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GIRL!!!

On the day before Thanksgiving, my mom took me to get a 3D ultrasound. Samantha Mary Hoop takes after me, in that she does not like to cooperate for doctors. I wish she would have gotten the memo that the 3D ultrasound was not performed by doctors and is purely for fun.  But Samantha chose to remain curled up in a ball, with her hands and feet around her head. Although this prevented us from seeing her face most of the time, we were finally able to determine gender.

The funny thing is that she should have been active. She likes to kick me when I’ve eaten and when I have to pee. And drinking a sweet drink is supposed to make her active as well. I had a snack and sweet drink before the ultrasound, and I even had to pee, but she did not want to move.

We had a full house for the ultrasound – 12 people, including me! I think that everyone had a good time, despite Samantha’s stubbornness. The techs tried their best, and let my session run over time, since they knew I wouldn’t be able to come back within 2 weeks.

I’m just glad we got a few pictures and found out the gender. Since Samantha hasn’t cooperated at any of my doctor’s appointments, I really thought we’d end up with a butt shot and no gender determination! 

In fact, the day before the 3D ultrasound, I had my second regular ultrasound. The tech still didn’t get the needed measurements. I came home from our Thanksgiving vacation to find two messages from my doctor’s office. When I called back, I was told that I had to make another ultrasound appointment. Good times.

Although it isn’t very clear, I think this is my favorite of the 3D pics. It looks like Samantha has both hands (or feet?) up to her mouth. 

More 3D ultrasound pics at http://hooppics.shutterfly.com/12377.

Greenbrier

Over Columbus Day weekend, we decided to go camping one last time with Sue before the baby arrives. I was really looking forward to this trip. I was starting to feel less morning sickness so I could wear some of my camping t-shirts and enjoy some of the meals. I picked Greenbrier state park, located between Frederick and Hagerstown in Maryland. Just far enough away without having to worry about being in the middle of nowhere. I called the park ahead of time to ask about cell phone coverage and night time emergencies. They said that cell phones usually worked throughout the park, and that campers were given the code to the gates. It turned out that the gate to the campground was closed at all times – only campers and staff were allowed back in the camping loops. The main gate had the same code as the camping area and was closed at night. 

The campground had 4 camping loops. Cedar and Dogwood loops allowed pets and only Cedar loop had electric hook-ups. After waking up to a woman scolding her dog in our campsite the last time we went camping, I was willing to give up electricity for not having pets. The Birch loop was crowded when I booked, and it has an amphitheater located in the center of the loop. I guessed correctly that there would be some groups using the amphitheater that weekend, and decided it would be best to avoid that loop. The Ash loop was mostly handicapped sites that had tall fire rings and extra long picnic tables. Since most of the loop appeared to be handicapped sites, I didn’t feel guilty about booking one. The only sites that were close to the bathroom were also near the loop entrance. The nice thing about the online reservation system for Greenbrier was that it had pictures of all the sites, listed whether the site was level or not, and listed the approximate distance to the restrooms. I did the best I could and booked site 4. Without seeing the whole loop in person beforehand, I’d say I did pretty well.  It turned out that the whole loop was on a hill. Although most of the sites were leveled, the walk to the bathroom was only level for the 4 sites closest to the bathroom, and one of those was the camp host site. Our site was just below the camp host, so we had a slight incline. The site across from the camp host that I decided against had no privacy because it was surrounded on three sides by roads and thin trees. Since the reservation system didn’t show the walkway on the other side of the bathroom, I wasn’t sure what other sites would be considered close. It tuned out that the walkway on the other side of the loop encroached on one of sites, and the last site without an incline to the restroom was smaller than the rest.  

The handicapped picnic table was awesome.  We could fit a lot on equipment and food on the ends, and still have enough room to sit and eat. However the handicapped fire pit turned out to be not so great. The tall sides meant that heat was being radiated more upward instead of out at us. This coupled with the bad firewood made our first evening uncomfortable. 

