Pumpkin Fest. 2011

This past week was the Morton Pumpkin Festival. I hadn't been there in 5 years, since I have lived in California, so I was excited to go back with Gwen and Adam!

Wednesday, for the kickoff, Gwen and I went and met Duvy, Paisley, and Andy and Darah and Evan to watch Sylvie in the Little Miss Pumpkin Pagaent. I let Gwen try Pumpkin Ice Cream, then we watched the show!

There definitely was some stiff competition (and kids whose moms probably practiced with them for weeks!), but Sylvie wasn't nervous at all and was just excited. We don't even think she really knew it was a competition, but more of a dance recital type event. Anyways, Sylvie didn't walk away as the Princess, BUT out of 10 girls only 3 prizes were given, and Sylvers won best costume. I did definitely think she looked the cutest, but as her aunt, I might have been a bit biased :)

Friday night we went back and had dinner at Darah and Evan's since Joanna and Eric were home from Florida. Then Saturday we headed to watch the big parade. Kristen got Mara and Gwen matching pumpkin shirts that were SOOOO cute so they were twins for the parade!

Sylvie got to be in the parade and Kristie had to walk with her. After the parade, we took the kids to the festival for some lunch, rides, and snacks. Gwen rode the merry go round and the big slide with her big cousins. Adam was excited to sample some of the pumpkin fest food, so between all of us we had a corndog, apple cider slush, pumpkin chili, porkchop sandwich, and pumpkin ice cream. I think Adam was impressed with how big and nice the Pumpkin Fest is, it's not just your average street fair!

I had more fun at the Pumpkin Fest this year than ever before. I love sharing fun things from my childhood with Gwen!

East Coast Vacation

Gwen and I made it back to Illinois late last night after a great vacation. We saw and did so much in 9 days...

We had this northeast roadtrip planned for awhile, and then Hurricane Irene hit. We almost switched direction, but I'm glad we didn't! We had no problems whatsoever. We planned the trip around Gwen (to minimize the amount of time she had to spend stuck in her carseat), so we only drove 2-5 hours per day and paced ourselves. She was sooooo good thanks to lots of books, episodes of Nick Jr. shows, snacks, and naps!

We left last Friday evening, made a pitstop in Dayton, Ohio to sleep, then drove onto Pittsburgh the next day. Adam goes here for work quite a bit, so we went to his favorite restaurant there for a late lunch/early dinner and walked around the riverwalk and the city.

Sunday we spent the day in Philadelphia. We basically walked to see everything we could in one day. We saw all of the main tourist attractions (Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Love Park, etc.) then just wandered to different neighborhoods and streets that looked appealing. We ended up in a little neighborhood that I think was equivalent to Hillcrest in San Diego that had the coolest little gift shops and restaurants. We also had famous Philly Cheese Steaks for lunch! By the time we walked back to our hotel, we were worn out and it was late, so we found a Mexican restaurant closeby that had a huge patio and ended our night there.

Monday we arrived to where we spent the bulk of our time-Cape Cod. It is such a pretty unique area. There is water everywhere, but it's still very green, and very hilly. My favorite part was looking at all of the classic older homes and buildings, they are so pretty! We spent 4 days basically just exploring each part of the cape. We visited beaches, lighthouses, the little downtown areas of each town, looked in shops, ate LOTS of AWESOME seafood (thank God my nausea went away right before we got here!), took walks, went for ice cream, went swimming, etc. My favorite part of the whole cape is Provincetown, the very tip. It had the coolest little street of shops and a big nice beach. I think Adam's favorite part was when we finally saw a cranberry bog after 4 days of trying :) Gwen's favorite part was probably Cape Creamery's homemade ice cream (see below).

