Stay Down Hope

Before the experiment we were introduced to gluten free ice cream cones. This is Kassy's first ice cream cone ever!

So Kassy started the great gluten experiment this summer.  On July 17th to be exact. For the first 2 weeks, it was just one serving of gluten a day. Now she is eating whatever she wants. And so far no trouble. But I am not celebrating. I am forcing Kassy and myself to acknowledge that a build up of gluten in her body my be required to bring back the symptoms. I am purposely avoiding thinking about being able to go to parties and just eat whatever and not have a bag of food for Kassy. I avoid thinking about how the list of family restaurants could expand from the current count of three. And I know, that if this isn't a permanent change, then going backward is going to be harder, because all of a sudden she remembers the taste of baked goods with gluten and especially bread with gluten. So I am waiting and while I am usually the most optimistic in the house, currently I am begging hope to stay away, at least for 2 more months. 

Why did we embark on the gluten experiment? Because Kassy wasn't convinced her diet was necessary and it seemed like convincing her was important. Otherwise those big brown eyes would to look at me and beg for the forbidden and I kept having to say no and food sneaking was probably just around the corner.

We went to Frankenmuth with our friends for a dog show. They are red heads. They have five red-headed kids. Tom and I were out of place. Here's a picture of most of the kids. 

In the talent show at the end of the school year, the girls performed with the Jazzercise group that they attend in the winter. Don't you love the look on Kassy's face?

The tomatoes I grew in April and May. I was able to sell the extras for profit on Craigslist. 

Kassy's team who are all 7-year-olds played in a league against 8-year-olds. They won the trophy in the tournament. 

We camped outside of Ann Arbor for 5 days while the girls spent the day at a soccer camp at the University. 

The camp ground was fun. It had a pool and mini golf course and this  crazy trampoline-like inflated pillow. 

Just missed the ball in this picture. It's a blur on the right side. 

For once we ventured outside of the world of soccer and tried tennis for two weeks.  The girls liked it and their athleticism was apparent. Hadley loved it the most, but I've never met a physical activity Hadley disliked!

Welcome to the newest members of our family: two baby guinea pigs. The girls are smitten. The black one is Astro, he is Hadleys. The fuzzy one is Nibbles and he belongs to Kass. There is so much more I could write about how this all came to be, but I can really afford to eek out even these few words. 

Garden bounty from today. Alas, the flowers are not from my garden, but everything else is. Things are slow this year and all the rain of the last few days may have spread some diseases and caused some tomatoes to crack. But I love all the smell and the girls love to eat.