Country Come to Town

[I'm sure you're probably sick of seeing my life in pictures, but our latest adventures require a visual for the full effect.]

If you've ever met my family, only for a brief encounter, you'd probably say that we're the typical southern, medium-sized town (I hesitate to call it small), country club folk. I'm just going off what I hear and know, but that's probably the truth. And I hope you'd say we're nice and pleasant to be around! What you might not realize is that there are many different personalities to my family. Sure, we can behave ourselves at the nicest of all events. But, we are also laid back, loud, and all over the place. One type that comes out every so often, that you probably wouldn't expect, comes from my dad's side of the family.

Country.

I'm talking raised on a farm, milking cows at the crack of dawn, growing vegetables in the back yard (not the hippy, granola gardens that are all the rage right now), ridin' horses, pulling a tractor, racin' boats...kind of country.

A trip to Orlando, FL for my cousin's wedding just happened to be a great time to bring out the country (dare I say redneck) in us all.

1 - We thought a road trip would be super fun! (Ok - might have been totally my idea...but they fell for it.) In order for the 6 of us who tagged along to fit comfortably, along with our luggage, dad rented this -

Twelve passenger van (minus Sue, photographer,

plus cousin Rett, whose house we met up at in Macon,

but didn't actually join us for the trip.)

Of course we realized this could appear a little tacky/country of us, but whatever. Well, the story gets even more redneck.

2 - About two hours into our drive to Orlando (from Macon), the ride started getting a little bumpy. Then, it got bumpier. And bumpier. And then the side door would pop out of its lock and start shaking pretty crazily and loud. So Jamie would have to open it, while we'd slow down to 50mph on the highway. And it would pop out again. We laughed about it for a while. Until it got a little scary. (Video below...kinda scary in itself with Jamie as the videographer, but you get the point. If you don't get sick first.)

3 - So dad calls the rental car company, and there's not much they can do. But point us to a Walmart a few exits down. We pull off, realize that we are going to have to wait at least an hour, but have one guy take a look at the back tire and tell us it's a good thing we didn't go any further, as it was about to pop (great). We're all a little frustrated, considering that we had pretty much timed it perfectly to get to the rehearsal dinner. And now we're going to be late, if we make it at all.

But, one of the things I love about my family is that we'll get frustrated in a situation like this. And then we'll get over it and make the best. As you can see below.

We pranced ourselves into Walmart, got a few beverages of choice, saw some of the most interesting outfits shopping around (e.g. a bikini!), and headed outside to wait on the car and hang out. In the parking lot was one of those little motorized shopping carts, so RA decided to take it for a spin.

4 - Another 3 hours later, we finally made it to Orlando. We pulled our 12 passenger van into Isleworth (yep, that's where the bride's mother and step-father live), got asked if we were catering the event, pulled up to the valet parking folks at the English's home, spared them the opportunity to valet the van (dad parked it himself), and headed in to the tail-end of the party. Oh...and this is what we drove up to. in. a. van.

5 - The rest of the weekend was a blast. We did get asked if we were from Alabama, which was pretty funny. (No offense to my Alabama friends, but you know.)

And here are a few snapshots...

If we can't behave ourselves, at least we know how to dress??

Isleworth Country Club

Too cute not to share

Is it tacky to take a picture of the BEST wedding food you've ever had?

Yes. But I did it anyway. Amazing.

Love this photo

Proof that, occasionally, we can dress up pretty well

Have I mentioned how much I love my family?!