Trick or Treating

Well it's not quite Halloween yet but we already had Trick or Treating in Gurnee on Sunday. It was freezing and windy out but the kids still had fun. Gavin made it for about 40 minutes before he was ready to give up. We only took Morgan out for about a 1/2 hour because of the weather. But Carson, he was ready to keep going and going. I guess once you turn 6 your goal is to fill your entire bag with candy- which he did. Here are a few pictures of our Policeman, Fireman and warm Butterfly.

Wisconsin Dells Getaway

We had a wonderful time on our Wisconsin trip earlier this month. We left on Thursday, 10/9 and checked in at a Residence Inn in Madison WI. We stopped off at a family farm and played on all the kid attractions and then did a small corn maze. The kids had a blast! Then we did some geocaching in Madison and went to two local playgrounds. We finished the night with swimming in the hotel pool.

The next morning we woke up early and headed to Wisconsin Dells. We checked into our cabin by 10am and unloaded everything. We stayed at Kathy's Kozy Kottages right on Lake Delton (or what was Lake Delton until the lake drained in June 08.) You will see in the pictures that Lake Delton is just damp in spots but all the water is gone. We learned that they are going to start filling the Lake again this December with a slow fill so by next spring/ summer it will be back to normal. We were amazed at how many construction people were working on the repairs of the Dam the entire weekend.

The cabin was a cute 2 bedroom, full kitchen and bath cottage that we just loved. The weather was absolutely perfect while we were there ranging from 70-80 degrees! While in the Dells, we did some hiking at the state park, went on a boat ride in the upper dells, mini golfed two times, ate out a lot and found 26 geocaches. We also got extremely lucky and met two ladies on our boat tour who offered us free water park passes at Chula Vista water park so we took the kids there on Saturday and Sunday evening for hours of swimming! The boys (and even Mommy!) braved the water slides. It was a wonderful time to spend together as a family.

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Fun Weekend

Last weekend we went to the annual Cubs/ Brewers tailgate and game through Al's work along with 40+ of our closest friends and family. It was unusually hot but a lot of fun. All three kids were great during the game. On Sunday, we went with the family to Apple Holler and had so much fun. This is a tradition for us that I absolutely love. It is just great to go with a big family and spend time outdoors. Afterwards, we ended up again at Texas Roadhouse for a yummy lunch. Here are a few of my favorite pics from Apple Holler.

House Addition

As many of you have already heard- we are in the process of a MAJOR house addition/ renovation. We are pushing back the first floor of our house to expand the kitchen, add a breakfast room, add a mudroom and expand the family room. In addition to these upgrades, we are also adding basement since we were required to pour a crawl space anyway. So, we will eventually gain a guest bedroom, full bath and 2 storage rooms in the basement as well! YIPPEE! So far, we have had the concrete company dig out the whole basement and they have made concrete walls as well. We are still waiting for the floor to be poured which will be this week. Then- the real construction can start! We are going to be broke- but it will be so worth it to have a larger home for our family of 5. It will be set up so nice for all of us and will be perfect for entertaining. Too bad it won't be done in time for the annual halloween party! Our kitchen cabinets are being hand made from the Amish and then a guy in the Quad Cities who did Dick and Mary's new kitchen. I can't wait to see the finished product! We ordered our new Granite counter tops and and have bought our new flooring. I am so nervous about picking paint colors because I want it to be just perfect! I guess I have awhile before I get to that point!

As you can see- Carson and Gavin are loving our dirt mountain in the entire backyard! They have been climbing and sliding it down it for a couple weeks now!

Updates on the Ghys kids

Ok, I have been bad about updating this blog but mainly because I have been spending most of my free time updating my surrojourney blog instead. As a refresher- that blog address is: http://www.theirbunmyovenourdream.blogspot.com/.

So, here goes trying to catch up on everything else in our lives. The boy's started school a few weeks ago. Carson is in 1st grade and is loving it. He has 3 other boys in his class from Kindergarten so he already has good friends. He really likes his teacher and is doing so good in school. He is becoming a strong reader and really seems to enjoy it. I am so proud of him! Here are a few pics from his 1st day. Carson is playing soccer now and is very busy "running around the ball". He loves the sport but is definitely not offensive at this point. His speciality is definitely baseball. The other day at Carson's school, there was a Cub Scout recruiter in the cafeteria asking the kids "Who wants to join the Cub Scouts", Carson replied saying "No, way, I am not a Cubs Fan." What a funny kid! Also, the latest accomplishment for Carson is Daddy taught him to ride his two wheeler without training wheels. Too bad summer is over now!







