A Journey.

So our family has been on a little journey.   A few years ago I found out I had a gluten allergy as well as a dairy allergy.  The day I gave those things up my life improved.  But oh how quickly we forget.  So like human tendency, as soon as I was feeling better, I slowly started eating gluten and dairy daily.  So now I haven't been feeling so great.  I wake up sore, tired and cranky.  Then my youngest, my baby, who rarely gets sick, started getting recurrent strep infections and tonsillitis.  This has been going on for the last 7 months.  So we took him to our naturopath in hopes of getting to the bottom of it and treating what's going on instead of removing his tonsils.  The result?  We found out he is allergic to eggs and oranges as well as gluten.  This is major.  He drinks orange juice daily and usually got some form of gluten and egg daily.  We also found out that he has a yeast infection in his stomach (from all the antibiotics).  These things are weighing his immune system down so that is why he can't get rid of the strep.  We're trying to be balanced though and if he needs his tonsils removed we'll be on board.  We just hope we don't have to go that route.  It will take a few months to see hoe his body responds.  So far so good.

Finding out these results has had a tremendous impact our family.  I'm forced now to avoid these things too which is good since I too have an allergy and we all feel better.  I'm learning to cook with egg substitute and my sweetheart of a husband bought a bread maker with a gluten free setting and I have been making the most delicious gluten, dairy and egg free bread ever.  We don't eat a lot of bread, but it's a must have for almond butter sandwiches for school.   And this year there school has banned sugar!  YAY! No more junk, no more candy.  We bring our child's own snack and they have water bottles instead of germy drinking fountains.  This could not have happened at a better time because last year they were given unhealthy snacks and candy everyday.  Now I'm on a mission to make healthy gluten & dairy free lunches everyday and get creative with it.

On a side note, despite the debilitating heat we have had ALL summer, our little garden did really well.  I haven't watered it since we got back from Cali and yesterday I pulled off a few tomatoes as well as a cucumber and we have more growing.  Yay me!  I put a lot of peat in the soil this year and made my own blend so I think maybe that's why it's doing so well.  The peat is holding the water.  That means a bigger garden next year because my Whole Foods bill just went up a little ;)  I'll post some recipes soon :)

Last Vacation Post...I Promise.

Summer 2011...NoCal & SoCal from Aja Vaught on Vimeo.

A few favorite memories from our trip that I don't want to forget...

Jude taking a big bite of Calimari a Riva's in Santa Cruz and giving us the thumbs up, then me telling him he was eating squid tentacles and him instantly gagging and choking and spitting the chewed up squid tentacles out.  I know, I know.

Looking out at Glacier point watching Jude climb a rock and then watching Jude lose his balance and tumble down the rock feet moving faster than he could go and catching himself at the edge of the point and saying "I meant to do that".  Us checking our pulse to make sure our hearts were still beating.

Watching our children explore Yosemite fearlessly and curiously.

Picking Eric up from the airport in San Francisco and watching all the Asian flight attendants come off the plain from Bangkok.  Seriously, they looked like Barbies or dolls.  Wish I got a picture of their hair pieces and uniforms.  Our flight attendants are so boring in the states.

Watching T carry Tristan off the Indian Jones ride in Disney.  Bella and I bailed at the last minute.  Apparently it was a wild ride but Judo LOVED it!

Tristan and I sleeping in a twin bed together for a week.

California's bounty.  They have the best farmer's markets in the world and I have a new love for peaches.  Can you believe I have never tried a white peach before?  WOW!

Sleeping in a Yurt and being lulled to sleep by the sound of water flowing through the Tuolumne River at night.

River rafting on the Merced River in Yosemite Valley.

Lunch at the Awahanee Hotel.

The Giant Sequoia Trees.  WOW!

Watching the surfers in Santa Cruz and looking for Lost Boys on the boardwalk ;)   Come on Kiefer, where were yo?

Walking on the beach in Santa Cruz, freezing and playing in the ice cold water barefoot.

The Fischers.

Lunch with the Fischers at Half Moon Bay.

Singing show tunes and songs from the 70's, 80's and 90's and commenting on how cool it would be if we actually had one of those infomercial rock ballad cd's.

In-N-Out's.  Enough Said.

The games we played trying to keep each other awake while driving at night.

Missing home and all the people who make it home.  It's good to miss home.

Escaping 115 degrees back home.  It was in the 60's to 80's.

Watching Bella take care of her little brother.  At one point Jude fell asleep in the car with gum in his mouth.  Bella was so worried about him choking on it that she woke him up and made him spit it in her hand.  That's a few hours after we had to separate them b/c of fighting.

Also, watching Bella almost in tears b/c she was worried about her little brother riding Indiana Jone's.  She just kept saying "poor Jude".  I love to see how much they love each other.

Hanging with Fisch...you know you love us Eric ;)

Hanging out under the stars in our little Yurt Village with my tripod and camera and a glass of cheap Cali vino, eating tortilla chips.

San Francisco.  Oh how I thought I would not like you.  You are great and beautiful and have so much to explore.  I can't wait to visit you again (minus the wharf).

Getting the Mister some Dogfish Head.  Finally.

Surprising the kids with Disney and Bella saying "You Promise?"before she officially got excited.  Too cute.  I have a separate Disney post planned.

Traders Joe's and 2 Buck Chuck.

Yosemite.  All.  Of.  It.

370 Miles.

Thank you Sleep Inn and Suites for you accommodating accommodations, where bed jumping is allowed.  After 16 STRAIGHT hours we arrived, only 370 short miles from home.  The kids could not contain themselves so they took it out on the hotel bed and Audrey posed along with them ;)  Still going through tons of pictures and had to share these.

Yosemite.

We stayed up late one night, sitting outside our Yurt, eating tortilla chips and drinking cheap wine.  Eric told us stories of Thailand and we waxed sentimental about how much we miss him all while waiting for this exposure.  My 30 minute exposure at Yosemite.  It's not what I was going for, but I didn't have a wide enough lens and there were so many darn trees in the way.  It would have turned out my way if we were at a higher elevation too.  Pretty cool how you can see how much the earth rotates from looking at the stars.

San Francisco

So I had a plan to post al of our vacation pics from Northern and Southern California, but it's just too many to post so this will be it ;)  I'll try to get a slideshow posted in a few days of the whole trip.  I love slideshows for the memories anyways so its all good...

Here are a few from San Francisco, most being near Golden Gate and Fisherman's Wharf and Mussee Mecanique.

 

 

Home Again.

And it feels so good.  I LOVE California and have dreamed of living there, BUT I have come to realize that there is no place like home.  We are so glad to be back and we're slowly getting back into a routine.  Two weeks is a very long time to be away from normal so it's taking me a bit to get things done.  I will share pictures soon!  School starts next week and I'm a little sad about that, but anxious to get some things done.  We are also leaving again in 3 weeks for Gulf Shores so lots to get done.  I'll be updating this little blog like crazy soon!

Bella...Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco

Greetings from SoCo....

We're in Southern California at the moment, about to head down to Huntington Beach.  NoCal was beautiful and so different from the south.  I have so much to share and so many pictures to wade through, post vacation bliss.  More soon ;)