A Southern Night Under the Oaks with Sweet Root

The Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge holds different SUMMER events throughout the City -- We enjoyed the past two Friday evenings in front of the Shaw Center listening to GREAT music. You bring your lawn chairs, ice-chests, and sit down and enjoy the entertainment! Last week it was a "Mid-Summer Night Dance Party with After 8". This past Friday night it was "A Southern Night Under The Oaks with Sweet Root". The kids even brought their swimsuits to play in the fountains in front of the Shaw Center. Saylor played in the water but Chandler was TOOO BUSY keeping his eyes GLUED to the band. They had face painting.......

Balloon Making..................................

And YOU KNOW the night wasn't complete until CHANDLER made his way up on stage with the band!! He even ended up on the 10 O'clock news that night on Channel 9 - WAFB -- That's our little Rock Star!

Hopefully, they will continue doing these events next month.....we look forward to going back! It was a GREAT, CHEAP, FUN-FILLED family night out on the town! Everyone needs one of those every now and then!! Ooopps! I forgot to mention they also show a movie on a big inflatable movie screen, after the concert -- The first Friday we went, they showed "The Little Shop of Horrors" and this past Friday night the movie was "Big Fish" -- We didn't end up staying for the movies, by that time, WE HAD...had all the fun we could stand for one night and plus the kids were getting tired!

A Wedding and A Family Reunion

Is this the YEAR for WEDDINGS or WHAT??? We attended our cousin, Brandon's wedding this past weekend which makes our fourth wedding within the last 6 months!!! We still have one MORE to go this year in September. And get this...FOUR out of the FIVE weddings are for first and second cousins of ours!! SIMPLY AMAZING! Congratulations to ALL you newly weds out there! Best Wishes to Brandon and Angela who got married this past weekend! I will have to say it was the HOTTESS wedding reception I have EVER been to! South Louisiana HEAT in the middle of July and the air wasn't quite working right...OK it wasn't working AT ALL! Until someone figured out about 1 hour into the reception that the breaker had flipped. So it FINALLY cooled down about the time the reception ended...WHEW!! I think my make-up MELTED off my face and I lost 5 lbs that night :) A side from the air not working, it was a FUN reception and we had a BLAST! I have included a couple of pictures.

On Sunday we had a Family Reunion to attend at Brian's cousin, Lori's home on the Diversion Canal. The reunion was for family on Brian's grandmother's side -- The East Family. It was one HOT day! The kids were lucky enough to play in the water on a slip-n-slide to cool themselves off. We enjoyed seeing and chatting with all of the family members that we don't get to see too often. Saylor ESPECIALLY LOVED playing with her little cousin Abigail. She and Chandler even got to feed Abby. She is the HAPPIEST and CUTEST little baby girl EVER! There was only ONE thing MISSING from the family reunion....Maw Maw Brenice/Aunt Joy's famous Coconut Cake!! After Maw Maw Brenice passed away ....Aunt Joy took over the duty of making the cake for all the family functions.....and sadly we lost Aunt Joy this past February....I guess I need to practice up on my coconut cake making skills, huh??!! We SURELY do miss Aunt Joy! Not only her coconut cakes but her sense of humor, her character, her love and just simply her JOY!

Fishing on the Fourth

This past Fourth of July weekend was GREAT!!! Spending quality time with family is the BEST thing in the world! We went down to my dad's camp in Venice, Louisiana and took a couple of fishing trips! The first TRIP was just Brian, Saylor, Chandler and myself in my dad's bay boat. We went out of Tiger Pass to the rocks where Saylor caught her BIGGEST REDFISH ever!!! Chandler preferred to munch down on GOOOREETOS (as he calls them) but threw in a little fishing here and there - He hasn't caught his FIRST FISH yet, but we are working on that! Another thing the kids really enjoyed doing this past weekend was swimming in the cheap $9.99 pool I bought them from the Family Dollar in Port Sulphur. THE BEST 10 bucks I have spent in AWHILE!! PURE CHEAP entertainment for HOURS! Until the side seam SPLIT....AND we had to DUCK TAPE it back together --- THAT was a REAL pretty sight!! I should have gotten a picture of THAT! I was too busy scrambling to try and keep the water in the pool!!
The next day we ALL went out on Paw Paw Iddo's big 54 ft. Donzi boat -- The crew included: Paw Paw Iddo, Maw Maw Jenny, Pa Pa Don, Mi Mi, Uncle Mike, Saylor, Chandler, Brian and myself. We headed 18 miles off shore to some rigs to try and catch some lemon fish....we DIDN'T catch any lemons but ended up catching some Red Snapper! Saylor even got to steer the boat!
A couple of times the weather looked like it was going to get REALLY BAD....but it didn't, just a light mist as it moved along. We did see something pretty scary but amazing.....a couple of water spouts developed around the waters near us. They never really got THAT CLOSE to us! But it was cool to see them form and dissipate in MID-AIR! Mother Nature at HER FINEST! The weather cleared up and it was SUNNY and HOT the rest of the day!



















