Life on the road...: "Our Nephew, The MARINE"...December 10-13

This travel adventure story will be a little different from other posts. No silly details about how long it took, how many miles we traveled, or what we had to eat....just a summary of our only reason for being there - to see our nephew, the MARINE.

In September, Austin started the biggest adventure of his life so far – Marine Corp Boot Camp. As a new recruit, he had to endure a lot of physical, emotional, and mental challenges. As we fully anticipated, he completed those challenges with flying colors. In recruit training, interaction with family and friends is limited to good old fashioned hand written letters. Recruits place a 5 minute call when they arrive to confirm their safe arrival and aren’t allowed to make another call again until the morning they finish The Crucible – a grueling 54 hour event that tests their physical endurance and mental stamina. The Crucible is not for the weak. There’s a reason the Marine’s slogan is “The Few. The Proud. The Marines.” Watch some videos of recruit training and The Crucible and you'll quickly understand why.

When we learned that Austin had completed The Crucible and become a Marine, we were filled with pride and eager to be on our way to Parris Island to see him graduate. Of course, we love to travel, but even more than looking forward to the traveling aspect of the trip, we were looking forward to “Family Day” – our first opportunity to see him in more than 3 months. So…off we went to South Carolina.

We arrived at Hunting Island State Park on Wednesday and coordinated a caravan to Parris Island with the family. I woke at 04:20 Thursday morning, and too excited to sleep, I got up and got ready for our 06:00 departure. We followed the Wagner clan to base and, after finally parking, Tim, Seth, Levi, Kimberly, Bill and I walked to the street by the visitor center where we could watch the new Marines run past us on their 07:00 “motivational run”.

I missed capturing Austin in this pic, but the guy in the center was hamming it up for the camera. Eyes forward, Marine!

After Tim registered, we walked back to the vehicles where Dianne had stayed with the rest of the crew, and then headed over to the All-Weather Training Facility to stand in line at security.

We made it through security with little fanfare, and grabbed the two back rows on the bleachers in the designated area for Austin’s platoon.

We watched videos of life as a Marine, and specifically, of life in boot camp and the challenge of The Crucible.

A little after 09:00, we got to witness H Company march through the bay doors and into the building. The crowd erupted with cheers and there was almost palpable energy in the air. The National Anthem was played, a ceremony for 10 new Marines who were now eligible for Naturalization commenced (now, THAT's how immigration should work!), and finally, the moment we were waiting for – the dismissal of the Marines for a 5 hour leave! It’s quite difficult to spot the ONE Marine you’re intently looking for out of a sea of nearly identical looking men, but fortunately, Austin spotted us and made his way over. And that’s when the waterworks began.

Yep, a Proud Gram stood nearby. :'(

Huge smiles, lots of tears, and so much pride. How do you adequately convey how ridiculously proud you are of this boy-turned-man standing in front of you? I’m not sure he’ll ever know just how deeply proud we are of him, but I can only hope he knows for certain how very much we love him.

We made our way out of the training facility and Bill watched Ryder while Austin took the rest of us on a quick tour of his barracks. According to Bill, he’s seen enough barracks to last him a life time. :)

We briefly met one of Austin’s drill instructors and I got a chuckle out of the interaction – “Yes, Staff Sergeant”, “No, Staff Sergeant”. Relaxed and confident, but still required to follow military protocol, I watched him speak and carry himself in a whole new way. Shoulders back, spine straight, he’s taller than he was just a few months ago and now he’s looking awfully good in his Marine cammies. Didn’t I just change his diaper? How time flies.

Dianne had prepared a yummy picnic lunch so we walked with Austin and a handful of the kids to the picnic area. Needless to say, he was all about tearing into some candy bars and an energy drink! :)

We ate and listened to Austin share some of his stories with us, and once we were through with lunch, we did a little shopping at the MCX to purchase our USMC sweatshirts and a “My Nephew Graduated the USMC” t-shirt. Gush. :)

Austin led us around base and showed us the receiving area and we took the opportunity to get a few family photos.

Line Up Right From The Bus

You gotta love a man in uniform!!

The Proud Parents

The Wagner Clan minus one baby with a bad cough ;(

4/5 of the Wagner Clan and Kimberly - AKA "Regular Kim"

"Aunt Kim", Austin, & Bill - Man, we're short!!

We then headed to the museum and quickly looked around at the myriad of displays and information. A Veteran volunteering at the museum had Austin "decorate" the boys with pins.

You could easily spend hours in the museum learning of the Marine Corp history, but Austin’s leave was quickly coming to an end and he had to be back at the Peatross Parade Deck at 15:00 hours for graduation practice. We walked back over and all stood hovering about him like a bunch of star struck teenage girls trying to savor every moment until he had to leave. More hugs, more tears, more pride.

