Our Beautiful Niece and New Cousin, Lane

All I can say is... it didn't take long for us all to fall in love with her! I think my kids want a new baby in the house :)

Messin' on the Mississippi Levee

Sometimes it's all described in the pictures! Kids having fun on the Mississippi River levee while watching the ferry load it's passengers. Oh, and then there is the bullet-hole laden signage. Fun times!

Deere John,

Deere John,

Wherefore art thou dearest John?

Lost in the swamp...

While making our way off the levee we stumbled upon this "John Deere" in the middle of the swampy basin. It was calling for it's photograph to be taken so I was happy to oblige the poor tractor sitting solemnly in the thicket of over brush.
I tried to play around with some of my camera settings and coloring with aperture when I loaded it at home on the computer. I was really pleased that some turned out quite nicely considering I was still sitting in the passenger seat of our rental car. (It wasn't 4 wheel drive capable but drove quite nicely considering the surroundings. That is to say we didn't get stuck!)

Scenic Swamp Sites

Another of my attempts at landscape photography from the car window driving down the road going a proper 45 mph. There were so many good sites to see and take photos. Here are a few of my favorites during our brief drive to the levee on our way to let the kids see the ferry that takes cars across the Mississippi river.

Lunch at Roberto's

Going home to my Southern roots means, for me, Southern cooking. Jambalaya, etoufee, shrimp creole, crawfish pie, fried alligator, and hushpuppies just to name a few, are some of the delicious eats that Baton Rouge has to offer. Before we even thought about coming back to California I made sure that we visited a local restaurant endeared by the locals for good Creole cooking. Roberto's River Road Restaurant was just the place. I was so hungry and excited to eat my fried catfish smothered in crawfish etoufee, I plumb forgot to take any pictures of the cuisine! Luckily Dennis had in hand his new high definition camcorder and we have a few shots of us all in the restaurant enjoying the crawfish extravaganza.
Darby wasn't to sure about the idea of crawfish, until I told her they tasted better than shrimp and more buttery than lobster. She was all over it at that point and devoured her entire plate!
Roberto's is a humble abode just across the levee from the wandering muddy Mississippi along River Road we made it there just before they closed for the afternoon before dinner started. Don't let it's douty shack appearance fool you, this is truly some of the best authentic cajun food you can digest in Louisiana.
Sam and Brooklyn excited to eat!

On the chalkboard above and behind Sam's head was the soup du jour "Cream of Brie with Crabmeat." Can we all say YUMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!! Sam was the only intelligent person there to order the decadent soup and it was passed from person to person all wishing to have ordered it right along with him. He was much displeased when his "can I have a taste" round robin came back to him practically empty.


To pass the time Gerald thought making an outline of baby Lane on the paper tablecloth would entertain us all. When Austin was given the task to draw her a heart we were even more entertained because instead of the simple or traditional heart shape Austin had other plans...he decided to illustrate her insides by drawing a heart complete with ventricles, aorta, and other such medical necessities a heart would need to function. Laughing we then asked him to draw her kidneys, intestines and lungs which he did to the nearest degree of authenticity a sixth grader could provide.


Darby was proud of her hearts she drew with Brooklyn.
This is a "MUST GO TO" restaurant if you ever find yourself down River Road along the Mississippi in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Team Work!

Darby and Brooklyn found each other to be wonderful cousins. Although it had been Christmas nearly three and a half years ago since they were together, and Brooklyn was just a baby, it seemed as if they had known one another forever. They spent the nights together while we were staying in Baton Rouge and found themselves in more than one precarious position. Quite ingeniously however, they developed a working application to "workout" on Uncle Gerald and Aunt Paige's elliptical machine. Kudos for them, because the rest of us just watched them work!

Later on we all were surprised by the "Aunt Paige! You're light is going to fall down!" outburst. Needless to say the twosome had discovered how to twist the chandelier in the dining room around and around until it's wiring popped and the whole fixture was hanging by a thread. They were somewhat terrified by the almost accident but it didn't halt their scheming ways. After Dennis fixed the desperate chandelier the following morning, the two were again inseparable throughout our stay. It was lovely for Darby to have spent some precious time with a cousin she rarely is able to see. They had a blast together as more photos from our trip in later posts will show. This was their first of many endless fun events during our stay.

Darby's First Gymnastics Meet 2009

September has flown by! I have been out of touch with my inner-blogger so to catch up for the remainder of this month I put together Darby's first Gymnastics meet which was towards the beginning of the month. There have been a multitude of other events that have occurred this month that have hindered my progress with blogging. Hopefully next month I will get back on the blogging brigade and get posts out each week at least! We will be busy, so there will be much to blog about! Until next month... adieux!

Darby Sings "Love Story" with Taylor Swift

Talented Kids from Dennis Schmidt on Vimeo.

Austin's Adventures in Diving

Austin helped to compile this video about his recent scuba diving achievement. He is an awesome kid who loves the ocean and everything in it! I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up becoming a marine biologist or something like that! Here is his video! I hope you all enjoy (and hopefully the sound works... we've been having technical difficulties).