Marley at the Barn

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St.Louis Zoo

Fathers Day in St.Louis

June 19, 2010 we leave Los Angeles, CA, around 5:00am. We arrive at LAX around 5:45 and I realize that I forgot my wallet! Yikes! How could I have done that? Early rise,packing for me and the baby, rushing to leave......who knows. I am just thankful that I have our id's and Ahmed had his wallet. We arrived safely into St.Louis, MO and rush into the family changing room, like Superman/woman/and baby, getting ready for the wedding, using the hand dryer to release any wrinkles, got dressed, kindly acknowledge the whispered comments from the TSA on how nice we looked and we swiftly caught a cab and made the nuptial on time! It was a lovely wedding, heartfelt and just full of love.

The last time I visited the city of St. Louis, it was 14 years ago. I was single and on tour with Stomp. It was my first official city on tour and it was also the first time I spent the new year away from my family. Looking back I missed them so much, but never in a million years could I imagine what kind of impact it was going to make on my life. Incredibly we ended up staying in the same exact Marriott at Union Station. I didn't hit me at first, but the hotel had this familiarity instantly. I look at the walls and the arches and all of my memories suddenly flashed in front of my eyes. I even remembered that I bought a diary in the same complex, it was fuzzy, and had a leopard print and till this day I have on my shelf, where I scribed all the crazy happenings and drama of tour! Wow, the good old days. Who would have thunk, I would be married to Ahmed and have a baby, attending our friends wedding, 14 years down the line! One of the 11 weddings we were invited to this year. It was an amazing day. My friend Nadyia and Sean were absolutely stunning as a couple and we were really happy we were able to share there special day. Marley had a wonderful time and tore up the dance floor. We had to literally drag him off the floor.

Since we spent the next day in town, Fathers Day was also spent in St.Louis, Missouri. The weather was a sweltering heat and every body's stride was nice and easy. The people were polite and the city had a lot of exciting things in store for us. We were planning a really laid back Fathers day. Something that involved air condition, food and.......food. (smile) We headed out for a walk downtown. Just before we headed out we showed Marley this Coy pond that was directly in front of our hotel. Ahmed and Marley were having a beautiful Father - Son moment . I quickly pulled out my camera. Just as I did, I heard a plop! I thought it was a fish jumping out of the pond, but it was Ahmed's I-phone that had plopped in! Great! But we didn't fret, we took it with stride and thought "Hey this is par for the coarse"! He has the wallet .......I have my phone. This is what a marriage is all about. :) Right. Having each other's back.

So we continued with our day. Like most downtown's on a Sunday, lots of places were closed, so we walked around aimlessly hungry! Time was flying, so we caught a cab and took it to a cafe, that was FAR....... and the fare cost more than our lunch! But we still didn't let that get us down. "Lets go to the Zoo" I said. So, we go to the St. Louis Zoo. And Jackpot! It was the best. We all had a wonderful time and I believe it was one of the best Zoo's I've ever been to. We saw, chimps,hippos,elephants,butterflies, etc. It was so relaxing. Mr. Marls loved every minute of it and ended up being an incredible Father's day.

Neighborhood Party

Today our neighbors had an impromptu Birthday party for their daughter Sasha. She turned 4 years old(in brown). I think this is the first party Marley has attended where he actually knew what was going on. He sang Happy Birthday and blew out her candles, after a few chuckles the candles were re-lit and Sasha blew out all 4 flames. I was watching all of the children playing with each other, laughing and looking out for one another. The ranged from 12yrs old t0 16 months and they all had a great time. I was so proud of my little boy. Everyday, I just savor in every moment I am blessed with to watch him grow and experience his first taste of flan on top of the moistest chocolate cake. It was so good Marls just kept on saying "Cake"!