The Dirty South

Man, it's been a whirlwind trip down here. Fort Smith has worn us out. We've been going back and forth between families and it's a little tiring. Lots of fun down at Dad's farm. A nice rotation of trampoline, swimming pool, guitar hero and 4-wheeling. Oh, and stealing my new step-brother's mini-motorcycle. That was really fun too. Oh, and the fireworks! Yesterday my dad got married and I sang at the wedding. It was cool but I was really nervous. The ceremony was super short - like 5 minutes tops. Then everyone proceeded to get drunk and silly. I saw a lot of old friends and family that I hadn't seen in many many years. That was nice and I got a little choked up. Jesse (brother) gave a toast to the new couple and started crying which set off a chain reaction of everyone crying. It was a pretty cool day.

It's been really fun hanging out with my brother Jesse and sister Lesley - yes she has the same name as my gal. I know it's weird. We all went out on Friday night to some bar called the Rib Room which was filled with hicks and girls in lots of make-up. A cover band played and we all danced and drank cheap beer. It was a little surreal being with them but it somehow made perfect sense and was easy to get used to. Later that night they got in trouble for coming home so late but oh well, it was fun!

We also went to a BBQ on Saturday at my aunt's house. I got to see my cousins and their kids who are very cute and funny. We all went swimming and acted like idiots - just like old times. It mostly consisted of who can do the longest underwater handstand and things of that nature. Pretty cool.

The Arkansas bugs are getting to Lesley. She's totally over it. The mosquitos must know that she's not from around here because she has about ten bites and I only have one. :) Nature is definitely more intense around here, but the upside of that is that everything is a bright and lush green. There's more trees and grass here than we've seen in a very long time and that's been a nice change.

What this trip really makes me think, though, is that I'm ready to go home - back to the city. We are just more comfortable there and this place is just a little (lot) too small for us. But at least we've had a good time, eaten a TON of bad food and have gotten our fill of clean Arkansas air. Back to the rat race on Wednesday!