Casey's MCRD Graduation

My baby brother, Casey, is now a US Marine!  He graduated from the MCRD in San Diego on January 20th as Private First-Class Jarrell.  My Mom and I went down to show our support and take a thousand photos.   :)  It was a quick but very fun trip. 

While it was snowing back home (we almost didn't make it out of Seattle because of a blizzard) it was sunny and 60 degrees in San Diego.  

 

 There were A LOT of people at the MCRD on Family Day waiting for their first glimpse of their new Marines. 

 

 This was the first time we got to see our Marines.  There were 6 platoons with over 400 graduates.  It was awesome.  

This is the first time we saw Casey.  He's standing in the front row of his platoon because he's a squad leader (the only person who was squad leader for all of boot camp!).

After they stood in front of us for a long while they had to go on a 3-mile moto-run...

 

 Then they came back to stand in front of us while the drill instructors talked for a long time.  We weren't aloud to talk to them or touch them.  There were a lot of anxious family members in the crowd!

 It was awesome when they would all yell in response to their drill Sargent. 

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 Then all the recruits had to go get dressed and ready to be presented to their families.  Mom cried.  :)

A half-hour later all the platoons came marching out on the parade deck for a semi-ceremony and to be released to their families for 4-hours of free time.  

 I ran around to the area where they all lined up and snapped some photos of the platoons marching in.  This was the first place Casey actually saw me.  

They did a bunch of marching and ended up in front of their families on the bleachers...

After the ceremony they were dismissed for free-time and I got this sequence of photos...

First hug...

We finally got to have him...

Then we took lots of photos, and Mom hug every person Casey introduced us to.  :)

 

 Then we headed over to a park within the MCRD for an LDS picnic.  My brother joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints while at boot camp.  Yeah, he's a stud.  

 We both look awesome in this photo!

 We went shopping and checked out the museum during the rest of our afternoon with Casey.

 I was completely obsessed with this hallway and the shadows it cast.  It was soooo long and gorgeous.  I forced Casey to pose for several shots in it.  This was the only time we were lucky enough to shoot without anyone walking in the background (above).  I love these...

Graduation Day

There was A LOT of marching during the graduation ceremony...

A lot of standing...

A little more marching...

...and more marching.

After what seemed like forever...the last order was given and the Marines were released for 10 days of leave.  

We took a bunch more photos and then headed straight to the airport. 

We met this family because we stayed at the same hotel and took all the same shuttles.  We ended up eating a few meals together and it was fun getting to know them.  

All in all, it was a very great trip that went exactly according to plan.  I'm so happy I was able to go with my Mom.  :)