Katy, Texas

My cousin Emily lives in Katy, Texas about 20 minutes distance from my parent's home. So while I was in Houston over the summer I was lucky enough to get to visit her with my sister Amber and the boys. We had a good long chat and got to catch up-- there was a lot of catching up to do because as most of you will be well aware I'm not very good at keeping in touch with people. Once again I didn't take pictures of the most important people or events (in this case Emily and her two boys), but I did nab a picture of Luke and Amber on the trampoline because it was so new and novel. Luke used to freak out when we put him on a trampoline, but he had a blast this time.

So as a side note, I want to throw out an update on Luke. He is doing just awesome! Since starting a zinc supplement, just as his doctor predicted, he is accepting a lot of new foods. He will now eat Ian's chicken nuggets, deli ham, grilled chicken, sausage links, real banana bites, and real apple bites. In order to eat the fruit there is some bribery involved, but he does it! He will also eat Chex now and has had Rice Crispies a few times. He is answering more and more questions every day, and it is fun to have the beginnings of "real" conversations with him. He walked on the beach-- BAREFOOT!!!, swam in the pool even getting his hair wet, took a REAL shower, and just generally touched lots of new textures. We are so excited about his big, big progress!

Emily lives right by Katy Mills Mall where there is a Rainforest Cafe. We had taken Luke there 2 years ago (the last time we were in Texas for the Summer), and he loved it. So I was excited to bring him back and watch his reaction.

He was excited from the get-go, even trying to swim in the "river."

The restaurant was very accommodating of Luke's special diet. The chef came out and talked to us and made a special order of French Fries (just cooked in new oil that didn't have any Gluten in it) just for him. I was so impressed! The hardest part of Luke's diet is trying to eat out. I also ordered Luke a special monkey icee. He loves blue icees from Target, but he would not drink from the monkey cup and stole Amber's Sprite instead. Luckily Amber was down with an icee.

Luke loved looking at all the animals.

But the elephant...

and the fish were his favorites.

Micah was there too, but he slept the whole time, so sorry! no pictures of Cutie Jr.