Jely Belly Tour and gift shop

August 10, 2009
On our way home from the Chicago area, we stopped in the city of Pleasant Prairie, WI, to visit the Jelly Belly factory and store. We came across a brochure at the hotel we stayed at in Gurnee, IL for this place, and the kids thought it looked cool, although they didn't really care to go, neither of them liked jelly beans.
We said it would be fun, and Jelly Belly's are the best kind of jelly bean. The kids still weren't too excited but agreed to go only because we said we were going anyway. When they saw the BIG building they got a little excited. The place was inviting, how could a kid not want to go inside. We did the tour first and had to wait maybe 20 min or so, for the next train to come. The tour was from inside a mini train ride, good thing cause my mom couldn't walk well at all from her blisters. We had to wear some sort of hat on our heads and they provided us with these goofy hats, when Bailey found out he could wear his hat, he took the goofy one off. They took us around the warehouse and told us how Jelly Belly's were made from start to finish, mostly by watching TV screens. We could not go into the actual factory for safety and food production reasons I'm sure, but got a good view of where all the Jelly Belly's were stored for shipment. The tour was about 20-25 min and then they dropped us off by the store. The tour was free, and we figured out fast why.......we spent a small fortune in the gift store. I am not a big fan of jelly beans myself, but found many flavors that were easy to like.

some pictures of our adventure in Jelly Belly heaven.....

60 miles for a purpose

I went to Chicago to meet my mom at the finish line for the Breast Cancer 3 day. What an experience for me as a supporter, but much more so for my mom, as a walker. She has been diligently training for this since early this year, and raised $2300 for breast cancer research. Her team of 8 consisted of my aunt Brenda, my cousin Jessica, my aunt's sister Barb, her daughter Shannon, Barb's daughter in law Kim, and Jessica's 2 friends Kate and Heather. Their team name was Momma Grams--it was a mixture of mom's (the young ones) and grandma's (the oldies). Throughout the fundraing and the training walks, my mom was getting more excited as the time drew closer.

my mom and team after the walk- (L-R) Kate, Kim, Mom, Jessica, Brenda, Shannon, and Barb



She knew she was in for a challenge, and prepared and read all she could. 4 of the 8team members have done this walk in the past, so they helped her prepare as well. It's always good to hear from someone who has done this before.

Well her challenge turned into the hardest thing she has ever done, and has memories to last her a lifetime. She said the walk changed the way she thinks. More importantly it has done it's job and has raised awareness to her and to others.

1 in 8 women will get breast cancer and the statistics show that it can affect anyone, young or old, even men. She heard a story of a 11 yr old girl who got it, also many stories of the younger generation, one age 18, and many others in their 20-30's. It shows it's uglyness even in families with no history of breast cancer. It's something any one of us can get. "Everyone deserves a Lifetime", which is why they continue to do the walks, and the 1800 walkers plus crew in the Chicago 3 day, raised over $5 million to support breast cancer research. AWESOME !!

The final day was amazing to watch as all these walkers came across the finish line...... exhausted from the heat, from the blisters to the muscle strain and soreness, and even dehydration, many of them in tears as they accomplished something so great, putting their bodies through difficult and long days. Walking about 20 miles each day, one day in the rain, and the last 2 it was so hot and humid. All they kept thinking about was how people with the cancer had to suffer, survivors who got through the pain, and they could certainly endure sore feet, blisters, tiredness, sleeping in small 2 person tents, using port a potties all for the sake of maybe one day ridding the world of breast cancer. 60 miles for a purpose.

view of the finish line from where we were waiting


mom had crossed the finish line and gave the kids hugs


a family waiting for their "mom" with neat signs-- insiprational.







It was sheer determination for my mom. As they were running behind on Sunday, some decided to catch the bus to the last pit stop. ( there was a time limit to finish by). Wanting the team to finish together, my mom got on the bus thinking they all were getting on, and at the last minute, she found out 3 of her team decided to continue on.....my mom wanted to finish!! Miscommunication led to the 3 leaving and starting to walk ahead and my mom jumps off the bus, only to find out they had left already. So now she is left alone as 1/2 her team is off on the bus and the other half started to walk ahead. So she calls one of them on her cell phone and told them to wait for her at the next pit stop. She did double time walking to catch up so they wouldn't have to wait long. They all then walked the last 2 miles to the finish line at Soldier Field. My mom was shaking and happy all at once trying to explain what had happened, she was literally exhausted. Besides walking the entire 60 miles she did part of it at a pretty fast pace to catch up. Only her and 2 of her younger team mates (Kate and Kim) made it the entire 60 miles. Shannon had to catch a bus for a mile towards the end to catch up too, so minus 1 mile she made it pretty good too. My aunt Brenda got dehydrated on Sat. and had to have an IV put in at camp and then didn't make the start of the walk on Sunday morning, she stayed back to rest up and finished later. Heather had a ton of blisters, and couldn't walk much at all. For the most part the team stuck together and despite the struggles and challenges of it all, knew they were doing everything for the cause.

It's hard to describe what I saw and heard, it was emotional to say the least.
The kids were hot waiting for grandma to come, we did get there about 2-3 hours before she actually came, so it was hard waiting while enduring the heat, but everytime the kids or I started to complain, I reminded myself and them that grandma was walking a long ways in this heat and the many that have or had to deal with cancer. I think they got the jist of it, but it's hard to comprehend for them what grandma was actually doing and why. We found a shady spot to wait and watch, and just drank lots. They were happy to see her finally, and know that she had made it.

