wearing them? :smile:

How happy are those Plebes/Cadets to be at home? :wink:

How many received news of appointments and/or nominations over the last few days? :thumb:

Any truly special moments you'd like to share?
 
Well, I'm still having issues with guidance, but my friend Murphy called me on Christmas Eve and he was happy as hell. He received on the 24th acceptance letters to both the Air Force Academy and West Point. Now thats one heck of a Christmas present.
 
My plebe is enjoying his time at home but it is going by way too fast. His room is a disaster area just like it used to be when he lived here. Today he is out duck hunting with his Dad. Tomorrow night we go to the All Academies Ball in Seattle - I can't wait to see all those uniforms in one room!

rjcuja - congrats to your friend. I hope he picks West Point...not that I am biased. :wink:
 
My CC was asked to make himself available for a radio interview during halftime at his high school's next basketball game. The local radio station owner wants him to tell the audience about the road to West Point and what he's been doing since R-Day. Such is life in a small town where going to a SA is a big deal!
 
Our Cadet has been sleeping a lot since he got home. I guess that's what it seems like when he doesn't go to bed until 0400, and then sleeps until noon. He has been spending time with friends and playing video games. The simple things that he doesn't get to do at USAFA.

We are about to head to the Milwaukee area for the Wisconsin All-Academies Ball tonight. It is the only time besides Christmas Mass that I have gotten him to wear his service dress while he's been home. He even chose not to wear it for our family picture last week. I am not going to question it. He makes his own decisions.

We are enjoying having him home, but we are still getting used to a different son than the one we sent to Colorado Springs in June.

Stealth_81
 
Well, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (rumor was that it was turned off due to budget cuts!). School starts back up in a week or so, then its 6 months to graduation.

Now its time to think of all the lasts. Last summer vacation, last home football game as a mid, last PRT (midshipmen standards!), last Spring Break, last chance to live it up as a mid, etc. Someone once told me that the two best ranks in the Navy was midshipmen and admiral because you were so far up or down the chain of command that you could get away with lots of stuff. Kinda true...Responsibility now awaits...

I picked up Surface Warfare Officer (my first choice) back in November so ship selection is coming up near the end of February. Hopefully will get something out of San Diego so I can stay near home.

4 years goes by fast. Plebe year took forever, but the rest flew by...
 
I would be careful with the "last chance to live it up as a mid" part. I had a few classmates at Christmas leave who never walked across the stage because they were living it up a little too long.


Thinking of the "lasts" can be either depressing or very rewarding....luckily memories last a life time, atleast the ones you want to remember.
 
Kamikazi, you give hope to all the first year cadets! Congrats on getting your first choice as SWO!

My plebe is no different from the Stealth_81's and WaMom68's - his room is "comfortably" messy and he is keeping late hours. He played computer games almost nonstop for the first few days. The only thing he has planned is to get a haircut, go to the PX for boots, and to talk to a few future SA candidates at his high school next week. It is nice to have him home - most of the time!
 
Last edited:
Thanks for starting the thread JM. We attended the Idaho All Academy Ball last night, even though daughter is still a candidate (2nd time.) One of our Senators and our Congressman were there, so she got to thank them for the Nominations.

Hopefully next year she'll be there in Navy Mess Dress instead of a formal gown.
 
Huh. Didn't know that USMA had mess dress like that. The cadets that always go to the SoCal All Academies Ball always wear a variation of their parade uniform (they never all look uniform - you see gray pants, white pants, maroon sash, no sash, medals/no medals).
 
Nice happenings everyone! Kami, your words have great weight. Good luck with all you hope to do in the future.

Cougar, pretty cool to know that your dd is part of the group of impressive young people you saw at the ball huh? Hope you enjoyed every moment of the evening.

We had a special afternoon when one of son's friends surprised us by popping up a whole week early. He'd been in Iraq & his return was a happy happy day. Lots of giant bear hugs were going on for sure. He's healthy & happy in the Army & after two tours, he's off to Honolulu for duty there. His smile when telling us about Hono was worth about a million bucks.

Ant, I can't walk in my kid's room either. Funny that all my glasses have gone missing. Bet I know where they are......
 
My daughter was pretty bored after being home for a couple of days and catching up on her sleeping. She got some errands done though - hair highlighted, shopping and other "girly" stuff.
She actually cleaned out her bedroom. Gave her craft stuff to her sister - I asked her if I should be worried - got an *evil grin*. :biggrin:

Did not get/want any "Army" stuff at all. Said she will be gettin' it all in a few months anyway. Leaving her in Florida for the last week - then won't see her until May. :eek:
 
Very nice pictures Antoinette. Thanks for the kind words JM. Sometimes I can't believe I actually raised this young girl. She's my heart, and I'm so proud I don't have a button left on most of my shirts. And that's before she's even gotten into the military.

Many years ago (about 5 or 6?) my daughter wanted to go Air Force. My in-laws live within site of the Academy in Monument. After some research and an Academy Day presentation freshman year of High School she swung towards the Navy and has never looked back. After attending NASS and AFASS Summer of 2006 she was even more sure she wanted Navy. Wants to fly Jets off of Aircraft Carriers, but is pretty open as long as it's the Navy.

Son, who just started High School this year is convinced the Air Force Academy is where he'll be going. The Navy/Air Force game is goiing to be fun.

We have a good friend who is a 3rd class (don't know waht you call it, USNA calls them youngsters) at West Point. Awesome young man who was in our Civil Air Patrol unit. The first time I saw him I thought, "Now there's a young man who looks like a soldier." Only later did I find out he was working towards West Point.
 
Last edited:
Cougar_62 said:
We have a good friend who is a 3rd class (don't know waht you call it, USNA calls them youngsters) at West Point.
Click to expand...

Cougar - 3rd class at USMA are called "yearlings".


We attended the Washington State All Academies Ball last night. The West Point Parents Club hosted this year. The food, the guest speakers, and the venue were excellent! One of the best parts of the evening was when they had the cadets/midshipmen come up to the stage by academy. They had to say their name, year, hometown, major and branch if they were class of '08. Some of them were funny like the West Point cadet that added to his description - "and I'm a Sagittarius." After he said that the MC piped up with: "I didn't know West Point offered a degree in Astrology!" :wink: We had a really good time.
 
WAMom, sounds like a pretty awesome evening. Alawys great when one of the kids makes the crowd laugh.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!!!!!!
:yay: :band: :jump1: :groupwave:
 
Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!! I hope you all have fun bringing in the New Year tonight!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top