Fall Vacation - Washington D.C.

Dave says: We decided that it was the right time for one last big adventure before the baby arrives. Rather than our usual biking/hiking trips around the West, we decided it would be a good time to head back to the East Coast and see some of the sights. Our timing was perfect as we enjoyed great fall weather with a lot of sunshine and pleasant temperatures. The only bad weather that we experienced was on the flight to Washington DC as a storm cause the airport to be shut down and we were rerouted to land at a different airport and then waited for a few hours for the storm to clear before we could fly in. It was a long travel day but we were excited to arrive and woke up bright and early the next morning to start seeing the sights. We had not previously used Uber as a means of transportation but on this trip we found it to be a very effective way to get from our hotel to the sights and back with drivers who were readily available and more friendly than taxi drivers. 

 

We started on the National Mall at the Lincoln Memorial. There's a nice view and corridor to look down with the reflecting pool and Washington Monument in the background followed by another open space with the Capitol building at the end. The White House is also nearby and we walked past various war memorials, gardens, and other smaller historical sights on our way around the White House and through the related visitor's center.

After the White House it was time to start checking out the Smithsonian Museums. They are all free and are some of the best museums that you will find anywhere. We started in the Museum of American History and then made it to the Air and Space Museum which is cool because they have huge planes and rockets hanging from the ceiling and mounted everywhere. Alisha wore her GPS watch and was recording 10 to 15 miles of walking on some of the big days of our trip like this one. By the evening, we were in need of a rest break and watched a one hour film in the Smithsonian's IMax theater on space travel. 

Throughout the day, parts of the mall were quite crowded as it was the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March and there was a huge gathering on the mall by the Capitol. We avoided the crowds throughout most of the day until the event ended and there were people everywhere. We ate dinner at an Indian restaurant called Grand Trunk with some of the craziest decor we've seen anywhere. Finally, we finished off the day with a night time visit to the Jefferson Memorial.

Day 3

After a huge day 2 on our feet, we knew that we needed to mix things up a bit and so we rented bikes and headed into the countryside on a big bike path loop. We rode past crazy old graveyards, along narrow winding paths following a river, down a railroad grade, and finally back along the grand Potomac River and back into the heart of the city.

We left the bikes behind for the afternoon so that we could see this famous WWII memorial as well as Arlington Cemetery with it's endless rows of white tombstones. There were some notable points of interest here such as JFK's grave and the tomb of the unknown soldier. By the time we walked from Arlington across the Potomac bridge and back to the mall the sun was setting and we were getting tired. We found a delicious and healthy veggie restaurant with the somewhat ironic name of Beefsteak (although it is after this type of tomato) where we found some of the best food of the whole trip. Then it was back to the hotel to chart out the next part of the adventure.

Spontaneous Fun!

Alisha says: We woke up early Saturday morning and set out for what we thought was going to be a hike on a trail near Saquaro Lake, but when we got there the trail was closed for maintenance. So we adapted and still ended up having a really fun morning. We first found a four wheel drive trail near where we were going to hike and drove our subaro through some sandy washes and around through the desert to a little hidden cove/beach. We then made our way back to the marina where we rented a little fishing boat and went trolling around for a little bit. It was fun to get out on the water and I was tempted to jump in but ended up staying in the boat, maybe next time.

In the afternoon we got some baby practice in when Christine asked us to watch 6 day old newborn Jonathan during the afternoon session of conference. It was fun to hold and snuggle him and I am glad that our baby will have a cousin that is so close in age. I can't believe that in less than nine weeks and we will have our own little one. I still feel like I have a lot to do to get ready.

Tonto Natural Bridge State Park

Alisha says: Saturday we took a trip to Payson and visited a cool little state park called Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. It is believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world, who knew? We did the little hike/scramble down Pine Canyon, under the bridge and up the other side. It was a fun area to see.

 And a 29 week pregnant picture.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Alisha says: We spent the long three day weekend with Christine's family in Flagstaff. It was great to escape the heat and hang out in the pine trees for a few days. Highlights from the trip include:

Hiking the Old Cave Crater Trail: This is a short hike just outside of Flagstaff. Dave and I took Christine's girls aged 4-8 and this was a great hike for them. There were a few small caves for them to explore at the top.

Walnut Canyon National Monument: This is a cool monument where you can easily look across the canyon and view about 80 cliff dwellings built by the Sinagua between 1125 and 1250 AD.