We headed to the bleachers for a little while to observe some of the practice.

Unfortunately, Dianne needed to get Ryder home (poor little guy had a terrible cough), so we left after 30-45 minutes.

We initially planned on having Luke and Levi spend the night with us at the camper. Levi bailed on us...children are so fickle....but Luke was still game and up for a short visit so he jumped in the truck and back to the campground we went. After some gummy bear and Swedish fish snacks, we played on the beach for over an hour collecting shells and taking photos.

Luke and Aunt Kim Shadow Picture!!

The beach was...wait for it...rich with sand dollars. :D

Luke doesn't quite have the photography skills of his sister.

A standing photo seemed to make it easier. :)

My knees were still working in this photo - we hadn't raced on the beach yet.

Honey Bear & A Little Raccoon

We headed back to the beach house for dinner with the family and made plans for Graduation Day.

Anxious for the day to begin, we were up early and ready to go by 06:30. The Wagners? Not so much. We got a text that they were running late, so rather than sitting on cold bleachers for an hour or more, we told them to save us some seats and we stayed at the campground to watch the sunrise.

Lane sat patiently on my lap and watched the surf as we waited for the sun to peek over the horizon.

Pseudo Shadow Picture

We arrived at the base late enough to actually get a decent pic of the entrance...

...and then located the family in the bleachers at the parade deck.

At 09:00, the ceremony began. Six platoons of seventy five new Marines decked out in their dress uniforms and mechanically marching in unison made for an impressive sight to see. They continued to march to the end of the parade deck where they turned to stand at attention in front of the thousands of adoring friends and family members. It was super cool and something I’ll not forget.

A VERY Proud Mamma

The Retiring of the Platoon Numbers

We can salute our flag and our freedoms because of God, Guns, and the Guts of our military men and women.

Marine Mascot - He Even Salutes

With far more speed and far less pomp and circumstance than I expected, the ceremony ended and the Marines located their families on the parade deck or on the bleachers and a repeat of Family Day ensued. By that, I simply mean more tears, more smiles, and more pride.

Pastor Dan and Pastor Scott made the trip to see Austin graduate.

Austin needed to grab his bags from the barracks so we walked over with him and then Kimberly, Bill and I waited outside while Tim and Seth helped with his bags.

We wanted to give Austin some time with his folks so Bill and I headed out and had lunch at the Foolish Frog in Beaufort. Around 14:30 we drove to the house and joined them for a stroll on the beach. Bill and I were chuckling as we watched Austin walk ahead of us. Training and muscle memory is a funny thing.

We headed back to the house and I rode bikes with the little kids for a bit until it was time for dinner. Dianne had made reservations at Outback Steakhouse so we headed into Beaufort for dinner and enjoyed hanging out and chatting with the kids. Much too quickly, dinner was over and we were saying our goodbyes. With 8 kids, it's sometimes easy to lose track of the hugs, and as we were walking across the parking lot, Bill realized he hadn't hugged Luke goodbye. He walked back and gave him a big hug. Luke was holding his soda in both hands so Bill gave him a hug from behind and leaned over and drank from the straw. This elicited serious giggling from Luke who continued to laugh the whole way back to the car. We heard him shout "Good one, Uncle Bill!" and for some reason, this just cracked us up and continued to entertain us for the rest of the weekend. Five year olds are fun...especially, cute precocious ones.

The next day, we walked the beach to the lighthouse on Hunting Island and entertained ourselves in "The Boneyard". It was cool.

Called "The Boneyard", this section of beach is covered in downed palms and pines from natural erosion.

Beach and Atlantic surf to the left, pine trees, and marshy lagoons to the right. Look out for alligators!!

I could spend all day poking around in these tide pools.

Some people collect seashells, I collected a boatload of pine cones. They'll look better in the cabin!

The lighthouse was also very cool and far more interesting than I thought it would be.

Dean Koontz - The Moonlit Mind. :D

The only lighthouse open to the public in all of South Carolina.

GASP!! A LIGHTHOUSE Shadow Picture. Now that's a first!

Someone who doesn't like heights and shall remain nameless wanted me on the outside leaning against the railing. :D

Gah! Window frame shadow picture!

While not a huge fan of the beach, I REALLY liked it here. Highly recommend a visit.

Austin will probably never want to see this place again!

We chatted with the lighthouse attendants and found out that both of them (husband and wife) served in the Marines 40 years ago. Ooh-rah! On our way back to the truck, I noticed their vehicle in the parking lot. Semper Fi!

We stopped by to walk the boardwalk trail and watched in awe as a bald eagle attempted to snatch up some egret dinner from the grasses.

I am coming to find you.

The day was quickly getting away from us, so we packed up and Bill expertly pulled the camper out of the ridiculously tight spot we were in, and shortly thereafter, we were off and on our way home.