Adventures in Norfolk, VA

Some of you might be wondering, "What the heck are the Armstrongs doing in Norfolk?" (Not really, but it was a good way to start my post). We are moving towards the end of our ten week "visit" as the Bradley finishes up his latest military training here at the Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC). While other folks arrived here sans family, Brad was like, "No way. My family comes with me." It has been an interesting new adventure - Brad has been slightly more stressed than his usual (thank you JFSC), Jack had some adjusting to do, as did I.

Jack and I have tried to spend the past two months pretending to be a tourist in Norfolk. Now approaching our "three weeks left" mark, the reality is starting to set in....we have become more than tourists. We have grown attached to Norfolk. I surprised Brad last week when we got stuck in a traffic jam, and I knew the "back roads" to get us home a different route. I am already feelings waves of nostalgia creep up on the shore of our lives here and we haven't even left yet. We've got three weeks left to fully take in the land, sand and sea that surrounds us in this almost quaint town. In order to plan our next few weeks, I have to re-visit all that we have done in this land of festivals. (Yes, there seems to be some kind of festival every weekend. Some people might hate this. We happen to be the festival-loving kind.)

Anna to Jack: Jack, where would you like to go today?
Jack to Anna: YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

Welcome to the Blocker Norfolk Y
Immediately, Jack and I both realized we needed a social outlet (me for the gym and Jack for the socialization with his peeps). We took matters into our own hands and found the Blocker Norfolk YMCA of South Hampton Roads in downtown Norfolk.

Pure awesomeness. Six floors of the best YMCA I have ever laid eyes on. They have it all....state of the art ChildWatch center (Jack's favorite), indoor lap pool, locker rooms that include towels AND soap, the fantastic Chickpea Cafe, two floors of cardio machines, workout machines (including HumanSport functional training - LOVE them), and an entire floor (the famous 4th floor) of free weights, my personal favorite, and these are just the things we like about the place. I also have had the freedom to run outside while Jack is in ChildWatch (which is like instant sanity restoration for me). There are also as many fitness classes you can think of, including spin. To top it off, we get the luxury of Parent's Night Out. Twice a month, a Friday night where ChildWatch is open and you get three hours of babysitting (included in your membership). Doesn't sound like a big deal? We don't have "a" babysitter. Ever. Unless we travel to another state where our family lives, we always take Jack on dates. And that is fine with us - we had him for a reason. But, a date with just us, even though we spent most of the time talking about our little ankle biter, was pretty nice. We had a very nice evening at Todd Jurich's Bistro, dirty martinis and all. To top all of this off, the staff at Blocker Norfolk Y are incredible. Reason #1 we like we are at home here...it's like walking into the bar on Cheers, because everybody knows your name. Yes, we do go there 6 out of 7 days of the week. But who wouldn't - it's a fantastic place to be. Love it. Already missing it and we haven't even left yet.

I guess this sums up our first week. Aside from taking fantastic tricycle rides all over the base, we kept things low key to adjust to our new "digs."

The Land of Festivals
Since our arrival in Norfolk, we have attended more festivals than I thought possible in the 7 weeks we have been here. Let's start at the beginning. We started with the East Beach Festival which was small, had about twenty tents with vendors hocking their wares, and a wine tasting. We did enjoy the wine tasting. It was more interesting to walk around this scenic Norman Rockwell-esque community. Very pretty and most certainly, very expensive.

We live on the same base where NATO is located (well, one of their many locations). Guess what goes along with that? The NATO Festival (previously known as the Azalea Festival). Great for interesting food samples and lively performers.

We then hit up the Greek Festival (one of the oldest festivals in Norfolk). This was great for a quick Greek food/dessert fix, however, we later found the Orapax for great Greek food that wasn't quite as pricey (and much nicer than sitting outside in a tent eating souvlaki & dolmas).

Our most recent festival, the Pungo Strawberry Festival was this weekend. Yes, it was a festival. Strawberries? Hardly. I guess it's hard to compare to the Plant City Strawberry Festival. Seriously, a strawberry festival is not a strawberry festival if 1) there are absolutely no strawberries for sale, 2) there are no giant tents set up just to serve strawberry shortcake, and 3) the only option you have includes a small square of cake with pre-frozen strawberries from Sam's club. I kid you not. No biscuits versus cake. No Cool Whip versus Whipped Cream. You had three options of where to plop your $5 for some mediocre shortcake. This is one disappointed Florida girl...hoping for something close to the Strawberry festival from home.

