L'Acadie Inn & RV Park's Fan Box

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Family & Other Pics

We recently went to the Missippi coast to check out the damage one year after Katrina. The one on the left was taken on the beach in Waveland. There are lots of signs on many portions with "Beach Closed" because of the debris still under the water.

The water was very clear and shallow in Gulfport, so we were able to swim just a little.

New Orleans is slowly, but surely, recovering as well. Wasn't that Saints home opener at the newly renovated Superdome something else! I don't know about y'all, but Lance and I felt a little emotional seeing it. Amazingly, the Saints pulled off the win, and didn't even wilt in the last quarter. We were impressed with the strategy of the coach and execution of the team.

On to the next topic of the day.... Friends have been asking for more pictures of Nickel (as Heidi calls him). He is currently almost three months old.

"Who does he look like?" we are constantly asked. Well, the hair really got us. He was the first baby in the family with hair. Unfortunately, the poor darlin is starting to lose it (although he still seems to have more than his daddy!).

I look at the pictures now and I see Camille's smile, Matthews nose, Alain's eyes, and Heidi's mischeviousnous (uh oh). But he's a real sweetie. Whoever he resembles, he is certainly loved.

Matthew, our world traveler, is currently gone on a cruise with his grandparents. I told him the other day that he was sure lucky he was a homeschooler and able to take advantage of these opportunities. We talked to Paw Paw last night on the phone, and Matthew had already read his entire leisure (as opposed to dedicated schoolwork) book (300 page eighth grade reading material). We miss him terribly. He's such a good big brother. He really takes care of his younger siblings.

Heidi is having her ninth birthday this weekend. Her latest interests are photography, fashion and puppies. She's the dog whisperer. She just found a stray beagle wandering the grounds. Naturally, she was the only one able to pet it. With all of the animals around, she still wants to keep it. I'm surprised, because recently she told me she didn't want anymore pigeons, because she would have to feed them (one of her chores).

Alain must be right-brained, because he is really excelling in math. He spent two weeks at the start of the school year working with his daddy every day. Now, he actually looks forward to his schoolwork.
Alain can't wait to go back to the beach. He's not satisfied with our upcoming vacation to the east coast, he wants sand. When Al was a baby, he would sit in the sand box and eat fistfuls of sand! I guess some loves never die.

Camille is still our little hurricane. She's excited because she now has her own "practice box" with colors, water paints, scissors, glue, puzzles & preschool workbooks. At least once a day, she tells me she needs to practice and heads off to her table. I'm actually pretty impressed with her fine motor skills! Her favorite pasttimes are playing Barbies with her big sister and swimming.

Lance is keeping busy over at Lakeview. You'll have to talk to him about progress over there. Things are still coming along here too. It's just more infrastructure so ya can't see it.

We recently talked to some of our evacuee/friends. Unfortunately, two of them have passed away due to a long illness and a heat stroke. Our prayers are with these families. Everyone else is doing well. We still remember them in our prayers, and hope you will too.


Just as an aside, I'd like you to meet my mom. She is responsible for a lot of my obnoxious personality! (I had to get this picture in somewhere!)

I haven't been doing many new and exciting things lately. My reading has even slowed to a crawl. I did pick up a nice cross stitch and put in approximately three stitches. I haven't been crocheting much either. I am trying to organize my life and those of the kids, but I haven't truly dedicated myself to it yet. Hopefully, I'll get it together one day. Until then, I hope you were able to understand the ramblings of a sleep-deprived, homeschool mom of five (that doesn't seem possible to me!).