Our last day on the cape, we took a ferry to Martha's Vineyard. When we got there, it was cloudy and cold and after about a half hour, it started POURING. Not light drizzle, windy buckets of water falling down. Lucky for us, we were right by this adorable restaurant called Slice of Life, so we hung out there for an hour and got some coffee to warm us up, Gwen had a snack. When the rain died down, we went out to explore and ate lunch at a Jamaican restaurant that Bill and Hillary Clinton apparently frequent (pictures of them everywhere :). We went back outside and it was PERFECTLY sunny and warm. We got to spend the rest of the day walking along the beach and looking at the beautiful houses, parks, water, etc. in the sunshine. I was hoping to see a Kennedy or Maria Shriver, but no such luck :/

Finally Friday we headed to Boston. We spent the whole day sightseeing, mainly just following Freedom Trail. We also walked to the Boston Common and to Beacon Hill where the Cheers Bar is at. This area had the coolest restaurants and home decor shops and awesome townhouses. I was surprised at how pretty and nice Boston is. Very clean with awesome buildings and parks.

Saturday we spent our last half day of vacation in Cambridge, MA. We went to Harvard and walked around the campus and Harvard Square, did a little shopping, ate a really good lunch, and Gwen and I headed to the airport.

Adam stayed on the go for a work trip, but Gwen and my flights home went fine. She was really good and slept the whole second flight and drive home. Then we got home, and she was ready to party with her toys! Today we went grocery shopping, but besides that I am doing laundry galore and letting her just play at home all day. We had a great vacation and saw so much, but it always feels good to be home!

The End of Summer and My First Trimester

Time flies! I absolutely can't believe that 9/11 was ten years ago...so sad watching the memorials this morning. It made me remember how lucky I am to wake up every day and be in good health and have my little family here with me!

And I am very happy that our little family of 4 (3 people + Diggy) is going to be a family of 5 this spring! I am about 12 weeks pregnant, and this pregnancy is going so fast! My due date is March 29. I finally feel pretty back to normal (not so tired and grossed out by all foods). We are excited to see if Gwen will have a brother or sister!

This pregnancy probably has flown because it was a busy summer. We tried to savor the last few pool days we could and are still spending time outside very often before the weather starts to turn!

Sylvie's birthday party

Jason had to be the backdrop for the game :)


Going down the slide!

We will miss you, Pool!

My Baby's 1st Birthday

I can not believe it was a whole year ago that Gwen was born, however, looking back at pictures, it's unbelievable how much she's grown in 1 short year!

We started getting cards in the mail yesterday, and she got her first gift from Aunt Katie in the mail. We played with it all afternoon!

Today Gwen must have been excited to celebrate because she was up and at 'em before 6am :) We spent the morning eating pancakes, going for a walk, going to the park, and making some stuff for her party.

Adam got home from his business trip, and we took her to the mall to ride the caroussel.

We finished the day by getting her Dairy Queen and playing with Diggs.
Funny how such simple things made her day great! The celebrations continue this weekend, as we have company coming tomorrow, and her party Saturday!

Happy, happy birthday Gwen. You are the best little girl I could ever imagine having and I love you more than anything! What a great year you have given us!!!!

August 2011

Summer's close to being over already, but we are still enjoying it!

We have got to hang out with Gwen's cousins from both sides. We got to go watch Mara's horseback riding lessons, and Allie came to visit, so we spent a day with her!

We go to the pool A LOT!

We went to the farm park and Gwen loved seeing the animals.

Gwen's favorite activity is just playing at home, haha. She loves Diggy, dolls, books, rolling her ball, playing with kitchen utensils, Nick Jr., anything that makes noise, getting into everything (toilets and Diggy's dog food included), making messes, swinging, dancing, etc. She keeps me VERY busy because she is constantly in motion!

We love summer!

Family Visit

Katie's family was in Illinois for 3 weeks, but between her trip with her inlaws to NYC, our trip to the Ozarks, and us having to work, we had only seen them at the beginning of their trip. To celebrate Katie and Kristie's birthday and Ellie's birthday, we went home for the weekend. We basically had meals, pool time, play time, and walks, but it was a great weekend!

The Roleys are back in AZ now, safe and sound. It was good to see you guys and have lots of QT together!

Happy 4th of July

Well, we actually celebrated Independence Day on July 3. The Morton fireworks are always the day before the 4th, and you can see them from my parents house, so they have a party every year. Katie's family was home from AZ, and this was the first year since I have been married that we have been home for the 4th. It was lots of fun. There were lots of families, food, drinks, and fireworks! Diggy was scared again, and Gwen went to bed before the big show, but it was a good time.

Happy 4th of July!