One of the many luxury's we had in MN that I never appreciated enough was living within 20 minutes of the airport. In order to get a decently priced flight, we had to fly out of Greensboro which is 2 and a half hours away and our flight was at 7am Thursday morning. So we got a hotel room on Wednesday night, that way we got a decent night sleep and didn't have to pay for hotel parking ($100 vs the $90 our hotel was). It was a fair trade-off and worked out fairly well.
Once we landed on Thursday we were able to each spend time with our family's and I helped my mom do Conor's senior poster.
Friday was Nate's commissioning and graduation dinner. Nate went to the U of M, majored in accounting, and did ROTC. So he is commissioning into the US Air Force as a 2nd Lt. Here are some pictures from those events:
Nick and Kirsten before the Commissioning
All of my Airmen!!
Me with my Airmen!
Typical prom picture...
All the Airmen and their ladies. (Conor was at a track meet)
The official oath/swearing in
In the Air Force, when you commission, it is tradition to give the first enlisted Airmen who salutes you a coin. Coins are given and received for many different occasions/accomplishments in the Air Force, so it was very cool that Drew got to be the first to salute both of my brothers. The coins that Nick and Nate gave Drew were from the infamous RHS sub, Mr. Rod Smith. Very cool silver dollars from 1922 and 1924.
I was a bit behind on getting a picture of the salute, so this is right after (Nate was supposed to hold the salute longer, so I blame it on him)
All U of M ROTC commissioning ceremony
The 3 of us who pinned on Nate's butter bars (the pin on his shoulder pads that gives his rank as 2nd Lt.)
Twin Officers!
Nate and his Bride-to-be!
The salute from this ceremony...again I was sleeping at the switch
We had a great dinner at The Locale on Nicolet Mall and then the next morning we got on a plane and headed to Colorado Springs, CO for Nick's graduation festivities.
We got picked up from the airport in this:
My Aunt Mary and Uncle Gary's RV!!! Party Bus!!
And once we got to CO Springs, we were greeted with this view:
Simply gorgeous!! Drew and I decided that we will put CO as an option as a place to settle someday, that's just how wonderful it is there!
The next time few days were spent exercising, golfing, and at baccalaureate Mass at the chapel on base:
The Monday there was a Military parade in the morning:
Wings of Blue
Cadets
Squadron 8, Eagle 8
Cadets marching off and a view of the Academy
Then that night my parents hosted a dinner at the golf course and we had a surprise proposal!!!
The whole group at dinner!
Kirsten's beautiful ring! (the video of the proposal is on facebook)
Tuesday there was another Military parade and Nick's commissioning:
Drew and I before the commissioning
Nate swearing Nick in (this could happen since Nate was already commissioned)
Nick saluting Nate after the oath
Dad and Conor pinning on Nick's butter bars
Nick's first salute from Drew, I got much better at capturing this moment
The Wednesday was finally the actual graduation. It was such a cool experience and our President was the speaker at the graduation which was amazing. I am a huge Obama supporter and was so honored to hear him speak in person. Even if you aren't a political supporter of his, you have to admit, he is an amazing speaker and it was such a proud moment to hear the President of the United States speaking to the future leaders of our military and having one of them be my brother.
I've made several trips out to the Academy during my brothers 4 years out there and he has worked so hard and given up so much to graduate from this place and I cannot even express how proud I am of him. I am also really thankful that because of all his work, I got to see the President speak in person and see a Thunderbird's show over the Academy stadium!!! Thanks, Nick! :-)
Here's some pics from that day:
The stadium
One of the cars in the Presidential Motorcade
Video of the Cadets marching on the field
Drew and I with the graduate!