The worst part of the weekend was the firewood on Friday night. Due to the emerald ash-borer infestations, firewood is not supposed to be transported across county lines. Greenbrier asks that firewood not be brought in at all. So when we checked-in, I purchased 6 bags for $33. Although the bags were smaller and more expensive than at other parks, I didn’t worry about it. After Sue arrived and we set up camp, it was time to light a fire. We opened a bag of firewood to find only wet bark planks. Sue eventually ripped open all 6 bags that night trying to find some decent dry pieces, but had no luck. Apparently whoever sold the wood to the park kept the good center pieces for himself or to sell to the rich neighbors, and sold all of the outer bark planks to the park. And since the park stored the wood in a shed, the jerk must have kept the bark planks out in the rain and sold them soaking wet to the park.  

The fire starters that I had brought must have picked up moisture in the garage during storage, because they felt damp and didn’t want to work very well either.  Leaving Aaron to keep an eye on the smoldering mess, Sue and I left the park and headed back toward the highway. We stopped at a small market, but they didn’t sell firewood and had no idea where to buy any. After driving around the gas stations with no luck, we headed back to the park. We tried to get a fire going all night without much luck. Instead the planks just smoldered. Even when we thought we had enough coals to cook with, we ended up eating lukewarm bratwursts. We even skipped bothering with s’mores. Sadly Friday night was the coldest of the weekend, and the fire wasn’t enough to keep warm.  We went to bed early.

Saturday morning Sue attempted to get another fire going. Since Sue had laid out the firewood around the ring, it was slightly drier than the night before, but the resulting fire still wasn’t enough to cook with. The camp host stopped by and we asked him where to get firewood. At first the camp host suggested that we take our remaining firewood back to the office and trade it in. I knew that all of our bags had been cut open, but I looked over to see how much wood we had left. My jaw dropped. We had 2-3 pieces left that had not been smoldered away. Thirty-three dollars worth of firewood smoldered away in a few hours with no output. Reluctantly the camp host gave us instructions to a grocery store. As soon as we finished our cold breakfast, Sue and I headed out. Luckily I took Aaron’s phone because the camp host left out a crucial step in the directions. When we finally pulled into the grocery store, there was a welcoming site: a huge display of bug-free kiln-dried firewood. The bags were huge and cost the same as the small park bags. Next to the firewood were boxes of “Enviro-logs.” These were supposed to be eco-friendly recycled pressed cardboard logs that burned hotter and longer than regular wood and produced high flames. They were also supposed to be safe for cooking, unlike similar log products. Of course a box of six logs was expensive at $18. But we figured we would only use one or two enviro-logs in each fire along with the regular logs.  Since it was October, we made an impulse buy of a giant Halloween spider. He looked great perched on top of Sue’s orange tent all weekend, and the other campers got a laugh when they walked by.

Saturday afternoon we headed to the nature center to hear a talk on black bears. During the bear talk, the naturalist said that a huge male black bear had been spotted on the Appalachian trial nearby, which put the park in its territory. So I worried all weekend that we would have a bear visitor, because campers kept doing their dishes at the water pump next to our site. That was another small annoyance. Other than forbidding people to do their dishes in the bathroom, there was no other guidance and nowhere to dump dirty wash water. Some campers sat at the water pump and let it run while washing their dishes and leaving food and soap wherever it fell and ran down the road. Other campers came to the pump and filled a bucket, but then set up at the empty site across from us to wash. They dumped the dirty water in the grass there when they were finished. Luckily the bears stayed away, even on Sunday night when the camp area was mostly deserted.

With the enviro-logs and kiln-dry firewood, we were in business. In fact, our campfire was so hot on Saturday night, we had to douse the embers with water before going to bed. Despite our efforts, the coals were still hot the next morning! Sunday morning’s fire meant bacon for breakfast!

