On June 4th 2010 Drew and his shipmates of Recruit Division 201 graduated from US Navy boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois. Altogether there were 9 graduating divisions, about 650 sailors in all. The first photo in the album is a single blurry frame captured from a short video clip we shot as Drew's division entered the enormous building and marched past our position in the viewing stands. Drew appeared to us only for a split second - he is circled in red.

Also appearing in this photo album is Mike, Drew's best buddy since Kindergarten. Mike made the 2800 mile round trip by driving his (literally) held together by duct-tape Toyota Corolla all the way from Boca Raton, Florida just to spend 10 hours with his best friend. An amazing demonstration of true friendship.

The 90-minute pass-in-review ceremony concluded around 10:30 am with the long-awaited "Liberty Call" and Drew got to spend the next ten hours with us - his first time outside the base since his arrival 8 weeks earlier. And since this was a summer graduation, Drew got to wear his "dress whites". In response we naturally took him out for 'never-washes-out' Chicago-style pizza at one of the city's most famous purveyors of the delicacy - Giordano's. He didn't get a single speck on those pristine "whites".

After Giordano's we went bowling at the Brunswick Zone located next to our hotel - very convenient. Finally, as the sun began to set and Drew's liberty wound down, we spent the last few minutes at the base drop-off point taking last minute photos. It was an emotional end to a truly landmark day in our family's ongoing story.