Gavin goes to preschool on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's. I am not kidding when I say he is the smartest kid in his class. He knows every letter sound and can tell you what many words start with. He was never nervous about school and is excited to be there. He is lucky to have one of the same teachers he had for Blossom's and Buds and another teacher who he likes a lot too. What a big 4 year old!!! Gavin is such a sweet kid. He just has the most amazing facial expressions and knows how to work it for sure! When he is in trouble or getting yelled at- he will look at me all sweet and cute and say "I love you mom". Awwww, my heart melts every time!










Morgan is doing great at walking and talking. She says about 10-15 words now and knows more than 10 animal sounds. She is such a sweet baby girl! I can't believe how fast she is growing! :( She loves being outside and playing with her brothers. Between the three of them- they must run around the circle of our first floor at least 20 times a day chasing each other. Morgan is right there with them and just loves it!

Princess Morgan is Walking!!!!

She did it! She finally started taking her first steps last week and is now officially doing laps around the house and everywhere else. We waited 15 months for this and are so excited to watch our little wobbly girl. She looks so cute and is doing so well with it. Good job Morgan!

Alyson's Baby Shower

Last weekend we hosted a baby shower for my sister Alyson who is expecting a little princess around 10/12. She is feeling well and loving pregnancy. She received tons of great gifts but she still needs one major thing.......... a name for little angel! :)

Our Journey Has Begun

Many of you may have already heard the news, but for those that have not, we have decided to start an amazing life changing journey to give the best gift possible. I am becoming a Gestational Surrogate and will be carrying a baby (or two) for a wonderful couple who have become good friends of ours. There is so much to share, but the easiest thing to do is to invite you to my blog regarding all the entire surrogacy experience.

www.theirbunmyovenourdream.blogspot.com

Feel free to ask us any questions at all about the journey. We are happy to share any information we can about this gift! I am very lucky that our children understand what we are about to do and Al is extremely supportive! So far, it has been amazing and its just the beginning.

Now for family updates- It's August 1st (Happy Birthday Alyson!), which means we are only 26 days away from the start of 1st Grade for Carson. Gavin will also be starting a new preschool through the Gurnee Park District 3 days a week beginning in September. Morgan is trying so hard to take those first steps. She can walk with just holding on to one of our fingers and walks along furniture, climbs on top of furniture and speed crawls but we are anxiously awaiting the first steps. Hopefully this weekend!

Our babies are growing up so fast! I will attach pictures soon. Hope everyone is well!

Relay for Life

I participated in the Relay for Life walk on Saturday, 7/12 in memory of my father, Bill and in honor of my father in law, Dick. The event was absolutely amazing! We arrived there at 4pm to begin setting up camp- thank you Al for all of your help- and didn't leave until 6am the following morning. It has been a VERY, VERY long time since I saw the sun set and rise.

The event was very emotional and something I will never forget. During the opening ceremony there were rainbows in the sky! What a nice touch from above. The survivors kicked off the event by walking the track and everyone clapped for them the entire lap. Then at 10pm the luminaria started and all the lights were off except for the luminaria bags that were lit one by one when the bagpiper walked by the bags. They also played a long slide show of people who have lost their battle to cancer along with survivors.

Our team ended the night in second place by raising $10,000- a Gold Plus team! Way to go Risky Business!

