Branstad Family: Bundle O' Branstad goes to the Mountains...Weeks 30 and 31

Weeks 30 and 31 were again super busy weeks for us, which is probably why I'm just getting to this post now. On June 15th we headed out to Denver, CO for John's good friend Olaf's wedding. Overall, flying at 30 weeks was a breeze. I opted out of going through the new TSA body scanner at MSP, but since they didn't have the detector running I got one of those up close and personal pat downs. It really wasn't that bad and I'd rather go through that then the body scanner since I'm not convinced they've done their due dillegence in testing the safety of those things on pregnant women. I'm not too fussy about a lot of things but something about those scanners makes me uncomfortable. Interestingly, at Denver airport on the way back home, the TSA agent immediately motioned me to the detector rather than the scanner without me saying anything, which I appreciated. It does make you wonder, though. Anyway, Baby Girl also scored us a little seat upgrade on the flight out to Denver. We asked the gate agent whether the flight was full and if I'd be able to move around during the flight (we weren't super concerned, I'll admit we mostly just wanted to see what they might do for us) and she promptly looked to see if she could change our seats. She ended up putting us in the first row in the Economy Comfort section! This meant extra leg room (John was definitely excited about that part), a little more elbow room, and the row was only two seats so we were not sharing the row with any strangers. Sweet! The flight went really well, and as some of you may know it's nice and short. Baby Girl was very active during the flight. I'm not sure if it was because she loved it, hated it, or because I was sitting there relaxing I was more apt to notice her movements.

On Saturday morning we headed out with a bunch of friends that were out for the wedding and did some hiking at Lair of the Bair Park near Morrison and out around Red Rocks. It was really fun to watch all the fitness diehards working out on the stairs at the Amplitheater and I'll admit I was a little bit jealous I couldn't join them; just walking up the stairs from bottom to top was quite the accomplishment for me at this point. Stupid increased blood volume and high altitude! However, I handled the hikes we did very well and it was fun to get out into the foothills.

Olaf and Anne had a beautiful wedding and a fun reception. Baby Girl again enjoyed the dancing, root beer, and loud music. We had a great time hanging out with our friends over the weekend during the festivities. On Sunday morning John and I headed out to Vail to get away on our own and relax for a few days before flying back home. John found a last minute deal on a Junior Suite at the Sonnenalp Resort in Vail Village. The last two times we had been to Vail it had been in the fall when things were a lot slower so it was fun to be there when there was more action. There actually were a lot of young families so John and I enjoyed people watching from bar patios (beers and cocktails for John, root beer and Arnie Palmers for me) and observing how parents carted their young children around and still seemingly enjoyed themselves. I think by the end the thought between us was..."See, we can totally still do this stuff with kids." It will definitely be different, but a challenge we're interested in taking on.

Part of the reason John and I love Colorado so much is for the hiking in the mountains. On Monday morning we decided to try a "easy" hike up Vail Mountain. The trail was named Berry Picker. Sounds innocuous, right? Never mind that the map says to take the Gondola up the mountain then make you way down the trail; we decided we'd skip the Gondola ride ($50 total; we figured this money was better spent on a nice dinner later that evening) and just see how far we could make it up the trail. It looked like it was some inclines followed by some flat parts where you can more or less zig zag your way up. Keep in mind this is also a major ski hill. So we begin our ascent and already 5 minutes in I'm breathing heavier and my calves are starting to burn because of the incline. The "flat part" seems still quite a ways away. Berry Picker, really? I tried to imagine how anyone could be leisurely and happily picking berries on this trail. Needless to say the mission was aborted! John walked up a little farther and got a few pictures of Lionshead Village, but when he came back down to where I had decided to park it he thought even if we made it up a ways; down would have been quite treacherous. The trail was very dry and apparently John didn't want his pregnant wife careening down Vail Mountain. Seems reasonable. I was disappointed my body wouldn't cooperate and it became real that there are some things I just can't do right now. We made our way down a less steep route and spent the rest of the day by the pool. Now that, I can handle. That evening, we had a phenomenal dinner at Sweet Basil. So, most of the trip was spent walking around, eating and drinking on patios, and lounging by the pool. Not our typical mountain vacation, but it was still great to get away and relax.

On our way back to the airport we decided to take the alternate route back to Denver through Loveland Pass. We got out of the car and took some pictures at the Continental Divide. I definitely noticed the altitude difference up there. Just walking up some stairs to a lookout got my heart pumping. Since we couldn't hike up the mountains, driving up was a good alternative!

Week 31 was pretty uneventful other than over the weekend I made some more significant progress on the bedrooms in the basement. John moved the full bed from Baby Girl's future room down to the guest room downstairs. It's so nice to have the rooms downstairs be actual rooms with organized closets and not just giant walk in storage rooms anymore. Now the next steps are to start cleaning out the upstairs guest room so it's more appropriate for hosting a baby. And below are some photos of our trip for your enjoyment (click on them to enlarge)!