Going Gluten Free . . . AGAIN!

About four years ago, Mommy seemed to be constantly sick.  She'd go to the doctor, get medicine, get better, get sick again with the same issues.  The doctor finally sent her for allergy testing, and we discovered Mommy had suddenly developed all sorts of food allergies.  When we moved to our current location, Mommy decided to relax her wheat and dairy free diet for reasons unknown to her.  She didn't seem to have any problems here, so she's been eating whatever she wanted for two and a half years. 

This past fall, she started noticing that she couldn't seem to get rid of her cough and congestion.  She finally decided after the Christmas holidays that she needed to go wheat and dairy free again to see if her issues would go away.  (This seems to be working, although she hasn't resorted to the nasty dairy free cheese yet!)

A few Saturdays ago, Mommy made gluten free pancakes.  If you have a Trader Joe's near you, this mix is amazing!  We don't have a TJ near us, so this mix is compliments of our Aunt Holly.  Pancakes are Mommy's FAVORITE breakfast food and we don't disagree!

We waited patiently as Mommy made these yummy treats!

Mommy always saves the last ones for us (or the ones that get a little darker than she likes them!).

It's too bad we don't get the butter and syrup that Mommy loads onto hers!

This GF diet seems to be helping Mommy's congestion.  That's too bad . . . she likes eating normal foods!  We're enjoying this new, no bread routine . . . that hamburger bun has our names written all over it!

Waiting for the cookie to crumble our way,
Dixie, Jenna & Ruger

Fall Getaway - Monahans State Park

We have a few more pictures from our parents' recent weekend getaway to share with you.  You WILL get to actually see them in this post . . . you will NOT see us as we weren't invited to join them.  [sigh]  Close to Big Bend National Park is Monahans Sandhills State Park.  We say close, but it's all relative.  Remember Texas is the second largest state in the Union and you could drive from some places in the state to California quicker than you could drive across the state!

Mommy is all about spotting wildlife (perhaps because she lives with wildlife??), but she and Daddy both thought this sign was funny.  Is this a cow/heifer or bull????  Inquiring minds want to know . . . Either way, no bovines were seen at the sandhills.

Monahans Sandhills has over 3800 acres of sand dunes that you can explore by foot or by hiney (with the rental of a sand disc).  The dunes are beautiful and change with the wind daily.

There weren't many people there on the day our parents went.  It was chilly, windy, and looked like it was going to rain.  That meant our parents could roam wherever their legs wanted to take them.  And their legs took them slowly in this sand which was deep in places.  They were told it was a good day to sand surf since the sand wasn't hot.  Apparently the discs don't go very fast when the sand is hot.  Who knew?  (The park ranger, that's who!)

Mommy just had to take this picture even though as Daddy pointed out, they don't have kids and didn't have us with them.  She didn't care; she said it was a cute picture anyway.  You might think Mommy is a sucker for all kids and dawgs, but that's not true at all.  She's a sucker for cute kids and cute dawgs and trust us, not all are created equal!

Mommy was in hopes this might be her chance to see a rattlesnake in the wild, but she was once again disappointed.  Who knows what she would actually do if she really saw one . . . scream her head off probably!  But the signs at the park warned about all kinds of wildlife: snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, etc.  Instead, she had to settle for wildflowers.  These were pretty cool since they were sprouting up in what looked like the middle of the desert!  (Animal tracks were present even though the actual animals themselves weren't.)  Daddy tried his best to convince Mommy she was looking at tarantula holes in the sand at one point, but she finally realized it was a man's walking stick making the holes!  DUH!

The highlight of their trip to Monahans was riding down the dunes.  Both Mommy and Daddy each had wipeouts, but we can only show you one!

This next picture will give you an idea of how high the sand dunes were.  Our parents chose the tallest dunes for their sledding!  (That's kind of surprising to us.)  That's Mommy in the center of the picture way down at the bottom of the hill.

And, as promised, here's the one and only picture we're allowed to show you that actually shows the faces of both parents. 

They had so much fun at the sand dunes.  Why, oh why, couldn't we go too???  We would have had so much fun!  They finished their time at the dunes with a race to see who could slide the longest.  We'll let you decide who won . . .

Until next time,
Dixie, Jenna & Ruger

Fall Getaway - Big Bend National Park

It's that time of year again when our parents ditch us for some time away, just the two of them.  How dare they leave us behind????  You'd think we'd be used to it by now . . . 

For this year's fall trip, they chose to head to Big Bend National Park.  It's right on the Texas-Mexico border along the Rio Grande.  Lodging is very limited in the park, so they stayed at the fancy schmancy Gage Hotel in Marathon, Texas before heading into the park the next day.  This hotel is very rustic and carries out the Western theme in a tasteful, beautiful way. 

Lucky for us, the tile floors in their room didn't allow them to forget about us.  Despite the hotel being dawg friendly, our parents still refused to let us tag along!  Hmpf!

This was their room.  It has very old fashioned double doors and you have to close the window shutters inside the room by hand for privacy.  Each room has a private little outdoor sitting area too!  And the rooms still use a REAL key!

The next morning, they traveled into the the park.  It was a very cloudy day.  Even the park ranger at the gate worried the clouds weren't going to burn off so they could really enjoy the sites.  When Mommy originally planned this trip, she was fearful it would still be hot because it's Texas in October and that's not unusual.  As the weekend drew closer, they feared it would rain all weekend.  Thankfully, it was neither hot nor rainy!  

