Summer Adventures of a Pregnant Woman

Facing a hot northwest summer, 2nd year of an ongoing drought... how do you handle it as a 6-7 month pregnant woman? Lets not even mention the acid reflux, swollen legs, over-exhaustion, and dehydration... the list goes on! You know, aside form those few set-backs, so far my pregnancy has been nothing short of fantastic. The overall drought that is happening this summer has yet to succeed in stopping me from enjoying myself.


THE BEACH

Favorite activities thus far... the beach... on cooler days of course. The hot sun beating down on little Ren does no one any good. Thankfully we live in the gorgeous Northwest where a cool day is the best time to go to the beach! Around here, it's also a matter of exploration more than lounging around on the sand. We don't exactly have the best sand to lounge around on at the Puget Sound anyway. Not unless you go somewhere like Deception Pass or Jetty Island.

This is just across the sound up near Poulsbo area. Just across from the bridge. It's beautiful, and a popular location for crabbing!

Then theres also the very west coast of Washington (probably my favorite place on earth). It's too bad its a 6 hour drive away. Not the best idea for a pregnant lady. It is magical out there though, it also holds some of my favorite camping spots. Saying that brings me to then say that camping is something I've given up for this summer. Sad, I know. I haven't been camping in over 3 years since I've been in Australia (not the safest place to go camping even if I had had the time to do it). However, time, budget and preparing for the baby has left us unable to go this summer. I wouldn't even mind sleeping outdoors or on the hard ground. On the contrary, I think I would have the time of my life out there. Ah well, next year... with little baby in tow.


THE TULIP FESTIVAL

The tulip festival! It goes on at the beginning of the summer and theres not much too it unless you really really like looking at flowers. Or maybe you are interested in buying some. We found a really nice one though where instead of just rows and rows of tulips, they arranged everything into a garden. There were huge lawns and a barbecue. We attended with my parents, who took pictures of everything, which is kind of the point I suppose in the end. You get pictures in fields of flowers! Whats better than that? Either way, it got us out of the house and we spend some quality time with my parents. Lunch was a buffet at the casino coming back down I-5, can't turn that down either!

THE ZOO

I love the zoo! I just love it! I don't know what it is but it is one of my favorite places. Since I've grown up however, I get a little sadder looking at all the animals all cooped up. Woodland Park Zoo does work hard to give them good habitats but my heart still wants to see them all be free. Travis and I went before summer season pricing started so we paid a very good price since we also had a coupon. Unfortunately, we didn't leave early enough. The zoo, especially Woodland Park Zoo... is an ALL day event, not a 3 hour in the afternoon event. Still, we made it through the whole place in 3 hours believe it or not! I got my exercise that day! We loved it regardless. Our next trip will definitely start when the zoo opens next time though... have time to just sit at one exhibit for long enough... or even have time to sit and eat! It was eating while racing to the opposite side of the zoo for us! A great summer activity over-all, and I cannot wait till we have our little bub to take there and have him experience the magic of animal life for the first time!

This was one of the little guys that made me so sad, but he was so stinking cute at the same time!

HIKING

One way I've tried to keep up my fitness during my pregnancy this summer is all of the many many hiking options we have around where we live. Again, not hard to find those around here. So far, there are just a few I can handle being as far along as I am... my favorite is the Meadowdale Beach hike. It's still a bit of a push, but one I can handle. And Meadowdale offers a different sort of reward at the end of the hike. You go down to the beach, and then the top of the hill is the ability to sit back down in your car and drive home! Talk about reward after spending so much time wearing yourself out when you're pregnant. This last time, we caught it at a very low tide, which is always fun for finding a little bit of life under rocks and close to the shoreline! Another thing I look forward to once little Ren is old enough!

Snoqualmie falls is jus another small hiking area we visited. They've moved the trail construction finish time from Spring to the Fall so we didn't get to go down... but this is the first time I was able to see it during its flood stage. Obviously, this picture was taken before the start of this drought we've been facing all summer!

GARAGE SALES

Moving on to our next little adventure... Garage sale-ing... there isn't enough I could say about this. Not only is it fun, but a good bargain hunt is always ideal for a first-time moma-to-be! Then for those of you that don't know, if you are seriously out for something specific or maybe don't want to spend the gas money driving around... nowadays Facebook is full of groups where people are given the place to buy, sell and trade online within the area! You can ask for things you need, see if anyone has anything for a good price! Not saying that could ever in any way compare with the magic of picking a good day to just garage hop from one place to the other and see what sort of treasures you can find. For us, we can't exactly drive our car around as much as we want in this season, or spend money on random things. Still, I plan to go actual garage sale-ing at least once this summer. Until then, those Facebook groups have been a life-saver in preparing for our little ones world-debut!


BARBECUES

Barbecues are a must of the summer... especially since being pregnant has given me a certain affinity for greasy foods. Not overly greasy mind you, but a good barbecue burger makes my mouth water just to think about. A simple trip to Dick's Hamburgers will also do the trick. Obviously, such cravings and enjoyments need to be monitored... but its also summertime, and 1-3 times a month for the whole two and a half months of summer we get isn't too bad in my opinion. Then theres the backyard meals with good friends. We've had the pleasure of doing a few of those this summer and it has been absolutely fantastic. There's nothing like having good people in your life, especially in the right seasons!


