My grandparents rent a very nice cabin for about a month or so every summer in Frisco, Colorado. Frisco is a little town near Brackenridge, about an hour west of Denver, in the heart of the Rockies. (Altitude 9,000 ft.) This summer we went to stay with them out there for a week.
Frisco is nestled between a mountain and a lake.
We took frequent walks from our cabin into town.
It was so nice to get away from the hundred degree heat in Texas. The weather up there was beautiful, with highs in the mid 70's. We were spending the better part of almost every day outside, which was great for Mira. (She loves being outdoors, but is so easily overheated that it's difficult to spend any time outside in the Texas summer.)
When preparing for the trip, I was worried about forgetting something, since I wasn't used to travelling with a baby. I made extensive lists, though, and managed to bring along everything that I thought we'd need and not too much excess. Considering that we were flying, I didn't want to load down the luggage too much. Luckily, my parents were driving up, so they had a bit of room in their car for things that we didn't want to tote onto the plane with us, like Mira's stroller and booster chair.
Anyway, so the flight up there was kind of poorly planned. First of all, we just took whichever flight time got us the cheapest fare. But that meant that we were flying up to Colorado near her bedtime. So she was tired and a bit fussy. The other mistake that we made was not buying Mira her own seat on the plane. We decided we'd gamble that there would be an empty seat on the flight that we could nab for her. Turned out the flight was full, so Brian or I had to hold her the entire time. The flight wasn't too long (2.5 hours) and it was a direct flight, so it could have been worse. But Mira was tired and she has a hard time sleeping in my arms (she gets too hot sharing my body heat and plus I wiggle too much). Also, I mistakenly assumed that she wouldn't nurse on the flight because she'd be too distracted by everything else. (Normally she's very distractable while nursing and any little noise or shadow will have her turning away to see. This is why we always nurse in a quiet dark room at home and we pretty much don't plan to nurse while we're out. Instead, I pack baby foods in her diaper bag.) But I knew that she'd need to drink or suck something during take-off and landing in order to help her ears. So I had her sippy cup with water for that. She didn't seem to have any trouble with her ears thankfully. But halfway through the flight, she decided it was bedtime. Now. Where is my crib??? So to try to get her to calm down, I tried nursing. It actually took both Brian and I to accomplish the task: we both had to lean over her close, me with one arm under her and the other hand holding her head to my breast, Brian with one arm lending me support and the other hand rhythmically patting Mira's butt. It was quite the operation... but it worked. And then she fell asleep for about 20 minutes and was ok for the rest of the flight.
When we got there, Brian and I both were feeling the altitude. Brian was winded just unloading the luggage from the car. And I was having periodic dizzy spells. So we took it easy the first day we were there. We took leisurely walks down the bike paths or into town or around the historic park. I also had to take some time to go to the grocery store and then puree Mira some foods, since I'm making all her baby foods from fresh produce but couldn't think of a hassle-free way to bring along the foods I already had for her at home.
The next day Brian went golfing with my grandfather, which I know he really enjoyed. In the mean time, Mira and I went on more little walks, enjoying the wildflowers and the chipmunks and the birds and oh yeah the mountains.
More later....
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