Henry Weinhard's Root Beer Heaven

Root Beer Heaven from Dennis Schmidt on Vimeo.

My brother fell head over heels for his new precious little baby. We all did, she is just so adorable! According to Gerald there is just nothing better in life than drinking Henry Weinhard's Root Beer, holding your new little bundle of joy and enjoying a LSU football game.
We introduced him to the brand of Henry's when he and Paige visited us the first time right after they were married and it has ever since been his favorite brew. We knew how much he would love to have them when the entire family got together last month so we shipped four cases ahead of our trip to see them. They are now happily referred to as "brown soldiers" as Gerald calls them. Maybe we'll send some more for Christmas!
This was just such a fun moment of our time there and I'm still working on a longer version to splice together photos and video to send to all our family, but for now enjoy one of the "bloopers!"
As always... Stay tuned for more!

Firefighter Darby

Darby had a wonderful week in school. Everyday she came home with something new about fire safety and awareness. I was very proud of her while she was very determined to develop a family fire plan, write it out on paper, and display it in her room. She put it up on the back of her bedroom door, it is her escape route we discussed and she excitedly decided to put it into action. We've been to enough hotels that she obviously knew where the fire escape plan was supposed to be on display. So if she ever needs to refer to the guide while getting lost in our house, it is permanently adhered to her door.

Put on Your Boots

While visiting my grandmother, who was a model in her younger years, I discovered two pairs of Hyer Olathe boots that she would wear. I had seen these boots a number of times in various pictures of her though her youth and simply fell in love with them as she modeled them in some of her photos.

I was dumbfounded to uncover the same boots tucked in two grocery bags at the bottom of an old metal filing cabinet on the patio of her covered porch. The unlikeliness that the same boots would fit me was also bewildering, and yet, they both fit my feet like gloves.
They are the most comfortable pair of shoes I own at the moment. Perhaps it is because they are made with old time quality that is not the norm of society today, maybe it is due to the fact that I mentally willed them to fit, or possibly they were just meant to be passed on to my wandering feet, whatever the case may be I am now the proud owner of my beautiful red cowhide boots, pictured below, as well as a brown pair with wonderful green and pink stitching.

I'm considering setting aside any of my stiletto heels and wearing these fantastic vintage boots any day of the week, of course, I could always find another use for them later in life. The pictures below are of my sister's fun bird house boot that I simply couldn't resist. In fact, it almost made it into my suitcase!

Pickin' Pumpkins

After making it to the pumpkin blasting (you know, first things first) we headed over to the pumpkin patch where everyone picked out their own pumpkin to eventually gut and carve into spooky jack-0-lanterns.
The bridge behind of the pumpkins is for the hay ride that will take you around the property and through the twelve foot tall stalks of corn that surround a very well thought out maze that can be seen in great detail from the air.
Austin is always pretty quick to pick out his perfect orange beauty...




Ruby was pretty quick too to determine which she would take home as her own. While Darby, on the other hand, picks one up and hollers, "This is it!" followed by a quick, "Na, maybe not" and runs to another part of the patch.



Still looking...
Dennis carries some of the heavier lanterns-to-be and loads them into a wheelbarrow and awaits Darby's determination to discover her perfect squash.


She came to a quick halt here... could this be the one???
Ruby says "Oh, the drama of it all!"
While her mom finds a place to sun bathe!
"Not a bad idea, mom! I think I'll give it a try too!"

Darby says, "Pumpkin picking is very frustrating work!"
Doc says "Are we done yet, this wheel barrow is getting heavy..."

Last one? Yep, now it's time to have more fun here at the farm... They still have pony rides, hay rides, a corn maze, tricycle racing, gem collecting, and jumping on an enormous blown up tent of some kind! So yes, there will be more to come from this glorious Saturday morning in Lathrop, California. Stay tuned!!!

Pumpkin Blasters!

As annually as possible, our family travels to Dell'Osso Family Farms pumpkin patch to pick out our Halloween jack-o-lanterns for that year. Last year we were unable to make the voyage to Lathrop, California which is about a forty-five minute drive from our home in Oakdale. This year, however, we were determined to go. So amid gymnastics meets, traveling to see family in Louisiana, and various other activities that keep our family on the go, we planned a Saturday morning to attend the pumpkin blaster extravaganza.



This year we were lucky to have our dear friends, who recently moved into Oakdale and our lives, make the trek with us. We were extremely excited to share the pumpkin blaster fun with their family. If you have no clue what a pumpkin blaster is try to think potato cannon/ air cannon that you insert tiny pumpkins into and one at a time, aim to hit targets inside a large netted area like a huge driving range. Surrounded by camouflaged netting and painted in the same camouflage you load your pumpkin into the cannon and take aim at whatever car, giant pumpkin, bat, or other target you would like your pumpkin to explode against. If you are patient and have a large basket of pumpkin ammunition at your ready, eventually you might get lucky and hit exactly what you were aiming for.






















It should almost be considered a new extreme sport. Everyone in our group had to have at least three turns at any of the sixteen or so cannons that were available to shoot. We had a blast while blasting pumpkins at all of the various targets. I love how Darby is the spotter for Ruby, the sniper, who is manning the pumpkin blaster in the following photo!
More fun was to be had at the Del'Osso Farm that day as I hope to post more from our extremely fun and eventful day in later posts, so stay tuned!

Beautiful Girl

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.