<p>Congratulations to the class of 2011. Beast is almost over and reorgy week is looming. I bet there are a lot of parents who can't wait for A-day - exciting times for sure.</p>
<p>I am getting excited to see my son! Four days until we leave. ;)</p>
<p>WAMom,</p>
<p>Please let us know all about it. Although it was 2 years ago, our A-Day seems like yesterday. What a marvelous experience you have ahead of you.</p>
<p>Yes, WAMom have a great time and please do share. It is a wonderful weekend. We enjoyed the rehearsal on Friday afternoon (which parents were allowed to attend) as much as the real thing. They practice in their ACUs and have their name tags on the backs of their hats so you can find your cadet fairly easily :). Not so for the real deal, but what a spectacular parade.
I guess the new cadets are marching back right now.....</p>
<p>I just heard on plebe-net that they are at the ski slope already. I also heard the class motto is "For Freedom We Fight". That got me emotional again.</p>
<p>Parents can go to the parade rehearsal...do you know what time it is? We are going to be killing some time on Friday because we can't check into the hotel until 3 and this would be a good way to spend that time.</p>
<p>Great motto! </p>
<p>You may want to check on plebe.net to see if parents can attend the A-day rehearsal, and get the details. That is where I got the info last year. It was mid to late afternoon if I recall correctly. Definitely worth doing if you can. Another tip - if you are planning to have brunch at the Thayer on Sunday you can make table reservations if you have a big enough party (6 or more I think). If your party is smaller you may want to pair up with another family. It can save a long wait in line. Have fun!</p>
<p>For Parents attending A-Day, please ask your plebe to invite some of his/her fellow plebes to share time and meals with you. First, it will give you the opportunity to congratulate some of the plebes who aren't able to have family there on A-Day.</p>
<p>Second, I guarantee you will hear some different, and probably more detailed, Beast stories. The other plebes, and yours too, will likely share a lot more info among themselves than in a direct conversation with parents. Some of my best memories of A-Day were experienced as a 'fly-on-the-wall' as the plebes told their special Beast stories.</p>
<p>Have a great visit and please extend my congratulations and thanks to all the plebes you see during the weekend.</p>
<p>Don't worry Aspen, there has been much discussion about this on plebe-net already. The plebes without family attending A-day will be taken care of! </p>
<p>I have already written to my son twice that he is most welcome to invite other plebes to hang out with us. I will remind him again later this week when he has email/phone access. In fact I will be disappointed if he doesn't have at least one other cadet with him. :D</p>
<p>It's finally over :D Well, I guess not technically since it's reorgy week, but they gave me my laptop, so I consider it over.</p>
<p>Erbium -- Congratulations, and don't let your team leader catch you surfing the net at 22:25 at night during reorgy week! :)</p>