mullet, anyone?

occasionally, you just have to get away. disconnect from the humdrum grind of life and let (what's left) of your hair down. well, that's just what we did this last weekend.

no, we didn't run off to costa rica, cambodia, or on some goofy jungle safari (that's for the safe, touristy, over 40, non-blogging, types). we wanted to experience some down home southern culture, rub bellys with some good ol' boys, and maybe eat some spam while listening to really bad karaoke. what better event than the Foothills Festival in southern Kentucky to fulfill all your redneck fantasies.. we started the festivities on saturday by counting mullets and playing a version of 'slug bug', but instead of counting VW's, we searched for bumpkins wearing Members Only jackets (extra points if they wore sweat pants with 'Juicy' on the rear-end). we watched the transient 'flea market vendors' spit tobacco juice while hocking their wares, and we sat bedazzled by the accuracy of the always fun GUESS YOUR WEIGHT game. (periodically, he would switch to the GUESS HOW MANY TEETH I HAVE game (which was not much of a challenge given the dental deficiencies prevalent below the mason-dixon line). the aroma of funnel cake, gator tail, and BBQ possum shanks intertwined with the smell coming from the spam mobile creating a smog reminiscent of boiled chicken feathers. but, i must say, the most fun was watching the locals hoop and holler around the mechanical bull. oddly, i was left with the notion that being rejected by barnyard animals was nothing new to these yahoos..but i digress..

the kids were a little unsure about watching the clogging competition, convinced it was somehow related to an unfortunate restroom complication, so we settled for facepainting and tramp stamps.

after the festival, me and the boys grabbed some 'SKI' and went fishing. elijah caught his first kentucky bass and almost fell out of the boat twice (sorry mom). all in all, we really did have a good time. it's always fun spending time with family, and with all-you-can-eat spam to boot, how could you go wrong? oh, and for those older, world traveling cousins that are now eat-up with envy.. Mule Day will be here in April..