Graduation & Vacation

So Paul graduated from academy on September 12th!! YAY!!! We are so proud of him for making it through. At the graduation they were talking about how many people actually make it to that point compared to how many people start the process of applying. By the time you get to the academy, you’ve beaten out like 56 people for your spot. Crazy. Paul’s class started with 104 recruit officers, and his graduating class ended up with 54 officers! Needless to say, he worked really, really hard for the last 6 months, and I’m immensely proud. Still not allowed to post pictures, but he did say I can email them to our friends so if you’d like to see them let me know and I’ll send them along. He looked so great in his uniform, and I got really cute pictures of him in his full getup holding, feeding, and walking Sam.  I stayed up all night the night before, getting things ready, and Oscar & Khai helped:

Ok, maybe not that effectively, but they offered moral support.

The graduation was awesome, they were all crisp and clean and did all these cool formations that were perfect, it was neat – just picture those marines gun displays; that sort of thing. The best part was just how proud each officer was for all of the other officers in his class. Seriously you could see on their faces as each classmate was called the total pride they all had in that recruit.

Afterward they were like kids at a playground, it was so funny. The recurring theme in conversation was “I brought X amount of ammo for my new (fill in the blank) caliber off-duty gun!” “Check out my stealth holster, you can’t even tell I’m packing!” etc. They were all so excited to finally be able to carry a gun off-duty. You can’t take the boy out of the man, I guess. 😀

That night we left Sam with Carlos & Amber (yes, it was hard! yes, I cried a little, and yes, I did check in with them while we were gone) and went to the graduation party in Hollywood. It was seriously one of the funnest parties I’ve ever been to. It was held at a night club and had an open premium cocktail bar, so pretty much everyone but us was plastered and it was HYSTERICAL. The funniest part was when the guys were all letting loose on the dance floor and their designated driver wives were embarrassed at their displays and chewing them out for them. What did they expect? Paul asked me what I’d do if I were one of the drunkards’ wives, and I told him I’d probably encourage the most ridiculous behavior possible, video tape it, and put it on You Tube the next day. 😀 Here are some pictures from the party; you can tell that almost everyone is 3 sheets to

the wind besides us:

The guy on the far left was Paul’s partner in Academy and one of my favorite guys ever. His little girl is 5 months old and literally the most adorable baby girl I’ve ever seen in my life. She giggled and giggled when we introduced her to Sam, she just loved him…another picture I can’t post because of the uniforms. Sigh.

The guy on the far right here is my 2nd favorite officer (after Paul, of course). He double failed about a month before graduation and has to start Academy all over again, and I literally cried when Paul told me. If any ofmy girlfriends wants me to set them up with a great guy, he’s the one.

Haha, an obviously drunk couple of guys. I hung out with their wives while they told me over and over again how Paul is “jst th’ grreatst gy evrrr” (that’s me trying to slur over text)

This guy is one of my favorites not because I know him, but because Paul comes home with the most hilarious stories of him. One of the best was when he received his GI bill from being in the military and spent all $14,000 of it in one 3-day weekend in Vegas…and said it was completely worth it. YIKES.

The guy on the left was Paul’s DI (Disciplinary Instructor…basically the head boss). He’s super tall and super skinny, so they called him Gumby hahahahaha. I almost slipped at the party and called him that, it was close!

This guy went on and on for like 5 whole minutes about how Paul has the most fantastic voice of all time and really needs to be in radio or television or something like that, utilizing his great voice. ??? I chalked that one up to the several beers I saw him down. 😀

After graduation Paul had a WONDERFUL 5 days off before he started work, and he took advantage of the rare opportunity to veg out, hang out with his son, and sleep. Here’s some pictures he took of Sammy:

His first actual smile on camera!!

Haha, filling in for daddy for PT duty (physical training)

Helping daddy veg out in front of our newly installed TV network (YAY!!). We got it installed for Paul’s birthday present, so we can watch all of our shows’ premieres this week. I was so happy I danced a little jig.

Anyway, there’s last week’s doings in the Lamas household, sorry it took so long to post it up. Now I’m only a week and a half behind, hahaha.

love, mary

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