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Palm Desert, CA Family Vacation

We made it back safe and sound from our vacation to Palm Desert, CA last week. We arrived there on Saturday, 6/14 around 11am (after waking up at 3:45 to start the traveling). We checked into our 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1.5 kitchen villa at the Marriott Shadow Ridge in Palm Desert. The room was amazing and the view was beautiful overlooking the golf course and the mountains. The kids loved swimming in the large pools everyday and also liked the water slide. Unfortunately due to the extreme heat we had to spend most of the time in the shade- or even in the hotel room during the afternoon when it was up to 115 degrees! We went on the Palm Springs Aerial Tram ride on Sunday (Father's Day) and spent the day hiking and Geocaching on top of the mountains in the 75 degree weather which was just perfect! Later in the week we went to the Living Desert where the boys fed a giraffe and we saw many other unique animals from Africa and the U.S.. We did some additional geocaching around the Palm Desert area which was fun for all of us. We even took a drive up to Joshua National Park thinking it would be cooler up in those mountains but it was still about 100 degrees there so we didn't do any hiking that day. Instead we drove to the Salton Sea which we thought would be a beautiful beach option for swimming. HA! That was a joke. Take our word for it- DO NOT EVER VISIT THE ROTTEN SALTON SEA. The place smells like 50 year old eggs! Very pretty from afar though. Thursday night we went to Downtown Palm Springs for the street festival which was a lot of fun. It's amazing how crowded the area was for their "off" season. On our final night we drove up to the Vista Point look out in the mountains which was so beautiful. Morgan and I were gripping our seats on the thin curvy road up the mountain but we made it and I am glad we did. The view was priceless! After that we took the kids to Boomers- a massive mini golf place which they of course loved! We were very lucky at how well all three kids handled the trip and the heat. They even did well on the flights and that was asking a lot considering the puddle jumper in and out of Palm Springs was frightening to say the least. I can honestly say I have never experienced turbulence that bad- and for 30 minutes straight! Poor Carson was getting sick from it but thank goodness he never threw up. It was close though!

All in all we had a great time as a family. Palm Desert is a beautiful area and it seems to be continuing to grow. We highly recommend visiting............ just not in June!

Click on the montage to see the pictures. There are a ton- but I already cut out about half. Enjoy!

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Palm Desert, CA Vacation June 2008

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Morgan's Makeover

Well, I hated to do it....... but we finally had to give Morgan a trim so we can see her beautiful eyes again. Obviously I did not let her leave the house with her hair hanging like the first photo but at least it shows how long some pieces actually got. So funny- its like the extreme makeover! She is such a cutie with her new bangs! :)

It's a Girl!!!

YIPPEE! We just received the news that my sister Alyson who is due on 10/12 is having a baby girl! How exciting for Morgan to have a girl cousin so close in age. We are just thrilled with the news and can't wait until the next princess arrives. Congrats Alyson and Matt!
Here is the mommy to be with our little princess. :)

Happy 6th Birthday Carson!

WOW- our baby is 6 years old! For Carson's birthday yesterday, we went to RinkSide for Laser tag & arcade games and then had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Carson was THRILLED to get the spiderman game he has been asking for for months now for his gameboy. He was so sweet thanking us all night for his fun bday celebrations and for the presents.

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Happy Birthday Al!

Here's wishing my wonderful husband a very happy 37th birthday!
We went miniature golfing tonight at Congo River and then to dinner at Texas Road House. Al had to "ride the saddle" for his happy birthday song in front of everyone. :) I have a couple pics on my cell phone that I hope to add soon.
Happy Birthday!

Stacey's Wedding

We had a wonderful family weekend in Geneseo for the celebration of Stacey Henderson's wedding. I am sorry to say I do not have any picture of the blushing bride or groom since they turned out dark. We are working on correcting the photos. They lucked out with an absolutely beautiful day- 75 degrees and sunny. Carson and Gavin had a blast at the wedding playing with their cousins and the other kids. This was only the second wedding they have been to but they loved it. Carson and Gavin danced the night away- and Carson even showed off his great dance moves in the middle of a circle. He was so cute!

We finally have a picture of the blushing bride!

Morgan is crawling! FINALLY!

Well, she did it! Morgan finally learned how to crawl. Her first movements were on Thursday, 5/15 but she has been improving more and more everyday. It's been so easy with her just sitting in one spot playing but now our world is about to change. No more legos, pennies, toy guns and every other little thing the boys leave around. This should be interesting!

Morgan's 1st Birthday

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We had 55 people over on Saturday for Morgan's 1st birthday. The weather was much colder than we would have hoped for, but it was still a perfect day! What a sweetie Morgan was all day. Thank you to everyone who joined us for her special day. Enjoy the pictures!