Jack and I have had several days for our own special dates together. One of those dates included a visit to the Virginia Aquarium . Again, another one of those things that was great to see but once you've been to Florida's, it's hard to compare. The highlight of this trip was checking out some really ugly. large, fish - to which Jack repeated, "No. No. No." in an effort to get me to back his stroller away from the glass. To top it off, it was overpriced as was their cafe.

Other check marks on our hit list
Let me make it clear...I hate going to the Kid's Play Areas in shopping malls. The ones in DC look like ant farms. We usually avoid them altogether for that reason (and for the kids who are way over that 42" rule and like to perform stunt off the top of the styrofoam play things while you know their parents are out shopping). However, we have discovered the mack daddy of all play areas and it is rarely occupied. Add to the gated entrances and an ever present security guard and you have the MacArthur Center Kid's Play Area (or the keedz arrreea puhhhweeez? as Jack asks). I suggest one of two courses of action....either do your shopping first and use the keedz arreea as your carrot or let them completely exhaust themselves in said arreea and then stuff them with lunch, place in stroller and boom, naptime = shoppingtime). The shopping is great - whether you are there to buy or just window shop. Imagine International Mall in Tampa, FL plus Old Hyde Park shops and that's what you have (minus the SonyStyle store, Sarah).

On one of our Mama and Jack days, we decided to check out the Virginia Zoo. Jack and I consider ourselves  of connoisseurs of zoos. We love the National Zoo...we actually became FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo) because we are partial to that one (and well, it's cheaper to drive there in 15 minutes and have free parking as members rather than ride the Metro for an hour and pay $10). Well, I can recall our visits to the Montgomery Zoo and well, it was more interesting to look at the people than the animals (and no, the Montgomery Zoo doesn't even get linked). The same holds for the Virginia Zoo, except the people weren't too interesting either. We did like seeing the random domestic cat walking around and the local geese, but otherwise, eh.

On a whim, we decided to go check out Andalo's Clubhouse. It is part of the Virginia Children's Museum which is closed for renovations, but Andalo's is still open. If you are a Tampa native, imagine  Safety Village and the little grocery/bank/pretend land of your preschool/elementary school years (located near good 'ol Lowry Park). When you walk in, the first room is dedicated to Thomas the Tank Engine. Let me equate Jack's reaction to what I would experience if I walked into a room stocked with every kind of chocolate imaginable...pause, suck in a lot of air, and then, "Whoaaaa" after which I might either pass out or dive in mouth open. Jack did just this....and started saying, "choo choo choo choo" and jumped right into playing. We then bounced around in a tot sized version of a gymnastics gym and spent the rest of our time pretending to be bankers, hitting the boop-boop buttons on cash register at the grocery store, building our dream house out of styrofoam blocks and playing with giant-sized science experiments (seriously, Bernoulli's Principle and Gaussian distributions). Between a public health geek, a physicist/meteorologist/Air Force officer and a toddler...a blast was had by all.

And if all of this isn't enough....we also have Buckroe Beach where Jack and I watched an air craft carrier set out to sea, realized we're not that fond of sand, and played on a very hot playground.

Finally, some dining highlights...but we have yet so much more to accomplish.
If you want a great Indian lunch buffet, check out Rajput Indian. Great service, delicious curry, chutneys, and tandoori. Top it all of with some rice pudding and your tastebuds will do a little dance.

If you want fantastic pizza, locals, kitsch, and chicks with arm sleeve tats that wear make-up like Kat Von whats-her-name,  Cogan's is the place. Seriously good pizza. Seriously heavy smokers sitting outside, so hold your breath while walking in and out.

If you want to go where to locals go for crappy, over steamed seafood, check out Chicks Oyster Bar. Really. Everyone kept telling us to check it out. We did. We weren't impressed.

In the famous closing words of my mother...alright. I have written way too much and while I now have a perspective on all the wonderful things we have done here in Norfolk, we still have more we want to do. The crazy thing is, I haven't even listed EVERYTHING we've done, like hitting up Doumar's, or Busch Gardens Williamsburg. We've hit Virginia Beach, some of the local shops, and countless breakfast joints.

This has turned into a tourist advertisement for Norfolk. Definitely work checking out. Glad we've had the opportunity.

Definitely sad to be leaving....but we've got three weeks left to enjoy. That's what we plan to do!