Now that we had a fire, we had to carefully plan our day so as not to be stuck tending a fire when we wanted to do something else. At some point Sue and I ran to the store to get more firewood and enviro-logs, leaving Aaron to tend the fire again. Eventually we let the fire die out that afternoon, grabbed our hiking poles, and found a trail. The hike wasn’t great. Maryland parks are a little stingy with their maps. I had to pay $3.00 for the hiking trail map. I assumed that meant the trail guide was accurate. I mapped out a loop from several intersecting trails that would allow us a gradual ascent with a slightly steeper descent. Unfortunately the map was not accurate and we started from the wrong trailhead. When we got to the first intersection, I had a hard time seeing the error. Luckily Sue kept suggesting we had started at the other trailhead, and eventually I put all the pieces together and realized she was correct. So we had hiked the hard part I had wanted to avoid. No matter, we could still continue the hike and loop around. We started up the yellow trail that seemed to degrade into an empty, rocky, creek bed. But we were still following the yellow blazes, so we continued onward. Sue warned us to watch for snakes sunning themselves on the rocks. Before long, we came to a stop. A sign was posted in the middle of the trail saying that the remainder of the trail was closed for habitat restoration. I was not amused. If you’re going to charge me $3 for a crappy trail map, I think you should tell me which trails are closed. Or if you are too lazy to open your mouth, at least have a sign posted at the office. So we turned around, and took the other section of the trail that we had intended to start from. All the while back, I thought about how dangerous it could have been to leave the trail unmarked as closed. What if it was closed near the end of the loop and I had an emergency and didn’t have enough time or energy to hike all the way back the way we came? I like a little adventure, but now that I’m pregnant, I am becoming more aware of dangerous scenarios. Of course, we made it back fine. The trail ended to the right of the RV dump station. The map showed that it should have started to the left of the dump station. I didn’t see any sign post indicating the trailhead, and looking back at the tree line we couldn’t see the trail at all.

Since our hike was cut short, we wandered down to the beach. Although a RC battleship boat race was scheduled for the weekend, it looked like we had missed the whole thing. We took the trail back to the campsite and watched many of our neighbors pack up camp.

I had a lot of weird and vivid dreams that weekend. I even had a nightmare that woke me up for a bathroom break in the middle of the night. I remember walking to and from the bathroom in the dark, scared that something was going to get me. Unfortunately, that weekend was when I started to make 2 bathroom trips per night instead of just one. But the skies were beautifully clear at night. So when I wasn’t scared that something was going to get me, I actually didn’t mind the trips, and enjoyed looking up at the stars as I walked.

Despite the wet firewood, the worry of bears or nightmares, and the closed hiking trail, we actually had a great time. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the plague of stinkbugs when the weather warmed up. But everything else was great – the company, the food, and the weather.  We relaxed a lot and I took a ridiculous amount of pictures just of the fire…

Additional camping pictures can be found here: http://hooppics.shutterfly.com/12279 

And additional campfire pictures can be found here: http://hooppics.shutterfly.com/12170

Anniversary Weekend

Friday was our anniversary, and a federal holiday. Before I even got pregnant, I knew we would not be taking a big trip for our anniversary this year. So in the spring, when Wyndham called to offer a reduced 3-day, 2-night stay at a nice hotel, a $100 rebate voucher, and a $75 AmEx gift card in exchange for 2 hours of my time, I accepted. We decided to use the Wyndham offer to go to the Poconos on our long anniversary weekend.   

We arrived in the Poconos Friday afternoon and checked into the Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort. The Inn is celebrating 100 years. Despite the age the place is well kept. You can tell the inn is old by the walls lined with photographs of famous people and events that the Inn has hosted over the years, by the old style elevator (out of service, located across from the modern elevator), and by the tiny rooms. 

When we got to our room, I noticed two things. First, there was a live plant on the desk that said “Gregory.” I immediately thought that either the cleaning staff had missed it or that someone else was also currently checked into the same room. It took me a good minute reading the card to realize that the plant was part of the décor. Then I turned around to notice the beds: two full-size beds. Now Aaron and I have slept in full-size beds at other hotels without too much problem. But now that I am using a body pillow and have a larger belly, I didn’t think we could fit in one bed. And I certainly didn’t want to sleep in separate beds on our anniversary. After hemming and hawing for a minute, I said, “Let’s just go ask.”  Back at the front desk, the clerk was happy to try to accommodate us, except that they didn’t have many rooms left. Our only option for a larger bed was to take a king room for Friday night and then switch to a queen room for Saturday night. I knew that would be a hassle, but we decided it would be worth it. 

The plant in the king room was named Aubrey or Audrey or something. There was just enough room between the end of the bed and the wall to walk past. The bathroom had a step up. Aaron usually forgot when he stepped out of the bathroom and nearly fell on his face a few times. Since I was really worried I’d do the same thing in the middle of the night and hurt myself or the baby, I made it a point to always remember the step.