I think this was the FIRST year we DIDN'T pop any fireworks for the FOURTH!! BUT, we surely did RELAX and have a good time! Maybe, NEXT YEAR we'll have to do this again for the FOURTH OF JULY!

Happy Birthday America!!

TO INFINITY, AND BEYOND!!

BESIDES music, guitars, and DRUMS....Chandler's LATEST obsession is Disney's movie, TOY STORY with Buzz Lightyear and Woody. He has WATCHED it OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN! When he FIRST started watching it....he was calling it YEA'S......I had NO CLUE, as to WHY????....BUT I KNEW which movie he was talking about! So, finally the other day I asked Saylor...WHY DOES he call Toy Story ..."YEAS".....and her response was "MOM, IT'S because of the little THREE-EYED green martians in the movie" --- Little DID I know....that they say: "YEEEEAAAAA"........right before the movie begins -- So, the MARTIANS are NOW NAMED "YEAS".....He told me when we go to Disney World this year that he wants to take a picture with "YEAS". Sooo all this Toy Story talk ...got me thinking...WHERE in the HECK did I put that Buzz Lightyear costume I bought AFTER Halloween LAST YEAR at the Disney Store??? I paid like 5 bucks for it --- WOW, what an INVESTMENT!! TA-DAAHHH......There it was...sitting in his closet! Chandler LOVES wearing it until it gets about 150 degrees inside....... then we PEEL it off of him!

So, THEN the other day Brian walks in there and finds him standing in front of his DVD player WATCHING "YEAS" and he has these OLD BROWN BOOTS on that USED to be Saylor's. He must have FOUND those in his closet, dug them OUT, and put them on (the WRONG feet, of course). Brian asks him (with a little chuckle) "Chandler, What are you doing?" Chandler says, "I like Woody! Daddy", "Woody have boots", "and Chandler have BOOTS!". Brian immediately came and got me to make sure I saw THIS BEAUTIFUL SIGHT. OOOHHHHH...HOW WE BOTH got a GREAT LAUGH that night!! So, now I have SEVERAL little Toy Story characters running around my house! WHEN I start seeing the little green "YEAS" I'll let you KNOW!!
AND YES, he is STILL wearing the LONG sleeved pajamas!! I gave up on that battle a while ago!!

Luau Lovin!

Friday, June 20th, 2008 - The LAST family hurrah with Phil & Rachael, for A WHILE at least -- We had everyone over to our home for a last get-together with Phil and Rachael before they leave for Cleveland, Ohio. Phil starts Podiatry School SOON! Rachael begins a new career as a registered nurse at a local hospital. The party was luau themed and the kids swam in the pool while the adults enjoyed DRINKS and BARBECUE! Everyone also enjoyed watching the LSU Tigers try for another CWS win...although it didn't quite turn out the way we wanted it too! OH well, there's ALWAYS next year!! But on a sad note, we will definitely miss Phil and Rachael, and wish them the BEST OF LUCK on their NEW journey together! Maybe one day Phil will be able to fix Brian's hammer toes and caves feet!!

Another LUAU followed the next day, Saturday, June 21, 2008 -- CES's Annual Family Picnic - It was held at Blue Bayou Water Park again this year! It was Chandler's FIRST time going to Blue Bayou and Saylor's 3rd or 4th -- at any rate the KIDS LOVE this place!!! CES had a covered pavilion nicely decorated with the LUAU theme. We had lunch as the door prizes were given away! We walked away with a couple of shirts, a hat, LSU Tiger stuff animal, and a $50.00 gift certificate to BASS PRO SHOPS....WHAT MORE can you ask for?!?!?! After a quick group picture, OFF we went to the park -- First the lazy river, which SAYLOR zoomed ahead of us and PANIC set in...as I thought we lost her! NOPE, there she was PATIENTLY waiting for us at the end! THANK GOD!! After a little chat with Saylor...then we ALL got on the CONGA....a five person slide with a bunch of twists and turns....Chandler absolutely LOVED this one!! We splished and splashed all day long until a thunder storm cloud loomed above. Then, we decided, we'd better make a run for it before we got stuck in all of the CHAOS of people getting out of the park during a thunderstorm. Besides that, we STILL had YET another pool party to go too!! GOSH, I just LOVE the summer time!!

Friday the 13TH....DINNER AND A MOVIE

My Friday the 13th was pretty MUCH uneventful AND THANK GOD!!!

