Summer’s Got Me Like Whoa

You guys…we officially have 8 week days until school starts back.  I cannot even believe it.  My brain is even more officially gone…more so than normal.  I’m thinking the first day of all children being in school I’m going to go to the wave pool all alone and have an uninterrupted thought.  I might do a massive cannonball in the deep end and have a lifeguard take my pic.  I might eat lunch from the concession stand and only carry one single solitary pool bag and wait for it…a book.  I might get a snow cone and not share with anyone.  I might just lay on a float, tilt my head back and close my eyes.  These are all real thoughts in my head.  We have seriously milked summer for all its worth, but I think we’re all ready for back-to-school and all it’s maniac craziness which ensues with the start of August.

A few things:

1)  I am going to be starting back up Bible journaling classes and online Bible journaling classes.  There’s been interest in a middle/high school class for girls and I could not love the idea more.  I’ve done several now for that age range and they are always a blast.  Let me know if you are interested in any classes and scheduling.  You can email or message me HERE.  As always, all money from classes will be given away to do some sort of good in our world.

2)  My friend Cindy is doing some more website design and re-design.  She is awesome…like I totally love her.  Funny, smart, quick.  Loved working with her and totally recommend her.  I hope you guys know by now when I love a company or person who just does their thing so well, ethically and honestly…I love to share about them.  I only recommend people who I think are legit, so if you are looking for a web lady, she’s your girl.  Contact her at cindy at cindywarren dot com or check out her site HERE.

3)  We recently discovered Chuck’s Sno Cones and might have a problem…if having a problem looks like 3 snow cones in 5 days…we were on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday rotation.  I am seriously such a kid.  I would think about what flavors I was going to try next and even text my niece about them.  I’m pretty much ridiculous.

My combos for the week consisted of grape/orange, cherry/lemon lime and grape/sour grape.  Sour grape is so yummy.  A total plus is Amon not really caring what he gets, but just being excited about a snow cone in general which meant I got to pick his combos too and therefore double taste tested…cherry/peach, sour grape/raspberry and mango/tigers blood…to which he asked if they cut a real tiger…I die.  I soooooo love a good shaved ice snow cones so if you’re a local, check them out.

4)  I hope by now you also know we love our local wave pool…or more profesh sounding Wave Country.  It has been our summer hang for years now.  We couldn’t love it more.  My kind friend Ashley works there and every summer we officially become her “regulars”.  It’s just what we do.  I have to admit we started off slow in June…there was Africa and Florida and Fall Creek Falls which left little time to wave pool it up.  Ashley text me near the end of June and said it was almost July and she had hardly seen us.  I promised we would make up for lost time in July and boy have we.  We are now like 3-times-a-weekers.  The 3 things I love most about the wave pool:

ONE) Ashley.  She’s the best and always does things like lets me charge my completely dead phone or comes and sits in the water with me or let’s us see the kittens in her office to which Amon almost went all Lenny on from Of Mice And Men…he just could not contain his excitement.  Sigh.  And honestly the rest of the staff is great too.  I’ve never encountered one unkind person.  All the lifeguards are kind and give us smiles and when our littlest makes a mad dash and hops on a slide to try and fling herself down solo, the slide girl always nabs her until I catch up.  The best.

TWO)  The water, waves and sun.  Of course.  No brainer.

And THREE)  It’s crazy diverse.  I always sit and think…I bet this is similar to heaven.  It is hands down the most diverse place we go.  Even more than our school and our school is pretty diverse.  I mean, there are people of every color and race and from every walk of life.  I could not love it more.  It’s basically our church of summer.  And sometimes I find myself thinking why is the wave pool of all places so insanely wonderfully diverse…I usually land on Tennessee humidity + water + accessibility + available to all.  If you’re local, again, you should definitely check it out.

 And 5)  Last week Hudson had allergy testing done again.  It was crazy.  We were there for over three hours and if I could show our littlest’s face I would share a picture of her absolutely losing her mind at hour 3.  We were all completely DONE by the time the appointment ended, but we did get a lot of answers we have been looking for.  He was tested for over 80 things and ended up being allergic to close to 50.  I couldn’t even keep up.

(This was before the appointment…our spirit had diminished by the end 🙂

He’s basically allergic to everything outside…just call him the bubble boy…which weekly allergy shots should help, but we’re also having to kick dairy to the curb.  We don’t do a ton of dairy anyways, but ummmmm, butter & pizza…say it aint so.  And now that I am having to check ingredient lists milk and soy are in lots of things.  So, here’s my question to any of you non-dairy people out there…I’d love to hear some of your favorite products and snacks.  Hudson’s love language is food so I’m looking to find some good stuff he can still enjoy.  Dairy-free peeps lay it on me.