Cheers and have a great Memorial Day!

Anna Marie, Bradley and Jack

The Top Ten Reasons Why I Hate (and Love) Being Unemployed.

Let me start by saying, I am partially unemployed. Teaching online and teaching a spin class does bring all of the usual suspects involved in full-time work...paycheck, work, frustration, time, feeling of satisfaction, feeling of making a difference, and on and on.

However, here are some of my current complaints of being unemployed (or you could re-phrase this and say "complaints of being a full-time parent" because if ANYONE dare say this isn't full-time work, they are out of their frickity-frackin' mind!)

1. I hate that all the brainpower knowledge and skills developed during those long years of hard-work, dedication, and late nights spent and boring journal articles, textbooks, paper writing obtaining a higher education are currently not being used to its fullest potential to benefit society and my brain is melting.
2. I have unlimited time with my son Jack - I have been a part of everything, from first rolls and walks to words. This is a love. However, it is also causing my brain to melt. People (or at least people like me) are not meant to be cooped up with small children all day. We don't even "coop" ourselves up...we socialize at the YMCA, we go to new places, etc., etc. I have evidence that it is unhealthy to be "employed" as a full-time parent. Evidence A: my older sister complained of her eye twitching...constantly...for years. It still does and her children are all over the age of 10. She also needed at least a glass of wine every night to function. Evidence B: My eye twitches when around more than one child (even if one is mine). Evidence C: I only have one child and I need a glass of wine every single night. Does any of this sound healthy? I love this little booger, but I also feel like I lose my mind on  daily basis. Don't think for a second, "Oh, I'd love to be a full-time mom." Try it for oh, 19 months or so (as opposed to 6 weeks of standard maternity leave) and then tell me what you think. Yes, you might not have to wake-up, get the child ready, yourself ready, drop-off, pick-up, blah, blah, blah. But you do get a full 8 hours of being a grown-up when you work outside of your home. You also might actually get to enjoy a cup of coffee and drink it before 1) it gets cold, 2) you have to change poop or, 3) you feel guilty for thinking you should get to actually enjoy a cup of coffee. Wow- that became a long one. Bring on the mommy-guilt. 
3. I hate reading rejection letters. No. Worse than that...I hate not ever even receiving a telephone call, email, or letter that acknowledges the presence of my cover letter or CV in Company/Organization/Federal Agency's hot little inbox/hands/trash. These days in our new, post-post-modern era of efficient communication, we don't waste time/paper/seconds to respond to over-eager potential employees who are waiting for ANY form of anything to at least get their hopes up. Once. Bastards. Actually, I also hate getting letters that say "There were many highly qualified candidates (Unsaid: You were not one of them.). Or the one letter that actually said, "You were not qualified for this position." Thanks potential dream job. What the hell does my Ph.D. mean then? Oh yeah, I was definitely one of those Ph.D. students who parents paid for everything, I got absolutely no experience, and I sat around all day thinking about dissertation topics. RIGHT.  
4. This leads me to my 4th "hate" related to being unemployed (and apparently unemployable). I hate that this said lack of employment coupled with crappy rejection (or lack of) letters has led me to question my abilities as a professional. I can tell myself "times are tough, a lot of people are unemployed, the economy is crap," but somehow the doubt still creeps in...and I have actually thought I might need to return to school of some kind for continuing education. See, my brain is actually melting.  
5. I love/hate that with all of my spare time, I have felt compelled to do insanely exhausting things like make baby food from scratch, visit every museum/zoo/playground I can locate, play silly baby games all day until my brain completely turns to mush, and try out blogging (just in case leaving it somewhat stagnant hasn't completed the job). [Okay, so this #5 is more of a love one. I mean seriously, there was NOTHING else to do in Montgomery, Alabama, so making baby food (www.beabausa.com) from scratch kept me inside away from, well, society in general. It also saved tons of money so I could have some to spend in oh my god expensive DC.]  
6. I love that being unemployed has allowed me to explore every city I have lived in until I know it like the locals. Being married to someone in the military, that has translated into three cities in three years. There is something to be said for exploring new cities, finding your way around intricate traffic patterns and navigating various healthcare systems. What that something is, I am not sure. Added bonus: when the Bradley gets to travel to desirable destinations, I don't need to submit a vacation request. 
7. I hate that the further away from working I get, the harder it will be to get working again. Routine, routine, arghhh....time to change the routine. It's always about adapting and I have become quite skilled at this. Change is good. The ability to adapt to change quickly is beneficial. I am good at these things. I actually like change, crave it, and enjoy it. It's the transition to the new routine that is highly irritating. 
8. I hate wondering if I will even know my dream job when I see it. My sister keeps saying, "The right job will come along when it is meant to be." At this rate, I wonder if I will still be considered "qualified" (and there's that doubt creeping in again). 
9. I hate being introduced to people my husband works with/knows and when they ask what I do, I say I take care of Jack, teach online, and teach a spin class. Invariably, their eyes always glaze over once they hear "take care of Jack." 
10.  I hate that it took being unemployed/employed as a full-time parent to realize that my own mom had the toughest, most rigorous, taxing job in the world. Harder than any other out there. I hate that I feel like I can't handle it some days (and I only have one, while she handled teen, kid and toddlers all at once). I wonder if she wished she could get a job to break free from the eye-twitching madness that is being a mother. I know I do. And I hate feeling guilty about that, but in the end I will probably be a happier mama for doing it (or I will be like everyone else, and end up wishing I was a full-time, stay at home mama). 

