The Brenay Family: Mark's Marine Graduation

At the end of June we went to San Diego for the weekend to see Jon's brother, Mark, graduate from Marine Bootcamp. I was sick the entire time we were there, but at least the kids were feeling better. Derrick had thrown up the night before we left, so I think I had what he had. (Although I did take 2 pregnancy test while we were there. They both came out negative.) But despite feeling sick to my stomach the whole time, it was a pretty fun weekend. I have never been to a military graduation and it was really neat to see. The 1st day was family day. We got to go on base to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and see the graduates perform a run and some drills and wander through the museum. Then there was a family bbq put on by the LDS branch on base. They served cake to the graduates in order from oldest to youngest. Mark was first at the ripe old age of 23. Mark looked so skinny! He said it was hard work, and he even suffered through with pneumonia! But he made it through and did well. Some of his stories were pretty funny to hear. It was neat to witness and ehar stories of the deep traditions that run in the Marines. The kids were so excited to see Uncle Mark and they actually behaved pretty well for it being such a long day. The 2nd day was the actual graduation. Emma really liked the band. I caught her dancing to the music every once in a while. :) After graduation Mark was free for 10 days before he had to go back for more training. He picked Mexican food for lunch so we went to Old Town Cafe. (My mom's favorite San Diego restaurant.) We had eaten there the night before but didn't mind because it was so good. After lunch we left to take the kids to Build-A-Bear to get Angry Birds animals. They were so excited! They love that game! After the mall we went to see Cars 2. I wasn't that impressed and actually fell asleep a few times. But the kids had fun. That night Jon took the kids swimming at the hotel. They really came a long way with their swimming this summer. Swim lessons were a mess as usual, and Emma cried and threw a fit everyday, but by the end of summer they can now swim around a whole pool and I'm not worried about them. They even went off the diving board at the public pool! So they had a good time swimming. I'm glad we decided to go on this trip. It was fun despite being sick!

The Museum on Base