GILCHRIST FAMILY: April 2013

Well let's just say that the month of March was fun, busy, and exciting for us here in New York.... Actually, I should say it was fun, busy, and exciting for us here in New York AND in Florida, Georgia, and Washington DC. Yes, that is right the month of March had us traveling around a bit!!!

First off our BIGGEST most wonderful news is that we are adopting a baby boy in May (yep, like in a month). We are SO excited and feel so blessed to have our prayers answered for another baby to come to our family! Grayer is thrilled and tells everyone he sees that he is getting a baby brother. Some people look confused as they glance at my belly and see nothing there, it is kind of entertaining to watch but then we feel bad and explain that we are adopting:) We have always been open to adopting but hadn't seriously considered or looked into it yet because we were working with fertility doctors and such. Then around Christmas a miracle happened and we were approached by a wonderful and beautiful young women who asked us if we would be interested in adopting her baby. We instantly said, "YES!" and have been expressing prayers of gratitude to Heavenly Father for this amazing young women and her courage and sacrifice to give up her baby to us ever since!

To add to the excitement of this announcement in early March my (Susan's) parents took our family plus 2 of my other siblings and their families to Disney World! There were 16 of us total and we had an absolute blast together. We went to 3 parks: Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom! The weather was perfect, my Dad was the perfect "fast pass" runner; my sister Megan was the best to ride a roller-coaster with because she giggles the whole time (it takes away all your fear:)); my Mom was the best Grandma ever to take the kids while the adults went on rides; and Grayer was the best "chicken" - he still cries every time we step into a line begging me not to take him on a ride. For example: today we went to the movie theater and as we waited in line he was worried we were getting on a ride. Basically while we were in Disney World we couldn't tell him anything we were doing so he wouldn't freak out before hand... we would wait in the lines and get up to the front and by that time it was too late to turn back so he had to go through with it - are we mean or what?! Here are just a few pictures from our trip.

All 16 of us

My cute Mom can't contain her excitement:)

Grayer at "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" play ground

Tower of Terror Faces....

Recovery Nap

Dumbo Ride, he said he liked it but refused to go on it again!

Mickey's Philharmagic 3D Movie

Smith Family Robinson Tree House

All of us minus my Dad. He was off getting face passes for Mt Everest!!

Grayer's favorite spot at Disney World... digging for Dinosaur bones... on the ground... that doesn't move:)

After the Safari Ride

Kali River Rapids - Rob and Megan having a blast!

Yep, Andy made Grayer go...

Us, Grandpa, and my brother Rob and his family

Grandpa taking Grayer back to dig for Dinosaur bones

After Florida we drove back to Georgia with my brother Rob and his family to visit for a few days! It was really fun to be with their family again. We mostly just stayed home and relaxed as we tried to recover from our long days at Disney but we did get in a few fun and special things together like: Going on morning runs with Rob and Flori. Grayer loved his time on the trampoline. We celebrated my niece Sarah Jane's birthday with a delicious coconut cream pie. One day Grayer, Rob, and I met my niece Bea at school for lunch, it was really fun to be with her and Grayer loved seeing her classroom. I think it made him excited for school too:) We went on a double date with Rob a Flori to a late night movie, The Hobbit. Last, Andy scheduled a vocal coaching with a UGA faculty member where he got some good and encouraging feed back, which was exciting for him. While Andy was in his coaching I went with Rob to his office on campus so he could get some work done but we just ended up talking and it was really fun to have that time with him!!! Thanks Rob and Flori for a great time in Georgia!

After getting back from Florida and Georgia we quickly caught our breath and headed to Washington DC where Andy had an audition for a summer program! His audition was in the Kennedy Center which is where the Washington National Opera is located. His audition went AWESOME!! In fact he had some people from the Opera Company show up to hear him, they were all really giddy with excitement as they heard him sing and worked with him for a short time. He was told he would hear back from them within 24 hours and sure enough within 24 hours he was accepted into the summer program and told that if he would attend and apply what he was taught they would invest in his career!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Andy, deserves this so much, he has put in so much work and it was time for someone to really acknowledge the tremendous talent he has! Well, the audition was the main reason we went to DC but Grayer and I tagged along for a bit of a vacay too! In the few short days we had we did the Washington DC tour of monuments, national buildings, and museums! It was fun to be together as our little family! p.s. Every building we stood in Grayer reminded us that he didn't wan't to go on any rides... I think we traumatized him:)

The new Martin Luther King Monument

Washington Monument
You can see at the bottom it is still under construction from the earth quake that damaged it.

North Side of the White House

Lincoln Monument

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History...

Funny Story: These museums don't sugar coat anything so when Grayer saw the antelope hanging limp in the tree with the cheetah he was wondering what it was doing there... "Well, honey that is the cheetah's dinner."
You can kind of see the concerning scene behind us:)