Florida Babymoon

Okay, so I really don't like the term "babymoon" but I suppose that's what you can call Tyge and my time last week in lovely Fort Myers Beach, FL! We shockingly had Memorial Day weekend free and a few days of PTO to burn (not like I'll be out for 3 months of anything haha) so we decided a few months ago to take a mini-vacation together - the last one before our lives change!

We left early last Wednesday morning and stayed in FL through Sunday afternoon returning home late Sunday night, so had Memorial Day here. It was just an awesome time together relaxing on the beach, taking walks together, seeing the sights, eating good food, eating a lot of ice cream, and just enjoying each other's company before our world is about to be rocked.

Getting in around 2 PM, Wednesday was spent getting settled into our condo, including stocking up on some groceries so we could eat breakfasts on the balcony and make lunches to save some $$. We walked around the cute town of Fort Myers Beach including the Times Square and Pier area, relaxed on the beach a bit, then napped and ate dinner overlooking the Bay. I started my mission of having seafood at every meal by enjoying some delicious coconut shrimp - so good!

Thursday morning we took the island trolley to Lover's Key State Park, which was beautiful and a LOT of walking. We probably walked 5 miles so I was pretty tired by the time we were done. Lots of pretty sights to see and it was nice and quiet, but really hot so I was ready to eat and chill on the beach when we got back. We had amazing shrimp po'boys back in town then hit the beach again. I had the Hunger Games trilogy to keep me busy so all I wanted to do was read! Naptime again, then dinner on the beach before sunset (which was blocked by buildings) where I had macadamia encrusted grouper. The walk back to the hotel from dinner was over a mile, but we walked on the white sand beach at dark and got to look at the stars and hear the ocean (okay, and stop for ice cream halfway through) so it went fast!

Friday was the day Tyge was most looking forward to - Gator Tour day! We were picked up at 8 AM and joined a group of 7 people for trip to the Everglades. It was an hour drive, where we learned about the history of the Everglades and what we'd be doing that day. We started with a swamp buggy tour (basically an elevated open air school bus that goes through water and on land), took a drive in the wild to see gators, stopped at a roadside attraction and held reptiles, had lunch, then an airboat ride, then headed back. We got lots of great pictures!

We took a looong nap when we got back, then woke up to an awesome storm a'brewin. We sat on the beach watching the clouds for awhile, then had a late sushi (nothing raw for me!) dinner in the Times Square area, followed enjoying ice cream while listening to a band they had playing outside.

After Friday's excitement, Saturday was pure beach day! Tyge walked the beach and took pictures while I laid out and read all day. When we'd get hot, we'd float around in the ocean a bit - the water was so blue and nice - to cool off. We considered renting a sailboat but it was getting pretty windy, so the rental guy advised us against it since we're not expert sailors - we saw one capsize the next day so I'm glad we didn't do it! Saturday night was out "fancy dinner night" at a place called Fresh Catch that I'd heard great things about. We had sunset time reservations on the beach, but literally the MINUTE we got there a storm came rolling in it rained hard for 30 minutes, so everyone had to move inside. We sat at the bar and waited for our table, and ended up sitting inside once the sun had set. I was a little bummed that we didn't get to see one good sunset or get one good picture of the two of us - oh well! Food was really good, I had lobster mac and cheese - as good as it sounds.

Crazy wind = crazy hair!

On our last day we went to a local breakfast shop famous for homemade biscuit sandwiches and cinnamon rolls, and were NOT disappointed - they were so good! I had really wanted to check out Sanibel (the next island over from FMB) before we left as I remembered vacationing there as a kid, so we rented a moped for two hours and headed over the causeway. Picture us on a two person moped, Tyge driving and my big ol' pregnant belly pressing into his back as I rode behind, only able to go about 35 MPH (speed limit 55) due to the weight on the poor bike - we must have been a sight! We made it the 8 miles to Sanibel and had time to hop off the bike for an ice cream stop (what else?!) and to poke around the island a bit, before heading back. After we returned the bike we had a last few hours on the beach, and it was really windy and cloudy which was perfect for reading. We drug the beach chairs right along the ocean and read and napped off an on until we had to shower up and leave for the airport late afternoon.

I am really glad we were able to get away, just us two, before Petrie comes. We kept talking about how this was our last vacation before we have a KID and that reality really struck us! We both got to see him/her move around in my belly for the first time, and it's just hitting us that we only have a few months left before we meet this little person that we already love so much. Sure, now that I'm back I'm thinking about the to-do list and all we have to get done before August, but while we were away, all I could do was focus on how excited I am to become a parent with Tyge and meet this little baby. Sometimes it takes getting away to gain perspective on what's important. I know Petrie won't care if his/her nursery is 100% done, if we have the garage organized, if we have the money we want in savings, or if I've read every book on parenting there is - s/he'll have a mom and dad that love him/her more than anything in the world, and that's all that matters.

Myterious March Trip

So I know I've ghosted a mysterious March trip a few times now, and most of my faithful readers know what it is by now thanks to our Christmas card! For the rest of you out there, here's a snippet from the letter we sent along with our card.

