[Renatus]

Hmm so he's going navy then? Does he know yet when he'll be shipping to training? He'll be comming to my neck of the woods, to the Great Lakes Naval base. I've been there plenty of times myself, it's quite a fun little place as it has several restaurants, a bowling alley, and two arcades to name a few things they have there. However I have no idea how free he would be, if at all, to use those facilities as I have no idea how much the navy isolates their recruits from the outside world during training.

One thing you should check out first off is to get yourself a military dependent ID. Also check out the USO, they help out members of the military and their families. Since you will inevitably(I think) be visiting the Great Lakes Naval base for when he graduates from boot camp, you can kill 2 birds with one stone, and get your dependant ID there, and check out the USO location there, and even check out their location at this own location in Chicago known as Navy Pier. The Navy Pier location is lovely small spot with a nice sized tv, video games, movies, food, and computers which include a webcam for talking to loved ones abroad over. Oh, and TONS OF GIRLSCOUT COOKIES,well at least the last time I was there they had a freezer full of girl scout cookies, but that was years ago and I don't know how often they get more.

To be fair the Navy Pier location is the only permanent USO location I've been to. I say permanent because they many times establish temporary locations, like one I once encountered at midway airport in Chicago which had movies, free cellphones they let you use while you were there, and of course food.

I must warn you however, your husband's taste in food might take a nosedive. My father for example enjoys the taste of the food in army ration packs, despite the fact that in my experience, THEY HAVE NO TASTE!

Also be sure to keep an eye out for free offers out there specifically for members of the military and their families. Here in Wisconsin for example Noah's Ark water park has a day they let military families in for free(I think it was free), at least they used to, I didn't hear about them doing it this year.

Also most military bases have PX(from what I've read the navy calls them NEX) facilities, they're stores for members of the military and their families, and depending on the class of the facility, have a varying variety of items at much cheaper prices than they would be at normally due to the store's tax exempt status due to being instruments of the government. The Great Lakes Naval base has one which has 3 fast food restaurants inside, but I hear there are some with movie theaters even. The Great Lakes Naval base actually has 2 PX facilities from what I remember.

Well that's all I can think of for now, hope this helped.