Mountain Biking on Campbell Mesa and part of the Arizona Trail by the Snowbowl. These are the easiest, smooth, non technical trails around Flagstaff. I never thought I would still be doing any mountain biking at 27 weeks pregnant but I am still feeling great, my belly is getting bigger but it's not in the way yet.

Exploring the Flagstaff Lava River Tube Cave: It is an impressive one mile long lava tube that is spacious enough to handle the steady stream of people that were there on the holiday weekend. I wasn't sure about taking all of Christine's kids in the cave as the ground was really uneven and you had to do some rock scrambling but they all did great.

Switch-A-Roo

Alisha says: I finally had my 2nd trimester ultrasound/anatomy scan done on Tuesday at almost 26 weeks. Usually you have this scan done a little earlier like between 20-22 weeks but because of the move/switching insurance/a miscommunication at ob office it just happened this week. The last ultrasound I had was in Seattle at 12 weeks where it was too early to see the gender in the ultrasound but we did a blood test with my blood that tested for a few genetic disorders and in addition to this information it could also tell you the gender of the baby. The results came back as XY-male. So for the past 14 weeks we have been telling people that we are having a boy, calling the baby a he, and thinking of boy names.

Fast forward to the anatomy scan and after checking out the brain, heart, and other organs and finding everything looking good the ultrasound tech then says that she is confident that this baby is a girl. Say what? That is not what we were expecting to hear as the blood test is supposed to be 99.8% accurate for boys. We are happy to get either a boy or a girl but we were both a little confused. We decided to get a second independent opinion and so on Thursday we had another quick scan done and right away the ultrasound tech said that it looks like a girl. She even did some 3D ultrasound and that made it really easy to see the baby's plumbing and everything looked like a little girl.

After talking to some doctors and doing some research I think I know what happened. So we transferred two embryos through IVF, both embryos did implant but at an appointment I had at 6 1/2 weeks only one them had a heartbeat, it is also called a vanishing twin. I think that I had a male and female embryo transferred and that the male one didn't make it but because both did implant the test picked up a trace amount of Y chromosome and thought that I was having a boy.

It's been a little crazy and I haven't been sure how to feel about it, most importantly we want the baby to be healthy. I've had to almost mourn a little bit for the little boy that I had been imagining and planning for and at the same time I'm excited for our little girl. It has just been a big switch in thinking, not good or bad, just different. We are just thrilled to finally be having a baby!

It's A Girl

In other news last week I had a tooth that began aching. I hoped that it would go away but it got to where I could not use my molars to chew on the right side of my mouth. I got into the dentist on Thursday and found out I had an infection under a tooth that I had already had a root canal/crown on and the root looked cracked so really the only option left was to pull it. So on Friday morning I was back to have the oral surgeon remove it and then the dentist put in a temporary bridge while it heals. I was so sad at the loss of my tooth and afterwards it was really painful. My cheek ached and throbbed and swelled up. It looked like I had my wisdom teeth out and the pain meds you are allowed to take when pregnant don't really do much so I was miserable for a few days. On top of it all Dave and I were scheduled to speak in our sacrament meeting that Sunday. He was so kind and said that I could just give a short talk or that he would take up my portion of time as well as his own but I decided to brave it and gave a shortened version of my talk with my swollen cheek and all.

Wow, I look terrible :)

Payson Hiking

Alisha says: Saturday we went to Payson to do some hiking. We enjoyed the cooler temperatures up on the Mogollon Rim as we hiked around Woods Cross Lake. After lunch in town we decided to do one more little hike to Ellison Creek Waterfall.

I am still riding about everyday just at a slower and slower pace, we usually get in 20-25 miles. We love to look for the wild Salt River horses when we ride out that way. We were luck to see a bunch hanging out by the water so we stopped to check them out and Dave also snapped a picture of my 25 week baby bump.

Split Vacations

Alisha says: Last week Dave went to his yearly work conference called Academy of Management. This year it was held in Vancouver, British Columbia and I was really sad that I couldn't join him so instead of hanging around blazing hot Mesa alone I took off in our new (to us) 2015 Subaru Forester to visit my parents in Utah. My mom and I had a very productive week doing a few projects to help me get ready for this baby. We made burp clothes, hooded baby towels and a cute flannel baby blanket. I also went for a little hiking outing to Cedar Breaks with Shannon. Originally I thought I would be road tripping alone but I ended up bringing my mom and Shane back to Arizona with me. Shane had a few interviews set up and so it worked out great that I could bring him down to stay with us while he continued his job search.