Horsing Around

This weekend I went to visit Mom at here horse show in Bushnell. The first day included dressage and cones and the second day was hazards. I went on Saturday and rode with her during cones as her navigator which I discovered means you can't do anything except sit there. No talking allowed or you are disqualified. There were 18 cones to go through and no way we were going to remember the course so it really didn't matter if we talked because we got lost a few times. Heidi did great though and it was fun. Most of the other carts canter through the course, but thankfully since Mom is in the training level they only jog.

A picture of Heidi, Mom, and I after the cones course.

A great picture of Mom and Heidi during Dressage.

Another good picture of Heidi and Mom during Dressage.

This is Lauren and Grande during the cones course and that is Mom holding on the back. Lauren owns the barn where Mom stables Heidi. Grande is an Irish Draft and very large. They were going pretty fast.

Gypsy Vanners are one of my favorite horses. They are the original horses to the Gyspies and supposed to be very mild-mannered. Here are pictures of the gypsy at the show.

Happy 9th Birthday Hagrid!

Tomorrow is Hagrid's 9th Birthday! He is as grouchy as ever. We are going to let him outside in the yard with us for his birthday.

Leroy pretty much goes very where Hagrid does. This is one of Hagrid's favorite spots.

Here is a picture from the old house. Notice Leroy is playing with Hagrid's tail and Hagrid has his normal expression.

Gluten Free Crepes

I had a great idea to make crepes for lunch today. They are gluten free crepes from celiac.com and are delicious. I also cooked some apples, cranberries, and pecans to use as a filling.

Yum.

Anniversary #1

We decided to do something cheap and different for our anniversary, so we went camping. We decided to do something a little more challenging and since we both miss hiking in terrain that isn't flat we decided to go to North Georgia. We stayed at Tallalulah Falls for two days and hiked to the bottom of the gorge. It was awesome! Then we went to Amicalola Falls which admittedly wasn't as impressive after the gorge, but was still challenging.

Setting up the tent


The campsite.

The Gorge from the top.

The never-ending stairs. There was a total of around 1200 stairs. We were very tired by the time we were done.

The suspension bridge is a little more than a 1/3rd of the way down the gorge. It is 80 ft above the gorge floor. It provided great views for those that were not going to the bottom.

View from the bridge.

Notice the stairs in the background. They were the end of the true trail and there is really nothing after that. The ranger showed us some pictures of what we were supposed to do. I was not nearly as graceful as the people in the pictures. In fact, I sat in the middle of the river for a long time trying to figure out how to cross. I couldn't reach the other rocks. I eventually took my shoes off and got a little wet. Getting back to the stairs at the end was actually very challenging because you are tired and they are shear. So we had to channel our inner Spiderman.

Luke at the bottom of the gorge. They open the dam a couple of times a year. We would love to see the river at full capacity.

The top of Hurricane Falls. The guide told us to just hug the tree line (there isn't one by the way) and scoot across the shear face at the top and don't fall because it is a big drop. My shoes were old and slick and it was a little scary I have to admit.

The bottom of Hurricane Falls. Notice the top of the falls. That is the "tree line" we were supposed to hug.

It wasn't a long hike about 1.5 miles to the bottom and end. You end at Bridal Veil Falls. You can slide down the falls into 15' deep water pool. It was COLD! I was so proud of myself though because I did slide down the rock with Luke. I got water up my nose, but it was fun. The hardest part was getting out of the water because there are no stairs, it is steep, and everything is covered in slick moss.

Taking a break before lunch at Bridal Veil Falls.

A group of people sliding. They only allow 100 permits into the gorge in a day. We went early and were number 30th something. The weather was perfect and we were able to make it out before the heat of the day.

A final view of the gorge floor.

We were so tired the next day, but we were off to Amicalola Falls. We are part of the Georgia State Parks Canyon Climbers Club and at each of the 4 parks you have to complete certain tasks to earn your shirt at the end. This was our second park. We had to climb the 600+ steps up to the falls. We luckily didn't have to climb down because we were tired and sore. We took a trail down the mountain. Here we are at the trailhead to the Appalachian Trail.

Almost there! A view of the falls.

Amicalola Falls

Being horticulture people, we tend to end up with more photos of plants than ourselves. Here is a tree on the trail that we thought was really neat.

View of the Smokey Mountains from the top of the trail.

Overall we had a great trip. We were tired and decided not to camp at Amicalola Falls because we didn't feel like setting up the campsite again. We decided to drive home. We still have two parks left before we complete the Canyon Climbers Club, but we are looking forward to it.

The Gluten Free Challenge and other updates

So we are still on the Gluten Free challenge. My colonoscopy results were good, but that just leaves me more confused. No one can tell me if I have celiac disease or gluten intolerance, or wheat intolerance. It is difficult to eat anything. We made Betty Crocker gluten free cookies, they weren't too bad. I still like Pamela's better. I am supposed to do an endoscopy next followed by a visit to the allergist to test for wheat intolerance. This is getting expensive! It is nice to feel better though, finally!!!

Luke's cholestrol has gone back up, so on top of our gluten free lifestyle we are trying to cut out a few other foods. Since we eat pretty good now, he has removed sugar and we are on fat free milk. Obviously with the cookies, I am not quite there yet. Chocolate will be difficult to give up. We are also supposed to excercise more and eat more veggies.

The house buying is going well I guess. We won't really know until the day of closing, but we are hopeful. When that actually happens I will post about it.

The BIG Weekend

We had K over last weekend so I thought I would post some pictures of our time together. We picked her up on Sat and were headed to the zoo when she said her tummy hurt. We went home and watched movies in our pjs. That afternoon we went to Friendship Fountain in downtown Jax. Then we went to Chick-fil-a for dinner.


Kaity took most of these pictures. She is pretty good. I showed her how to use the zoom so she was having a lot of fun.

Friendship fountain.

Boats in the harbor.

I took this picture of the Main street bridge.

K and Luke.

Kaity took this picture of us.

We visited the Maritime Museum which had lots of model boats.

Kaity woke up around 7 am on Sunday. I told her Luke and I were sleeping so if she came in there that is what she would have to do too. She decided she would like to stay in her room and play. We slept until 8:30, it was wonderful. We went to the Jax Zoo on Sunday.

Her Kaity is feeding the giraffes.


The anteater.


Kaity took this picture of the Komodo Dragon. I think it is such a great picture.


K picture of flowers.

This is how she got around most of the day.

We wouldn't let her ride the carousel, so this is the closest she got.

We finally got to the elephants. It is really the only thing she asked to see besides the giraffes. She was getting tired by this point, so I took the pictures.

The gorilla above. Below is video of the monkeys and I can't remember their actual name, but they make a lot of noise in the mornings. Kaity was really well behaved for her first long weekend away with people besides Grandparents. We had a nice weekend.

XMAS: Part II

I guess I should comment no part 2 of Christmas. Luke and I celebrated his birthday and then drove to my parents house the next day. I don't think I actually took any pictures. We did presents, went to the ranch to get the tractor for John, and celebrated everyone's birthday. The best part of the weekend was the wonderful Gluten free chocolate cake. It was delicious and safe! I am still talking about how good it was. We love Pamela's Products and look forward to trying the vanilla cake.