Me and some friends went to see "The Strangers" at the movie theater during the DAY.....CAUSE there would be NO FREAKIN' WAY I would see this movie AT NIGHT!! So we get to the theater a little late....the previews had just finished up and the movie was beginning to START....as we WALKED in-- WE were BLINDED by the DARKNESS and COULDN'T see a THING....it was soooo DARK in there-- about as dark as a sack of black cats!! I couldn't EVEN see my HAND if I put it up in front of my face.....AND there I WAS -- leading the pack up the stairs...so I stopped DEAD in my tracks. I just KNEW the whole theater was laughing at us trying to go up the stairs and not being able to see a thing. FINALLY, some light for a brief second as something on the big screen changed. So we walk ONE more STEP up, THEN DARK again!! GEEZE..... SO you see the pattern....THEN finally LIGHT for more than a second....and LOW AND BEHOLD the WHOLE movie theater was.....

EMPTY!!!!!.....

JUST even MORE errrieee......

It's VERY CREEPY seeing a horror movie during the day with NOBODY in the theater BUT YOU!!!! We kept waiting for someone to jump out from behind the seats OR come up the aisle wearing a mask!! OR SOMETHING!!!

THEN we read on the screen that this MOVIE, "The Strangers"....is apparently TRUE or parts of it were true.....WHICH made it EVEN more scarier!! Knowing that THIS actually HAPPENED and COULD STILL happen! Anyways I won't ruin the movie for you......BUT definitely GO SEE IT, if you enjoy this type of movie genre -- HORROR -- There aren't A LOT of blood and guts in it.....BUT it will SCARE the SHIT outta YOU!!! Be prepared TO JUMP!!! Even though you KNOW something is gonna happen....you STILL jump! Liv Tyler (Steven Tyler's daughter) plays one of the main characters....AND she was excellent! The ending sucks A LITTLE...and leaves you wondering...BUT still an OVERALL worth-while movie to see!!! AND it isn't TOO long, just 1 hour and 45 min. I give "THE STRANGERS" the THUMBS UP!!!

So, later on that night...I had FORGOTTEN ALL about the darn MOVIE...UNTIL my husband BRINGS it up again....and THEN my mind started playing TRICKS on me!! arrrrggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOWEVER, on a DIFFERENT NOTE, we DID find a GREAT new restaurant to eat at in Baton Rouge...well NEW for us.....and I don't think its been around too long either. But it's called "The Little Village" and its located downtown near the river on Lafayette Street. It's an Italian restaurant and the FOOD was absolute PERFECTION!! You must taste the bread and the martini's!! It's a quaint little place -- but by little I mean LITTLE, you probably SHOULD make reservations....there are only about 20 tables total in the place. If you luck up, you might get a table near a window with a view of the river. The acoustics are pretty bad in there because its an old building with wooden floors...but the FOOD makes up for what the acoustics LACK!! It's a good DATE-NIGHT restaurant, FOR SURE!! We started off the meal with DRINKS!! I had a lemon drop martini and Brian had a margarita on the rocks. The martini was DIVINE! VERY smooth! ONLY one will do ya!! For the entrees, I had the typical Italian dinner of SPAGHETTI!!!!! Maybe NEXT time I'll venture OUT....yea RIGHT!!! YOU know me....NEVER!! Brian had one of the MANY specials of the night....Soft Shell Crab, deep fried and topped with a sauce that included lump crab meat and shrimp. NOW, I don't eat seafood, BUT if I EVER DID...I surely would EAT this!! Brian even said, being raise in SOUTH LOUISIANA and eating seafood-- like he does...he has NEVER......EVER....had a soft shell crab....LIKE this before!!!! It was tender, juicy and fried to perfection! Simply, OUT OF THIS WORLD!! We didn't have ANY room for dessert! MAYBE next time!! Overall the menu is a little pricey, but an EXCELLENT choice!! We'll definitely be BACK there!!

TOOO CLOSE for comfort!

Let me just begin BY saying....CHANDLER nearly DROWNED yesterday!! I still can't stop thinking about it!! That BOY is SOMETHING else!! Although, he is taking swimming lessons at daycare....AND....we swim in our pool often....BUT I learned FIRST HAND this weekend, THAT you DEFINITELY can't take your eyes off of him ONE SECOND!! He always swims WITH FLOATIES ON, BUT apparently he HAS built up enough confidence to jump in the pool WITHOUT FLOATIES!! Fortunately, I WAS in the pool vacuuming at the time and heard the KURPLUNK!!! I turn around only to see him sinking down in the water -- I FLEW over there and pulled him out...and HE DIDN'T even choke or spit up any water....I guess he has learned to hold his breath too! BUT STILL...a very frightening situation FOR the BOTH of us, AND had I not been paying attention...and turned around to see what the splash was -- it could have ended a lot worst!! After that, I had a LONG talk with him about wearing floaties and jumping into pools! Hopefully, he understands NOW....BUT...AT any rate you CAN never BE too CAREFUL!! WHEW!!!