Hello again dear family, friends, and supporters in our life,

We have some additional exciting news to share with you all about our upcoming 2012 that warranted a separate letter from our 2011 update! As you can probably tell, the picture in our Christmas card is from our March anniversary vacation to Mexico last year. We had assumed that would be our last trip before starting a family and me being too pregnant to travel, but God had other plans for us.

When we realized we wouldn’t be 7 months pregnant come our anniversary time in March 2012, we decided to start planning another warm weather vacation. While at church one Sunday a few weeks ago, we noticed something in the bulletin about a fundraiser for a March mission trip to Puebla, Mexico. We had actually met the church Missions Director months back and learned about the trip, but were pregnant at the time so couldn’t have joined. When we saw this reminder in the bulletin, we got connected with the team leader who let us know there was still room for us and invited us to dinner with the team of ten that next day. We met with the team, learned about the trip and community they serve, and committed to going with them right then and there.

Our church partners with Living Hope International (http://lovehopemercy.org) – a ministry that sends teams to the town of Puebla, Mexico to serve in the Esperanza Viva orphanage and their surrounding community. Esperanza Viva Youth Homes rescue, train, nurture, and rehabilitate underprivileged, orphaned, abandoned, and street children and youth whose families are unable or unwilling to provide for them. Since 1994, Esperanza Viva has helped provide for and guide thousands of children and their families, including full-time care for more than 350 children.

We have been blessed as a couple to vacation together and be served by others, so this year so are beyond thrilled to be serving others instead. Going on a mission trip as a couple is something we’ve always wanted to do, and it’s only because of God’s perfect timing that we are able to go on this trip. In James 1:27, God calls believers “to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” So we are honored to listen to that call and go. We look forward to seeing the world through someone else’s eyes, knowing the joy of sharing Jesus with people of a different culture and making a difference in the lives of at-risk children and youth.

To be honest we had set aside funds to vacation again this year and had planned to use those for the mission trip as well, but were told that the church strongly encourages team members to raise funds from supporters rather than paying for the trip themselves. We like this idea because it allows us to involve our friends and family in our upcoming trip and ask if you would want to contribute to supporting a portion of our trip. We realize that while people may want to actually serve on a mission trip they are not always able, so this is a way for you to make an impact in the lives of those who need it most, by supporting us in going to serve. Additionally, should our trip be funded by faithful supporters, it would allow us to use our own saved funds to bless others in need or help fund future missionaries.

There are two ways we would ask you to support us in our upcoming trip:

1.       First and foremost, prayer! Please be praying for preparations before the trip, safety for us and our team as we travel (dates are March xx-xx), and that God would truly use us as His hands and feet to show His love to this community.

2.       If you feel led to financially contribute to our trip, you can mail a check to us in the enclosed envelope. 

We are so grateful for your love, support and prayers in our lives and are honored to be able to share this experience with you in one way or another. Thank you for prayerfully considering this partnership with us!

Blessings,

Kate & Tyge Blomberg

 

So there you have it - we're going on a missions trip! This letter explains a lot of our decision making process, but we feel God has been all over it. We really don't know what to expect, what we'll be doing there daily, or who we'll come into contact with but we do know that it'll be life changing. Tyge and I really have been blessed to be able to vacation together to warm weather destinations several times - I fully realize what a treat this is! We were going to do that again this March for our anniversary but were thrilled to learn about this mission opportunity instead and cannot wait to go! We've had a few meetings with the team so far and I am excited to get to know them better and serve alongside them all. We'll have a few more meeting before we go obviously, and I'll share more details about the trip as I learn them.

In the meantime, I certainly appreciate prayer surrounding our trip - the fundraising, our team preparations, the travel itself, the children and community down there, and that God does His work through us!

Rocky Mountain High...

...Colorado (ala John Denver). What an awesome time! I was really excited to get away and unplug from it all, and the trip did not disappoint. It was the perfect mix of alone time for me and Tyge, and also family time with Travis, Karrie and Lila. Gorgeous weather, great food (I think I gained 10 lbs!), fun company, and beautiful CO scenery - what more could a girl ask for?

So Tyge and I started the trip by getting up at 3 AM on Thursday for our 6 AM flight. We arrived in Denver, got our rental car and headed up to Golden where we started the trip with a delicious breakfast at the Golden Diner, complete with a green pork chili omelet. Seriously, CO folks put that stuff on everything! Since we were in the area, we decided to tour Coors brewery before heading into the mountains. Very cool to see how beer is brewed, and the free samples at the end weren't bad either. ;) After that we drove past Tyge's old Golden house and snapped a few pics for his parents. 

Next we stopped at Red Rocks, which was breathtaking! 

We then pointed the car towards Evergreen, taking the scenic route along Bear Creek. We stopped at a place along the creek for lunch and had another amazing green chili covered item - burrito for me, burger for him. It was such a beautiful location and so peaceful out - we enjoyed our food and walked around the creek a bit before leaving.

