so proud!

on november 1, 2011

christopher p. allain was promoted to the rank of major in the united states marine corps

wait, what?!  isn’t that something grown ups do?

chris and his commanding officer

he’s just not one for that super serious face.

chris asked colonel richie and i to pin on his new rank.

(we practiced the night before . . . stem out, oak leaf points in)

colonel richie is currently the base Co for miramar, but was chris’ CO when he was a green knight two tours ago.  I know he was glad to have him there.

taking the oath.

the skipper took a minute to say more nice things about chris and what a hard (but quiet) worker he is.

chris was saying a couple thank-you’s when anabelle decided to join him.

yah, muggy!

anabelle was pretty excited to find something with buttons to play with.

chris says it’s going to take him some time to get used to the change and to get his new title correct when he’s talking on the phone.  he’s a little bummed about no longer being a junior officer.  now he feels like he is ‘one of them’.  I know it’s a bit of a weird transition for him and he’s still 8 years old inside, but I know it will be good and he’ll find a way to make being ‘one of them’ pretty darn cool.

we’re so proud of you!

thanks amy for joining us and for taking pictures!

- - - - -

we got to steal chris away for a few minutes afterwards so we walked down to the flightline coffee shop to enjoy some fresh air and listen to the jets.

   it really was nice to be a part of chris’ promotion and to have him to ourselves for a few extra minutes that day.