That’s it.

Happy Tuesday!

11 Comments

  1. Oh man. I was dairy and soy free while breastfeeding and I missed pizza with a physical ache. Eating out is really hard. Chik fil a and Wendy’s were both okay for fast food though. The Enjoy Life brand makes chocolate bars and other goodies that are allergen free. I would eat Lara protein bars for snacks – they’re vegan. Oreos and pop tarts are safe junk food options. Since I know you’re a baker, the Earth Balance dairy/soy free butter is great. I altered most recipes to be allergen friendly with no noticeable difference. You just have to be willing to make it yourself. Oh, and dairy-free cheese is nothing close to the real thing. I never could deal.

    • Thanks for sharing. I just bought him a package of those individual oreos to take to church, etc where kids gets treats. The pizza struggle is legit. He’s been okay so far, but I know he will miss pizza!!!! Kind of nervous about the baking, but need to get some Earth Balance bars and give it a try. Thanks for your help.

  2. Dairy free gets easier after you start substituting so be patient. I have found that my daughter was super easy to change food habits, children as so resilient. We use coconut milk creamer for cream based stuff and we have used earth balance for butter. It’s harder baking but have used coconut oil for that as well. You totally get use to pizza without cheese, you can really taste the flavors better. We have found most cheese substitutes are horrid as well as the cream cheese substitute too. His dairy allergy might improve with age and he might be able to tolerate some after he has been clean for a while. My daughter can now tolerate a small amount and especially mixed with probiotics like the Greek yogurt/cream cheese and if we mix Greek yogurt with sour cream.
    Snacks we eat…. Popcorn, kettle corn, chips and salsa and guacamole, fruit snacks, veggies and ranch made with almond plain milk, she does fine with dark chocolate so we dip fruit in dark chocolate. We use enjoy life chocolate chips on everything but they are tricky to melt like for dipping so we sprinkle them on pancakes, celery with peanut butter, waffles, apples with peanut butter or put them in a trail mix. The almond/coconut milk is super tasty. Cheese is really hard but get him clean for a while and see if then he can tolerate some dairy.
    If you have any questions, let me know…we are dairy free, gluten free and my daughter has fructose malabsorption and crohns….it has been a long journey with lots of eating modifications.

    • Awesome info. Thanks for sharing. We don’t do cheese in general…just on pizza, so that won’t be too hard…except THE PIZZA. Alas. And we are all almond milk already so no actual milk to kick out. Just realized things like granola bars and pirate booty…more snack things have milk or soy. We’re trying to figure it all out. Especially the baking. I need to get some earth balance. I looked at our kroger and they didnt carry the bars. Might be amazon-ing in butter. Ha.

  3. I am dairy free/soy free right now nursing my baby. I cannot do without baking! Enjoy life makes dairy free soy free chocolate chips. Guittard extra dark chocolate baking choke are also dairy and soy free (although processed on equipment blah blah blah). I eat them without issues. I cook with the dairy free soy free earth balance butter or use coconut oil to bake. I eat a lot of Mexican food without the cheese and sour cream. I like some of the dairy free soy free frozen meals or burritos in the irganic freezer section at Kroger. I like the Amy’s (I think that’s the brand) dairy free Mac and cheese. If you have any questions about something specific you can email me. I’ve been dairy free while nursing all five of mine!

    • And Google yammies flourless fudge brownies. They are pretty good for being dairy free!

      • So great. Thank you!!! Do you get your earth balance bars at Kroger? I found the spread but not the “buttery bars” AHHHH!!! And oh goodness…does flour have dairy??? We might all parish now. Hahaha.

        • I just use the buttery spread because our Kroger doesn’t carry them. I just measure it out.
          And no flour is not dairy but I eat gluten free too and noticed that the recipe is dairy free if you use df choc chips.

  4. jillianlopina says:

    My wife is gluten and dairy free and when we make pizzas, she just picks up an Udi’s crust (in the frozen aisle), and Daiya cheese shreds (dairy and soy free), then we add regular homemade sauce, veggies, chicken sausage, or whatever else. Honestly, I really love it too! Daiya is the only cheese substitute she likes. I’ve heard that other’s don’t enjoy it, but I actually crave the creaminess of it instead of real cheese sometimes too, haha. Some of the cheddar shreds on tortilla chips for nachos… mmm. It is expensive, but see if you can catch it when it’s on sale.

    • This does sound delish. Definitely checking out your recommendations. Thanks so much for sharing We obviously need more pizza and mexican food in our lives.

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