After checking in and unloading the car, we went to the Gem and Keystone Brewpub for a late lunch/early dinner. The food sounded amazing, and it tasted just as good. Even the ginger ale tasted like it wasn’t from the fountain. 

An interesting thing happened at the brewpub. A couple times while we were waiting to get our food, I felt a weird sensation low in my belly. It occurred to me that I had felt the same thing that morning… I woke up at 6am just for a quick trip to the bathroom. After I climbed back in bed, I felt a sensation and thought that I needed to take a longer trip to the bathroom. After all, if it was a normal work day I would be getting up and doing just that. But when I went to the bathroom again, nothing happened. I didn’t think anything of it though, since being pregnant has done some weird things to my pipes. As I sat in the brewpub, I knew I didn’t have to go to the bathroom. But it finally clicked. People say that first-time mothers often misinterpret the baby kicking as gas. Up until now, I had no idea what that meant. The only sensation I associated with gas was a sharp pain, like an animal trying to claw its way out of my belly. If baby kicking felt like that, then we’d have a problem. But I suppose the sensation I felt of needing to go to the bathroom could also be called gas. I looked at Aaron. “I think I’m finally starting to feel the baby move.”   

We didn’t do much Friday night. Aaron had actually been sick since Tuesday afternoon with stomach pains. He went to the doctor on Thursday, but they just said he had some inflammation and sent him home with generic Nexium. Friday he wasn’t feeling quite as bad, but when we got to the brewpub, Aaron decided to try the Smokin’ Pumpkin wings, instead of getting something bland as his doctor suggested. I also over-ate. Our bad choices meant we spent the rest of the evening feeling like crap. But I was glad that my low placenta wasn’t the only thing screwing up our anniversary. So we finally played the card game “Back to the Future” and it was pretty fun.

Saturday morning we had to get up to the alarm. We had to pack everything back up and take it out to the car, check-out of our current room, and get breakfast before the timeshare presentation at 9am.  Aaron was finally feeling a lot better compared to the past few days and he was in a really good mood.

At the Wyndham office, we sat down at a small table with a Marty, our “personal vacation consultant.” He made small talk, asking us questions to get to know us better, and sharing some of his stories with us.  When the room of small tables filled up with couples and their consultants, one consultant led us all through the presentation and showed a short video. Then we filed out and Marty drove us to the model. First we saw a 2-bedroom unit. It was the size of a decent apartment and would sleep up to 8. I think it was bigger than my condo. The master bedroom had a Jacuzzi tub that was even slightly heart-shaped. Then Marty took us upstairs to the 4-bedroom unit. It was huge! It had 2 master bedrooms, both with Jacuzzi tubs. It slept up to 12. Both units came fully equipped (just bring your own food) and had screened porches looking out into the woods.

Back at the office, Marty showed us an interactive map of the Wyndham resort locations. There was a noticeable hole in the Midwest surrounding Ohio. But there were several locations along the east coast, including Atlantic City, National Harbor, Alexandria, Ocean City, and Williamsburg. We scoped out a few more resorts located in places that we have talked about visiting, but have had doubts on whether we’d ever get there. Aaron was really excited. And then Marty ran our credit. Since I have two mortgages in my name, it did not surprise me that Aaron came back with a slightly better credit score. He was floored, and all the more excited.

I was terrified, excited, and embarrassed all at the same time. It could potentially be a seriously bad choice to buy a time share. On the other hand, we’d be much more likely to visit places we’ve always wanted to go.  Aaron and I both remembered enjoying extended family vacations when we were kids, and Aaron was really excited at the prospect of sharing the same kind of trip with our kid. I also remembered many stays in hotels with just my parents and brother. Since my mom always woke up around 4am, she’d end up reading in the bathroom until the rest of us started to wake up. While I don’t wake quite as early, I do get up earlier than Aaron.  And I do not want to be stuck in a hotel bathroom for a few hours instead of enjoying the sunrise while drinking tea on the screened porch. 