By the way, if you haven't noticed yet, this post will not actually include any pictures of our parents.  Daddy was terrific about allowing Mommy to take as many selfies as she wanted, but that still doesn't mean he wants you to see them!  This trip is going to be shown over two posts, so stay tuned for a picture featuring the humans who took this trip in the next one!

Big Bend National Park is located in the Chisos Mountain range and the Chihuahuan Desert.  This is the southernmost mountain range in the US . . . and you should already know mountains make Mommy very happy!

There are sixty varieties of cacti in the park!  This particular one, the ocotillo, was a new one for Mommy!  Well, let's be honest, this probably isn't the only new-to-her variety, but it was the most obvious.  These cacti were everywhere and bloomed reddish orange at the tips of their spikes.  There were a few still in bloom in some areas of the park.  (And don't tell Mommy, but this isn't a true cactus!)

Although you can't see our parents in these pictures, you can see a few other living creatures . . . like this really long creepy, crawling critter!  Some sort of millipede???

No bears were spotted on this trip.  Mommy read online later that one of the popular hiking trails (that they didn't take) was closed because bear traffic had recently increased.  Good thing they didn't know that at the time!

And Mommy's eagle eyes spotted this tarantula crossing the road.  Daddy knew what his job was without Mommy even asking . . . he turned around and went back so Mommy could get out and take a picture.  Yes, you read that right.  She was standing only a couple feet away from it by choice.  Some of you may remember she spotted a tarantula in our neighborhood this summer!  THAT one freaked her out a bit.  She's a pro now when it comes to these  . . . ha!!!  This poor guy (or gal??) had a broken leg.

What's this next animal in its native habitat????  We forgot we planned to show you Daddy taking a picture of a roadrunner.  Our parents have seen roadrunners before, but this one was especially close.  Mommy had as much fun taking pictures of Daddy taking pictures as he did trying to take one of the bird!

You're looking at Mexico here . . . on the other side of the Rio Grande.  There appeared to be a man fishing on the opposite shore.  Future border crosser???  Perhaps, but we'll never know.  This is Boquillas Canyon.  Boquillas is Spanish for "little mouths" which may refer to the small oval caves in the sides of the cliff walls or the many small natural springs in the area.

Mommy and Daddy drove from one end of the park to the other.  

This part of the park is called Panther Pass.

This is Santa Elena Canyon.  If you look closely in the picture above, you can see this canyon "dip" in the distance.

Apparently when you're this close to Mexico, you have to import your Cokes!  Surely, there's a bottling company in America that's closer to Big Bend National Park . . . nope!  It's hard to imagine how far out of the way this park is.  Very little civilization!  Big Bend is a designated International Dark Sky Park because it has so little artificial light at night allowing you to see the beauty of the natural night sky. (Anyone singing "The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas" after that sentence????)

And, although our parents didn't make a run for the border, they did have to go through US Border Patrol checkpoints!  All roads headed north from the park and south Texas have checkpoints.

Big Bend was a beautiful trip . . . according to our parents.  We wouldn't know first hand of course.  Stay tuned for part two of their weekend getaway (and maybe some actual pictures of our parents!).  

Left behind,

Dixie, Jenna & Ruger

PS: Happy 48th Anniversary to Grandma and Poppa! 

Brave Mommy

The first week of the month Mommy traveled with her eighth grade students to a camp for four days.  She really enjoys spending this time with them outside of school.  There's lots of wildlife to see while at camp.  The monarch butterflies were in the middle of their migration and were everywhere!

A fox Mommy's co-worker named Felix liked to hang out with the adults while the students played basketball nearby.  He (or she??) didn't appear to be afraid of people at all!

We also saw a snake (that puked up two frogs right before this picture was taken) . . .

And there were so MANY little bitty frogs!  The students loved looking for them in the grass.

While at camp, the students have a chance to zipline, rappel, and more!  There are four big events each student can choose to participate in which tests their bravery.  Last year, Mommy participated in two of these events.  One of the events did not interest Mommy even one tiny bit last year (or this year either).  This event requires the participant to climb a 26 foot tall pole, stand on top of that pole, and then jump off!  Ummm . . . NOPE!  Not gonna happen!

But there was an event that piqued her interest last year and caused her to regret not having taken the plunge . . . literally.  Mommy had planned to make this event her goal this year . . . until she arrived and saw it again.

Anyone up for rappelling off a 60 foot tall bridge?  This catwalk bridge has to be crossed back and forth for every meal while at camp.  Mommy REALLY does NOT like walking across it since you can see through it!  It freaks her out a bit.  This is also the location of the rappelling.  The hardest part of the rappelling is that you have to climb OVER the wall of the bridge to start!  Anyone watching the rappelling can see that once you're over the bridge, the participants have loads of fun.  It's not even that high or scary at that point.  It's just getting your leg over the bridge that freaks everyone out!

One of Mommy's students reminded his friends of the age old saying of Moms everywhere, "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do so also?"  That particular boy chose not to rappel (although he did jump off the tall pole the next day).

You have to lower yourself until your head is lower than your feet so that when you finally remove your feet from the bridge, you won't swing forward and hit your head!  This is right before Mommy lets go!

Mommy had to be talked into rappelling by her boss and the camp counselor who said she should set a good example for her students.  She reminded him she did every day!  She really had to dig deep to find the nerve to do this event.  It was WAY out of her comfort zone!  But SHE DID IT!!!! (And even smiled while doing so!)  Mommy was so proud of herself!

Maybe one day we'll get to do something as fun and adventurous as this!  Are you picturing us strapped into a harness yet??

Until our next adventure,
Dixie, Jenna & Ruger