BERRY-PICKING

Top all of this off with some berry picking, which gives me a good squat workout! It's a tasty experience too. I highly recommend it as an outing, especially with some good friends in some good fields. Washington State is known for all sorts of berries! From Strawberries, to blackberries, rasberries, blueberries and even tayberries (a cross breed)... make sure you know your seasons for picking. I know a site that helps with that here in Washington: Harvest Schedule -- [Tip: make sure you know the field you're going to and call ahead for u-pick times and prices.]

I got the honor of going berry picking twice this summer! How I did it for 4 hours the first time, I will never know. The second time, I just didnt have the attention span! I pretty much had A.D.D. and couldn't focus on one branch of berries at a time to pick! It was hilarious, but somehow we still managed to pick a good amount!

This is the beautiful place that we live in. I honestly don't think I could live anywhere else other than Washington! It's far too gorgeous and there's just SO much to do!

The list of our adventures from this summer goes on. We had some great opportunities for some light boating out on the lake in the cool of the day, and even a few ferry rides. There have been all sorts of summer events to fill our time with. We've been to the 4th of July parade and fireworks... we've been to a celtic fair of all things. By the way, what do they do at celtic fairs? They throw trees and herd sheep for entertainment! It was quite a bit of fun though! This post would go on for forever if I told you about every little thing that we've done. Of course amongst all the fun, there's been job hunting and baby preparations... but it's nice to know that we've made the most of our first summer home! Our 4th summer in a row within the last 2 years!

This is Us.

[Also our current 'About Us' section]

We are the Rens. Newlyweds, soon-to-be-parents, getting our feet back on the ground after 3 years spent studying in Aussieland. If there is anyone who has learned that life often times throws you some pretty crazy curveballs, it's us!

Let's start at the beginning.

Travis and I met in Aussieland, the land of the hot hot sun. It was at an international college and he was the first one I met who was also from Seattle. Can anyone say immediate kindred spirits? Well, it didn't start out that way (he had a girlfriend, regardless of how dastardly handsome I thought he was). Still, our friendship started there almost four years ago. Within the events of a single year, we went from friends, to better friends, to dating. The following year followed suit with a six month engagement and then a wedding! Some might think we fast-tracked things a little bit. If you know us, that was definitely not the case!

Our wedding is a whole 'nother story full of excitement, craziness, beautiful moments, incredible blessing and the best day of our lives.

After our wedding, which happened in my parents absolutely GORGEOUS backyard, it was back to Australia for what we planned to be another 2-3 years. We were so excited to go back, our entire lives as a couple was established in Australia with our newly-made friends and family there. We had great jobs, a great car and an absolutely amazing place to live!

This past January, we felt like it was time to come home... out of the blue. There were no plans to come home! None! Why did we feel God calling us to come home? We didn't know, but after prayer and seeking counsel from the people who had input into our lives, we were certain.

Sure enough, we buy our plane tickets, we begin our preparations... one week before we left... a little goodbye present for us!!!

(Photo taken in April at 13 weeks)

I won't lie, the first day when I found out was probably one of the hardest days of my life. This was not in the plan. I had applied for colleges! Already in a position where we were going in a direction that we didn't understand, this added to the mystery.

Travis on the other hand, handled it like a real husband, which completely blew me away and was probably what got me through day 1. [By the way, he is a real husband, he was just the one who wanted to wait to have kids for longer than I did. In the end, he just embraced it when he found out it was a reality]. Travs' incredible support and dedication in those first few days and weeks was unbelievable.

Now we are where we are. Arriving home this last March we spent 3 months looking for work until Travis finally found a summer job! Can anyone say complete 180? Going from cushy life in Aussieland, to penny-pinchers in our own country, expecting a baby and still fighting to get settled!

If you were to ask me where I could see myself in the next few years 3-4 years ago... I would've told you I didn't even have any plans to get married! All I wanted was to study and figure out what I was going to do with my life! It's mind-blowing how the things you might plan for your own life are irrelevant when it comes to the things of God. I've also noticed that, in our little family at least, God really enjoys putting us in completely unheard of situations.

Those of you who know Travis and myself, you know we are responsible, plan-ahead type of people. So this whole last year really threw us for a loop. However... WOW, what an adventure! We have to admit we have our moments where we can't help asking "are we doing something wrong?!" or we feel a little lost... but in the end, God always pulls through. It's been and still is an incredible faith-building journey. This is just our little collection of adventures and mis-adventures to share with family and friends who now reach to the edges of the globe! Our hope in sharing all our little adventures with you is that you find some comfort, humor, encouragement or even just diversion in all the things that we go through!

We are the furthest form perfect - starting out couple; but we look to the future with excitement and trust that God has a plan. We've submitted ourselves to him and anticipate what He has next in store! Maybe we aren't a have-it-all-together couple, but we have each other, and this is us.

"God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! This resurrection life you recieved from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike 'What's next, Papa?' God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going ot get whats coming to us--an unbelievable inheritance!"

Romans 8:15-17 [MSG]