Nashville for nerds

I am here to say that, bloggers block is a real condition  While it is no worse than say something  like Gynecomastia, Formication, or muzzle mouth which my oldest sister suffers from bless her heart, it is still a cumbersome  condition.
  It has been a busy summer, so excuse me while I play catch up the events of the Dunn family.

  My summer started with  a Nashville trip with my best Friend Bianca. She flew into St Louis and we rented what they told us was a car, but giving it that tittle seemed to me to be an insult to automobiles  everywhere. I prefer to call it an over sized moving mushroom. Luckily its seemingly soft exterior acted a cushion when Bianca backed into a little old man in a golf cart. I digress.
  We spent 3 days sleeping in and singing along to country music Richard and the kids stayed back to allow me the opportunity to miss them! It is a toss up as to whether Bianca talked more about her dog Atlas or me about my little herd.
  First on our scholarly agenda was a visit to The Hermitage; the home of our 7th president Andrew Jackson.

Like a good friend Bianca laboriously read the pamphlets about President Jackson, in an attempt to make herself appear as though she was as creepily fascinated by him as I am.

We walked through Rachel Jackson's garden,

and through the cramped slave housing.

We finally ended with President Jackson and his wife Rachel's grave. The Hermitage had a great audio tour of the property. I would recommend this tour to anyone going through Nashville,  I am excited to take my kids there someday, Sorry Bianca NO dogs allowed!

Next up on our plans was a nap, not because we were tired, but because we could! With that out of the way, we headed down town for some impressive music and what turned out to be dreadful Nachos. They consisted of chips and iceberg. letus for crying out loud! No beans, no salsa, and no olives? It was a mockery of the divine food group that is nachos.
  My grievances  over the nachos were soon set aside as we enjoyed live music.

The fun did not stop there. The next day we boarded an old London double decker tour bus named Eleanor.

The tour took us through the main downtown, as well as music row, where Elvis recorded some of his music.

In addition to being so close to the stop lights that you could all most touch them, we had to duck several times to avoid being smacked in the face by trees the city had not yet cut back for patrons of Eleanor.

Our girls weekended with a tour of the Belmont mansion

Bianca made me ring the bell to this mansion built in 1849, after all that is how Adelicia Hayes Franklin the original owner would have wanted it Bianca insisted.  The grounds of the house were occupied by Union troops the period of a couple weeks in 1864, prior to the Battle  of Nashville ( I love civil war facts).

   Adelicia adorned the mansion with beautiful mirrors and gifts from such people as Napoleon III and President Polk. It turns out we were not suppose to take pictures of the art, but here you go!

With all of the beauty and history the mansion had to showcase,  I think the real draw back for me was that President Andrew Johnson had visited the mansion. Yes I do hold a grudge against a president who died 109 before I was born.
 All in all it was a fantastic trip with Bianca.

  Gong home meant getting to see Levi on his last day of Kindergarten and continue the awesome summer I started in Nashville.

  Trips without kids are great, but I think perhaps the best part is getting to see these two and their hot father upon my return.

Me the military wife

I have been husbandless for 5 weeks now. Richy has been away at Officer training in a far away land called Alabama. Last year Richard joined the Air Force as a means of going through medical school.  It was a hard decision for us to make, but ultimately we felt it was the right thing for our family.

     The hardest moment for me came when  I dropped him off for his training and knowing he was nervous and unhappy about going. I felt so bad about him having to go do something he did not want to even talk about let alone go do. Seeing him leave with his red suitcase made me physically ill. My friend Bianca who is a doctor was still with me after our girls trip to Nashville (awesome post coming soon) and was able to help take care of me and get Levi off to school..

   I am happy to report that Richy is loving officer training, which makes me question his home life.

I cannot wait to see him for reasons that are not blog appropriate, as well as the more innocent things like, our kids having their father back and finally getting to watch the new season of Arrested Development with him.

Upon his return. he has promised to tech me a technique on how to fold underwear smaller, I need to have a tape measure ready!. I have been living in suspense since he dropped this little teaser on me, but wait do people really fold underwear, am I just a sloth to think there must be a better use of my time than that?

The kids ask about him everyday. Levi understand somewhat what is going on, but Naomi cries for him every time I drive down the street where I normally pick him up from the metro.
  

  I cannot pretend that I really know what it is like to be a military wife (yet) nor do I fully understand the stuggles of being a single mom, but in these last almost 5 weeks I have had glimps of those worlds





 
  

Kindergarten field trip

One of the weirdest things about being a mom for me is that I have a child who spends 35 hours week at school. I often wonder about what conversations he is having with his friends at lunch time and what is going through his little mind during his various lessons. Two weeks ago I ditched Naomi with a friend for the day and I went on Levi's kindergarten field trip to the St Louis botanical gardens and I had a blast!
 It is rare that I get to have time with Levi without Naomi, so I treasure these times. He does not yet think he is too cool to sit on my lap in front of his friends or next to me on the school bus.

The gardens were beautiful, but I was caught up in spending time with my little garden gnome.

Levi is a on the small side for his age, which I have always found adorable and convenient for carrying purposes.. I wish I had counted how many of his classmates walked up and picked him up. Levi would go along with it as if that was just part of the daily routine, he did not mind. Levi is not one for walking.