Once we got to Evergreen, we stopped at the same Baskin Robbins Tyge used to go to as a kid and ate our treats by the creek. Since good old GPS couldn't find it, the cashier helped us find the road Tyge used to live on, waaay up in the mountains. After a few wrong turns, we found that house as well - still standing and for sale!

Tyge's old tree house that Grandpa Reuben built was still there, which was nostalgic for him to see.

We headed back down the mountain and checked into our B&B (Highland Haven Creekside Inn - highly recommend!). Since it was almost 5 PM and most of the shops on Main Street were closing soon, we hurried into town to our first stop at Creekside Cellars Winery.

We sampled a variety of their finest wines and again enjoyed the creek side view. I was just reveling in the idea that we didn't have a schedule, had nowhere to be, nothing specific to do....it was a great feeling! Once they closed, we walked around Main Street a bit more and did a some shopping before having dinner at Beau Jo's pizza. Amazing pies with the best crust, and they even give you honey to dip the crust in for dessert. Yum. Because we were tired from being up so early, after dinner we walked back to our room and went to bed. Sleeping next to the babbling creek with the CO mountain air blowing in the windows was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. We slept for 12 hours! Tyge awoke Friday morning to the sound of an elk calling (mooing? braying?) so shot up out of bed, grabbed the camera, and was gone for 30 minutes. He came back saying he chased the noise up and down the mountain but never saw the elk - so sad. We then headed into the dining room for the homemade breakfast, which was again, fantastic! We sat outside by the creek sipping our coffee as we looked at maps and made plans to do a short mountain hike before driving to Fort Collins that evening.

The hike was definitely one of the highlights of the trip - or the first two hours of it was anyway. :) We picked one of the "shorter" trails on the 13 mile loop, which was four miles up and four miles back down the almost 10,000 foot peak. Because we can walk around our four mile lake at home in an hour, I figured the hike would take us around two hours - haha, what a hiking novice I am. We packed a small backpack with the map, camera and two Gatorades (later wished I had packed more, and maybe some trail mix!) and off we went. A few minutes in, as Tyge was saying he didn't see a lot of animals on hikes when he was a kid, he looked to his left and said "holy crap!” as about five feet away was a HUGE mule deer. He posed for us as we took pictures for a few minutes, and then moved on.

We also saw a snake - I stayed away from that one while Tyge snapped pics.

The hike was beautiful and the leaves were just starting to turn. The early part was great with a fairly flat trail and little incline so we walked side by side and enjoyed the scenery – the sky was blue with fluffy white coulds, and you don’t see mountains like that in MN!

         

As the trail got narrower and steeper we walked single file, me behind Tyge. This was about the time his brother was having surgery back home in MN, so it turned into a silent prayer walk surrounded by God’s beauty – so peaceful and such a rare opportunity. We truly were in the middle of Rocky Mountain High, as John Denver sings:

"Now he walks in quiet solitude the forest and the streams
Seeking grace in every step he takes
His sight has turned inside himself to try and understand
The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake

And the Colorado rocky mountain high
I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply
Rocky mountain high"

So now two hours in we weren’t even at the top yet and time wasn’t on our side, as we had a two hour drive to Fort Collins to make before dark. We almost turned around because there was still 11 steep switchbacks to hike before the peak, and some 55+ year old couple passed us going down and said “you’ve made it this far – you have to continue!” – if they could do it, so could I. We made it to the top another hour later and the view was magnificent – so worth it!

We started the trek back down, which was much easier than up, and finished the hike a few hours later. What I thought would take us two took almost five hours – oops!

We were shaky with hunger so had an outdoor patio lunch in Evergreen then packed up and drove to Fort Collins. After hitting some Denver rush hour traffic, we arrived and were greeted by Travis, Karrie, Lila and Emi the smiling red dog (Keely’s twin) - it was so good to see them! Since they knew we’d be exhausted from hiking and driving all day, they had planned a quiet night in with a yummy homemade dinner – perfect. We stayed up late talking and catching up, and even managed to get a few hours of sleep. Saturday morning we rented bikes and rode around the adorable college town of Fort Collins, stopping for sandwiches and a beer before heading home for Lila’s nap. Actually, we all napped. When we woke up we hopped on the bikes and rode to O’Dells Brewery, which was another trip highlight! The atmosphere there was so laid back and fun – they had live music, and of course, beer. We sampled 18 kinds of beer and I learned that I like more than just Coors Light!

When we were done there, we biked into Old Town for dinner, where we got to watch the Irish beat Purdue – another treat! The rest of Saturday night was spent talking and laughing with Tyge and my cousins around their backyard fire pit. I forgot how much I enjoy spending time with them and so wished they lived closer! However, I was grateful for the time we had with them. Sunday morning we had breakfast in Old Town before saying goodbye and leaving for Denver.

All in all, it was such a great trip and I am so grateful that we were able to go. Tyge and I decided we need more 3-4 day trips throughout the year like that – so rejuvenating for both of us. Maybe even Colorado again this winter for some skiing and snowboarding action? We’ll see! J