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.

Spring break Dunn style

Spring break was unquestionable the best week we have had as a family of 4. Our plan had been to have a staycation and do all of the many fun things there are to do right here in St Louis, but my friend inspired me to take advantage of Richard's free time and take a trip. If we had stayed home, I still would have had laundry, dishes and all the work that comes with being a mom. So the plan to take a real vacation was born!

I knew Richard would be stressed out during his finals if he knew I was planning a venture far away from home, so I let this trip be a surprise. He knew I was planning something, he just did not know what. Instead of saying "Surprise we are going to fill in the blank", I gave him clues as to where our next destination would be. He never knew which stop would be our intended destination. I packed his clothes and sent him to the car. Naomi and I walked out wearing these bad boys I made. Finding blue suede turned out to be a bigger problem than I expected. Lucky for me my sister found some in Oregon that a nice lady named Jean Marie was selling for $3 an ounce. She only had a strip about half the size of a scarf left, I guess making home made blue suede shoes for spring break was the hot thing this year j/k. As I walked to the car, With a hint of disappointment in his voice Richard yelled "We are going to Memphis?". I had been humming the song "Walking in Memphis' for days and now Richard understood
why. He politely obliged to the 4 hour drive to Memphis.

Once in Memphis Naomi and I did as the song said, we put on our blue suede shoes and we went "walking in Memphis". I am pretty sure this was on Naomi's bucket list, so we had to do it.


We collected some souvenirs and discussed our favorite Elvis sings, and then we were on our way to our Next stop in Memphis.

In 1968 Martin Luther King, jr was assassinated outside of a Memphis motel. The circumstances surrounding his death intrigue me, so of course we had to see the motel

The area where the motel is located appears to be untouched by time. I felt like it was 1968 and I was out of place in my skinny jeans.

After seeing some of the rough areas of Memphis Richard ask me where we were staying. This is when I gave him his next clue.



I began to ignite the cigarette lighter under the Spam, to which Richard shouted "COMBUSTIBLE SPAM". I was looking for burning-spam which sounds like Birmingham. We made our way to Birmingham Alabama for the night. Richard thought this was a corky vacation choice, but I convinced him it was a great place to spend the week.

Levi's only spring break request was that we go to a bounces house. The next day us Oregonians turned Missouri dwellers got our bounce on as we mingled with the locals.



Alabama was truly beautiful with blue skies and plenty of green. Birmingham was well manicured and had lots of southern charm, however this too was not our final vacation spot. My third and final clue.



Richard guessed Pensacola Florida right away, but again he had a hint of disappointment in his voice, but for a different reason. My plan had back fired. Richard grew excited about an Alabama vacation, I had build it up too much. It took some work, but I got him on board just in time.

The Emerald Coast in Florida is like paradise with white sand and emerald green water. We spent most of our time in a little beach town called Destin just east of Pensacola. Levi and Naomi had fun playing with the stomp rocket.


I love seeing my kids get a break from their day to day lives and have some fun.

While Richard and Levi played hard Naomi and I took a leisurely walk on the beach.

Here are some of my favorite pictures

In addition to loving the heck out of seeing my kids play happily together, I had Richard free of text books, labs, and computer screens.

We ate at cute little beach restaurants and I was able to find some great vegan food.

We spent a day at the National Naval Aviation museum in Pensacola. There were airplanes from several different wars. All of us had fun exploring.
After the museum the tables turned and Richard had a surprise for me! We were leaving this

He wanted to extend our trip and go to New Orleans, so on to Louisiana went! Here is our one and only family picture from the whole trip. We took a ferry over the Mississippi into the city. The kids loved it and would not hold still for a picture.
New Orleans was adorable and rich in history. We loved the energy and the food. Jackson square was very well maintained and allowed the kids the space to run around, unlike the car ride they had endured. Naomi acted like she had never seen dirt and had I had my way she may not have.
The French Quarter was lively, with singers on the streets blowing bubbles.

While I am glad we saw some cemeteries, they were creepy. Next time I hope to see the grave of Homer Plessy from the famous 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson.

The Garden district is full of beautiful old homes. I was too busy enjoying their charm to get a decent picture.

New Orleans was awesome and it made the kids very tired.

And like any good road trip we visited the state capital building in Mississippi.

Our trip took us through 7 states, great food, lots of laughs , and over all fun together. We may not always have the time or resources to do a trip like this, but when we do we will take full advantage of the chance to make memories together.