Lots of hugs and real emotional.

My mom has about 4 blisters, that made it difficult to walk, esp. after the walk was over, but within a few days those should be healing up. Her feet are pretty swollen, but there were many others who were worse off. SHE MADE IT !! What an accomplishment. I am so proud and glad I was there to witness some of what makes the Breast Cancer 3 day so awesome. I hope no one in my family has to ever deal with breast cancer. Please keep all the walkers and the Susan G Koman Breast Cancer 3 day in your thoughts and prayers, and who knows, she may do it again.( I may too, I was really affected by the support and outpouring of hope, commitment and determination.)

after the walk


my cousin Jessica (in the white shirt)


mom hugging her brother, Rick


Mom hugging Barb


mom after the walk-- your an inspiration to me no matter what you look like.
YOU LOOK AWESOME !!



I came across a blog from a woman who did the Chicago 3 day, she explained very well many of the experiences my mom had to a T.
Mom- I'm sure you can relate to her story. Take a few moments to read her blog by using the link below.
http://bethkujawski.blogspot.com/2009/08/3-day-day-after-chicago.html

some more pictures:
Closing Ceremony
the walkers in the middle-- one shoe off and raised in honor of the breast cancer surviors. WOW.


the flag that was raised by the survivors-- "a world without breast cancer"


dad by the enterance of Soldier Field


Bailey by the field


another shot of the finish line from where we were.


determination brought her to the end-- headin home---ahhhhh!!
TEMP: 96 degrees plus humid.

Can't win em all.

After a relatively good baseball season, Bailey's team lost the championship game, by 4 runs (I think). I can never keep track of the score. I think it was 8-4.
Bailey had a couple of good hits, both times left stranded on base. The game got started late, from the previous game running long, so we were out there until after 10pm. It was a fun watching him all summer, but ya can't win em all. Way to go Bailey and the A's on 2nd place.

Bailey is on 3rd base


Bailey on 3rd


2nd place ain't that bad.


Coach Nelson giving Bailey his 2nd place medal.







Bailey #20


The A's ( 5th grade in front row, 6th grade in back row)- Bailey is kneeling 1st one on the right.


Bailey #20

update of randomness

I have a few pictures and things to share, but my mind has been elsewhere lately. My father in law is not doing well, and it's been an emotional rollercoaster around here. He is at home now under hospice care, and the cancer is taking over. Steve, his 2 sisters and his mom, have been spending every possible moment caring for their dying father and husband, and making sure every moment with him counts. As for my father in law, he has those times where he seems like himself , and then the next he will be talking and not making any sense, and he sees things that are not there. His mind and body are overcome with drugs and pain meds that are needed to control the extreme pain. The last days have been overwhelming. They seem to have his pain under control now, and he just goes in and out of sleep. He has had a few good moments where he has sat up for 30-60 min. The days go by and we wonder when God will take him home. God has left him here with us for just a bit longer and each day we treasure his presence, but know that he will be pain and cancer free soon. God has a plan for each of our lives. Steve has definately made a difference in my life and my kids lives, and I'm sad that my husband has to loose his dad, a person he counted on so much. For now we wait, God be with our family and give us strength and comfort as we are all just plain worn out. Lift us up-- on eagles wings.

a picture of an actual eagle in flight that my uncle took


The kids and I have been just hanging out at home for the most part, it just seems life is on hold. We just take one day at a time and make the most of it.

We made it to Steve's cousin's wedding in Brainerd last Sat. It was a beautiful wedding and we tried to have fun, but every moment we were reminded of Steve's dad. Hannah had a blast dancing with Audri, she said earlier in the day, that she wasn't going to dance, she forgot about that after the first song came on, and danced the night away.


Here are a few more pictures of the kids at the wedding reception







I called Hannah's diabetes clinic last week, and we avoided having to go in to get the sensor put on for continuous blood sugar levels, and for now just adjusted her doses again. She continues to do well, and we just try to avoid the high's and lows as much as we can. Of course perfection is impossible, but getting her as close to her target range at all times, not just at testing times, will help her body with long term effects. We need to be as strict as possible with her doses, food, and insulin. We will continue to monitor her numbers, and if they still feel she is not getting good levels at times, we will have to monitor her continously with the
I-PRO sensor, to see where we can make things better.
Steve and I will also be taking a class on Aug 4 in St Paul regarding the insulin pump. The kids will come as well , it's just for 1 hr and a half and they should be able to learn from this as well esp. for Hannah who will possibly be using it. There are a few classes we need to take to get her set up on the pump, but hopefully this will be a good transistion for her to make. She tends to fight change regarding her diabetes, so we will see how this goes.

Bailey has had only a couple of headaches in the past month, and this has been wonderful for him and for us. :) He has lost a little more weight (less than a pound), but his appitite has seemingly come back some. Soon we will find out if we can continue on this medication or need to lower the dose more. His weight loss concerns me, in that he hasn't gained back any of the weight he lost over the past month, and is still down 5-6 lbs.
Bailey's baseball team had some good games to watch the last few days and my parents came out for a short visit to watch him play. His team won the last 2 games and that puts them in the championship game next Monday. My parents will come back for that game as well.




hummm... what else.
saw a weird funnel cloud today-- the weather was sunny by us and to the north, but to the south we saw this. There was no indication of a tornado, or severe weather anywhere which made this look all the more interesting.





Bailey was sitting on the couch today and Keaton decided to get comfortable, just a funny random pic.


I'll end with some pictures of the kids being kids on a nice summer day.