We did not smile, nod, and walk away, as was our original plan. But to be fair, Wyndham timeshares, or “Vacation Ownership” as they call it, is different than the old style of timeshare. Yes, you pay a big fee, then regular maintenance fees, and you only get to use the property a few times a year. But instead of being committed to a week at a time, the new system is set up with points. While we can choose to vacation for a full week if we have enough points, we could instead choose to get a way for just one night, a couple nights, a few nights, whatever. If we can’t make it to a resort, we can use the points on a Wyndham brand hotel. I could keep going, but I think you can see that the new system has a lot more flexibility than the traditional week system. And that’s what hooked us.

Two hours for the timeshare presentation turned into 5 hours while we waited for paper work, and financing, and everything else you expect during a big purchase. Luckily I had brought a muffin from breakfast, and one of the representatives gave me an apple sauce. It seemed like everyone congratulated me on the pregnancy and tried to hurry the process along so that “baby could eat.” We got out of there at 2pm.

Baby kicked me a lot during and after our late lunch. So I’m pretty sure now that what I am feeling is Baby and not some other weird belly sensation.

After lunch, I realized that it was going to be dark soon, and we didn’t have time for a hike. Aaron promised that if we went back to the hotel instead, he’d be willing to hike on Sunday morning before we headed home. So back at the hotel, we checked into our queen room. I was surprised to find the plant “Aaron” sitting on the desk in our room. He promised to be quiet, unlike my own Aaron.

After looking through the Wyndham materials for a while, we headed outside where the Inn was hosting a campfire and s’mores. The sky was clear and the moon was just rising through the trees. Sadly the campfire had problems getting started, but eventually we got to make s’mores. Then we needed to get dinner. The Gem and Keystone was packed, and I didn’t want to wait. So we ate inside the Inn at the River Room. The service wasn’t great, but the food was amazing. Both the River Room and the Gem and Keystone use produce, honey, beer, and wine that are grown/made on-site or nearby. For that reason, I had to try the frenched chicken with a honey glaze – yum!

Sunday morning we didn’t set the alarm, but we both woke up early. After loading the car and checking out, we ordered breakfast sandwiches from the Buckwood Café inside the Inn, right next to the front desk. The café had a nice sitting area that looked out toward the Delaware River. We watched the mist and fog roll across the mountain. After breakfast we spent some time snapping pictures around the Inn. Despite the gray morning, it was still very pretty.

Instead of heading straight home, I still wanted to get in a hike. Aaron didn’t complain, so we headed over to Big Pocono State Park. Based on the map, I determined that the Shawnee Inn wasn’t really situated in the actual Pocono region. It’s next to it. And while trying to find a hike that was considered easy (most of the hikes are up and down the mountains), I ended up at Big Pocono State Park. That way we could really say we had been in the Poconos.  

The parking area that we stopped at was at the top of Camelback Mountain. We got out of the car to find the outside temperature was freezing, and made even more so with the biting wind. The view was worth it though. We could look out to the valleys below on either side of the parking lot. We both bundled up in coats, gloves, hats, and a scarf, and then headed for the “easy” Indian Trail. As soon as we left the parking lot, the trees buffered the wind. As we walked, not only did we warm up from the exercise, but the sun also came out. By the end of the hike we were both sweating, had taken off our hats, gloves, and scarf, and had our coats open.

 

The hike was really neat, but probably not the best idea. The trail circled the top of the hill, and was very rocky. I was thankful that we both had hiking poles. Without the poles, I most likely would have tripped. At one point there was even a scramble up some rocks to stay on the trail. It was fun, but Aaron kept asking me if I was alright. I was less worried about the uneven terrain, and more worried about the “healthy population of Timber Rattlesnakes” as advertised on the park bulletin board. Luckily neither of us tripped or fell and we didn’t meet any rattlesnakes.  When we finally got back to the car, we shed our winter clothes and cooled off in the wind. The hike was a great way to finish off an interesting weekend.

I haven’t downloaded the pictures off of the camera yet. So instead, here is a photo that my Dad recently sent me. It was taken on a family vacation to the Gulf Coast of Florida with my grandparents. Despite getting an earache and not being able to swim most of the week, I had a fun time. It was one of my favorite family vacations. Hopefully we’ll be able to have memorable vacations like that with our kid(s).

In case you are wondering, I’m holding a shark. My dad and grandpa had been fishing off the beach. I decided to sit in my dad’s lap and help him fish for a few minutes, and suddenly we were reeling in a shark!