I think the loves won over the hates. It is what it is - I am a full-time mama, part-time employee and somehow juggle it all. I have a lot of perks that other full-time mamas don't have, so I know that my list is at best, selfish and I shouldn't take my role at this point for granted. 

You know how it goes, you always want what you don't have. 

Here's looking forward to that glass of wine!

Anna Marie

Big boats...I mean ships and life in Norfolk.

We have happily become squatters transients temporarily displaced persons in Norfolk, Virginia. It's really not that bad. It's like living in a microcosm of society. Living on a Navy annex in temporary lodging has its perks....lots of playgrounds, housekeeping service, and free toilet paper. We use a lot of toilet paper.

We have been here three weeks now and have already 1) joined a YMCA and made new friends, 2) figured out how to get to the most important places (commissary, Harris Teeter, NEX, and shopping malls), 3) visited major landmarks, tourist attractions (Aquarium=total rip-off...way over priced to see fish/sharks). Oh, I forgot the important one...pissed off the Commanding Officer of a Navy ship we had the honor of touring. Jack loved it...but kept calling it a boat. On our way to the tour, some of Brad's classmates and Brad were discussing how it is an insult to call a ship a boat. Mentally I make a note to self (ship, ship, ship). Well, recall that joke you would tell when you were a kid...you know it goes something like this:

Anna: Hey Susie, what do you get from a cow?

Susie: Milk.

Anna: What?

Susie: Milk!

Anna: What?

Susie: Milk! Milk! Milk!!!

Anna: What does a cow drink?

Susie: MILK!!!!

Anna: (rofl) WATER!!!

I love kindergarten jokes. Well, this gets worse.

Jack: boat, boat, boat, boat, boat.

Anna: Ship, ship, ship

Jack: boat, boat, boat

Anna: Ship, ship, ship, ship

Brad: Anna' this is CDR so-and-so (probably not nice to call him so-and-so)

Anna: So nice to meet you (flash sweet I am really a nice person smile aka fake smile)

CDR: Thank you for coming (flashes I am so sick of this crap smile)

Brad: (proudly) this is my son Jack

CDR: Hi Jack - so what do you think?

Anna: (already speaking for son) Jack loves the boat (BOAT!!! BOAT!!! Holy crap mental note to self did not work!!!

CDR: (Face contorts into twisted I hate this woman look)

Anna: Ship, ship, I mean ship, Jack has been calling it a boat. (TOO LATE...and this explanation only makes it worse. Keep digging).

CDR: (I wish we really had a plank, because I would throw this snitch off of it right now).

Anna: (Um, I am meant to be a professional career woman...and continue to bomb at this military spouse crap).

Brad: (look of horror remains on face for at least five minutes despite best efforts to reassure me it was no big deal).

Right. Awkward pleasantries continue.

Nice. So, we have really made our mark here so far. I have also been rejected by yet another job, decided that Jack is sick of having me around 24/7 and we both want full-time jobs so we can better appreciate our time with each other.

Actually, we are enjoying our time and trying to make the most of it as a family. Weekends are spent exploring. NATO is here (on the same annex we live on) so we had the opportunity to attend the NATO festival this weekend. Norfolk loves festivals, so this will keep us busy.

It will also give me some interesting fodder for writing. Stay tuned!

Anna Marie