foreach ($navItems as $ni) {
   $numChildren = $ni->cObj->getNumChildren();
   echo '<li class="' . $ni->classes . '">'; //opens a nav item
   echo '<a href="' . $ni->url . '" target="' . $ni->target . '" class="' . $ni->classes . '">' . $ni->name . ($numChildren > 0  ? ' (' . $numChildren . ')' : '') . '</a>';
   if ($ni->hasSubmenu) {
      echo '<ul>'; //opens a dropdown sub-menu
   } else {
      echo '</li>'; //closes a nav item
      echo str_repeat('</ul></li>', $ni->subDepth); //closes dropdown sub-menu(s) and their top-level nav item(s)
   }
}