The field trip gave me the opportunity to spend some time with the girl Levi has a bit of a crush on. I knew things were getting serious when in October Levi asked me if Niiga could come for Christmas.
I think they look like the perfect  match. He gets a sweet little grim whenever he talks about her.

Days like this are when I really feel bad that Richard is so busy in school. He would have loved to see Levi with all of his friends .The botanical gardens here have an awesome outdoor play ground, where Levi's class enjoyed an hour of free time. I chased the kids in and out of the caves and under the bridges and back up the slides. I have found I am a way better mom outside than inside where I am stressed out by seeing what needs to be done.. The kids and I ran around until we were dripping in sweat, hence the fact that there are no documented pictures on me on the field trip.

I was sad to leave the botanical gardens and this cute bunch of boys.

The tiny traveling backpack

  Since signing our rental lease here in the "Show-Me" state, Missouruh has lived up to it's nickname and shown me some great things and I have been able lure unsuspecting visitors to this fine flat land.

In April my aunt Janet boarded a plane with the tiniest backpack known to man and landed here. I had so much fun with her, that I implore her to invest in a standard size backpack so that she can stay longer next time.

We decided to load up  my gray fofo with my kids, her tiny backpack, and a GPS with the destination set as Independence Missouri. Independence is of interest to me for two reason. The first reason being my oafish obsession with  presidents and it just so happens that the 33rd haberdasher President of The United States Harry S Truman is from Independence. I will spare you the inane facts I know about him.. However my 5-year-old Levi did not fair so well as I tried to tell him everything I could when we went to the home of President Truman.

The second reason why I have an interest in Independence is  LDS church history. Church history is complicated and there is a lot to wrap your head around, I will leave it at that!

Joseph Smith dedicated a plot of land for a temple. The claims to this particular piece of land are fascinating. There are several off shoots of the LDS church surrounding the temple lot. At one such church I met a man who I believe predates even Joseph Smith's time. The man gave us an account of the events that took place there (again I believe it was a first hand account). Whenever I ask a question, the man, never moving from atop of his swivel stool would reference the answer to my question by swinging his cane over to a shelf full of booklets and point out the name on the brochure as his own name saying "That is me" each time followed by his name. He was kind enough to show us the original now encased corner stones of the temple, as well as let my children play with plastic blocks which they enjoyed, but I think they would have preferred the corner stones more.

 After leaving his church Naomi decided to take a leisurely stroll with her silky through the temple lot. I think she added a badly needed element of cuteness to the site-

Next up we traveled a few miles away to Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith and 3 others spent a few months. I was less impressed with the jail as it was an indoor replica. I will not deface this blog with pictures of it, however to prove to my kids someday that I took them there I will share this pic. 

Spending time at church sites and various other churches who use The Book of Mormon left me with a renewed desire to read it as well as The Doctrine & Covenants to continue to gain my own understanding of them.. 

After a night in Independence we were ready to pack up and head back to St Louis where Richard awaited to hear all about the odd and interesting things we encountered  

My aunt's trip took us even father into history. We crossed over the Mississippi river from St Louis into Illinois, where we visited an ancient Native American city called Cahokia Mounds Historic Site. The area was occupied in the 1200's and full of some 120 man made mounds. We  wore headsets that told us the history of the site from the research of archeologist  and historians as we looked at and climbed the various mounds.  It is believed the mounds were used as a place to build buildings for a variety of purposes to serve the population of 15.000.

Monks Mound is the largest mound north of Mexico. It is about a 100ft tall and very wide, how is that for a measurement? I ran to the top while Janet stayed behind with Naomi who wanted to collect ancient rocks.

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Can you see Janet at the bottom with her tiny backpack? Here is close up, can you see the backpack now?

 

And of course Naomi's silky had to make the trip with us.

It was an exhilarating morning of looking at preserved piles of ancient  dirt!

 We finished our day with the crowning jewel of St Louis. . ..picking Levi up from school, but before that we took a boat ride down the Mississippi river and a ride to the top of the arch.

I loved having my aunt here to go traipsing around Missouruh and Illinois with my off spring and I. Janet also provided a night of free childcare, something I welcome.

Richard and I attended his medical school prom.

                            I tried to pretend we were in high school, but as I walked into prom with my diaper bag over my shoulder , the illusion passed and I quickly was reminded of my age as I became irritated with the intoxicated people and I wished I were at home watching Dateline.

My aunt brought with her so much more than a tiny backpack. She shared stories with me about my grandparents who died when i was 5 and family genealogy, Things I want to be able to tell my kids about someday. All of us loved having her visit our cozy little rental.

The blogger in me has been on sabbatical. I have decided to pursue my true passion, napping, but now that I have awaken from mandatory nap time at the Dunn home, I shall blog.

Over a month ago we celebrated Easter. I love Easter for the most obvious reason, to remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ. While trying to keep the significance of the day in mind, we also enjoyed hunting for eggs. As a vegan I do not eat eggs UNLESS they are filled with candy!

Get ready for a picture you will only see here, and no it is not photo shopped although that is a good idea. Levi with his arm around Naomi

It has been over 2 years since Naynay joined our Family, but Levi is still warming up to the idea. Truth be told I can hardly get him to be near me in a picture as well.
And this next set of pictures I am just happy to have my kids in the same frame.

And here is the Easter bunny himself in all his hotness.

I know this is a very outdated post, but I cannot help but to drag Easter out, after all if came a little early this year.