Ava's Allocations: Oorah !!!

Good Monday everyone.... so exhausted from our trip to Parris Island this past weekend. Still tired yet ready to bring my experience on a 3 day Marine Graduation to you !

Associated with the Marines, Oorah has come to have several meanings and several accepted spellings over the years.... You can look all that up easily, as I did, yet this blog post is about my experience at Parris Island. I was so honored to be invited by the Villanueva family to attend the graduation ceremonies of India Cecilia Villanueva,

India, was a former 4 A STAR model and according to her Face Book post, she tried several things in life and still wasn't satisfied with her purpose here. She has been thinking about the Service since High School and finally made the decision, without telling anyone including her family, to join the Marines. Of course, once they found out and heard her story they were totally supportive. I even signed her paperwork as a witness and the jouney begins...

I wanted to share our experience there from the moment we got to Parris Island to the very emotional ceremonies..... India's family is close and having her gone at boot camp for 3 months was something weighing heavy on the heart of her family. So seeing the emotional encounter after that time, families and loved ones running across the bleachers to see their children... brothers... sisters... girlfriends...boyfriends...etc.... was truly amazing. With us, this is my best friend's Daughter and also my Daughter's best friend ! It is the cousin to our own Mr., Mr. Panting, and the events were amazing and emotional. India fully expected to see her Mom and Dad there, yet she was totally surprised that I, my Daughter Brie, cousin Marco and half brother Foo and his wife Maggie were also running down the bleachers to see her.

Up and out at 4 AM was our schedule for 3 days.... Color running and ceremonies were going on each morning. The 2nd day was "Family Day" and we got to spend a few precious hours with India and hear some of the crazy stories that accompany the start of Marine Corps Life. Seeing her for family day was the first physical encounter we had with her and first time her family has seen her in 3 months....

Visiting the Museum was really cool for me. I only saw a portion of it yet what I did see was totally moving. I was a waterfall before I even got to see India..... it was truly an emotional experience for most of us that were there.

replicated Footprints in the Museum

The real ones out on the base, are where the future Marines set foot for the first time off the bus into formation.....

Once all the ceremonies were over it was time for the long ride back to New Jersey with India in hand, so to say ! She is home for 10 days then is off to her training in Mississippi as she prepares to be an air traffic comptroller for her initial time with the Marines.

One more stop was at this awesome Seafood place recommended by our hotel staff....

India said she was ready to eat anything...... this was the first image when she first came out to us for Family Day.....

I alwasy think "signs" are an important phase in our lives....whether you see them or not, believe in them or not , they are there....

So India has been searching for something..... she says this is the best decision she has made in her life so far..... I found it funny, eery, and cool that the graduating companies this session were Company I and Company N.... they represented India/ November

Well, India was there.....and her birthday is in November ! Hmmmmmmm......

All in all, this was such an amazing experience and one I will never forget.