Purple Hull Pea Festival and World Championship Rotary Tiller Race

Now for the real reason we went to South Arkansas - Emerson's 22nd Annual Purple Hull Pea Festival and World Championship Rotary Tiller Race. (Pause for mockery.)

Jeff and I proudly embrace our Southern heritage and have decided to impress this upon our children by dragging them to some of the crazy celebrations around the state. I'm pretty sure they will hate us for it later. I first heard of the Purple Hull Pea Festival last year. Considering my love of both legumes and fairs, I thought it would be the perfect combination. Throw in some rednecks racing their farming implements, and I was sold!

Everybody say "Peas"!

The tiller race was just as hot, dusty, and delightfully tacky as I thought it would be. There was quite a turnout, and KATV was actually broadcasting from Emerson this morning.

It was really funny and something everyone should do once in their lifetime - emphasis on the once. We couldn't leave with out buying a P-shirt. I just don't know why it wasn't purple?

Ashley posed for a picture with one of the "Tiller Girls" who with her Daisy Dukes, sash, and boots is probably her new idol.

Nathan got in some climbing on the portable rock wall.

While everyone else enjoyed fair-style food like corndogs and lemonade, I waited in line in the cafeteria for a the purple hull pea plate lunch. Six dollars got you peas, cornbread, peach cobbler, and sweet tea. Yum! I even got the kids to try the peas. They were not fans but at least they tried something new. I don't know which festival we will try to attend next - the Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival or maybe the Hope Watermelon Festival - but I'm pretty sure it will involve some kind of food.

Boomtown or Bust!

For some time now, Jeff has wanted to make a trip to South Arkansas. Our last trip to El Dorado was in 2007, so it's been awhile since he got back to his roots. We started the trip early Friday morning in an attempt to make it to his favorite doughnut shop - Spudnuts - for breakfast. We cruised down Hwy. 167 tuning in to Mix 96! as soon as we were in range and made it in time to grab the last few chocolate iced. We stayed downtown at Union Square Guest Quarters. It's kind of like a bed and breakfast, so we were a little concerned that it wouldn't be kid-friendly. Jeff called to make our reservations, and the lady was very accommodating and gave us a huge suite! We spent the afternoon walking around downtown. There were a few updates since our last visit including some new shops, restaurants, and these big pieces of oil drilling equipment made into statues all around the Square. We also stopped for some pictures at these classic ElDo photo ops:Flashback to 2007:

More than anything else, we ate a lot on this trip! Shortly after Spudnuts, we had lunch at Minute Man. That evening we went on a driving tour of some of Jeff's old hangouts: his old house, Norphlet High (well, actually K-12 in adjacent buildings), the plant farm where he used to work and more while hearing stories about the local residents.

We concluded our tour with a drive way out of town to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant - the original Abe's Old Feed House. Besides a church and a cemetary, it's the only thing around for 15 or 20 miles. It is a mostly seafood buffet that is only open for dinner on Thursday-Saturday nights and draws a big crowd. It should really be against the law to have this much fried food on one table. Nathan and Jeff both tried the froglegs and agreed that it "tastes like chicken"!

Grant's Farm

We wrapped up our trip with a visit to Grant's Farm. We petted the Clydesdales, fed the baby goats, and watched/participated in some animal shows. Jeremiah was chosen out of the audience to participate in the "Animal Encounters" show where a live rat ran across his arms in the Rat Race. Nathan was picked to help brush the elephant's teeth in the "Elephant Education" show. He loved getting up close to an African elephant, but the most entertaining moment of the trip for all of the kids was watching the elephant peeing and pooping before the show started!

Touring Cardinal Stadium

No trip to St. Louis would be complete without seeing the Cardinals. We didn't really want to try to make it through 9 innings with all the kids. (Can you imagine how much we would have spent at the concession stand?!) Instead, Josh got tickets for us to tour the stadium.

Another one out...Papa makes a great resting spot!

St. Louis Zoo

I thought it would be fun to get matching shirts made for the kids for our trip. With so many of them running around, it made for an easy way to keep up with them. I've learned a thing or two from watching the Duggars! However, our group was more like the Duggars' rowdy cousins. On Day 2, we had planned to get up early and go to the St. Louis Zoo. After a slight rain delay, we made our way with 6 of the 7 cousins. (Jeremiah was sick, so he stayed at the hotel with Renee.) Flamingos!

Everyone LOVED the hippo exhibit!

Fisch and Papa took the girls to ride the carousel while the rest of us went to the hands-on sting ray and shark exhibit. Very cool!

Lily was worn out!

Meet Me in St. Louis

The ABA Meeting was in St. Louis this year. Since both the Johnson and Stacy families were going to be within driving distance, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go as well. We tried to cram as much as possible into 3 days with 7 kids.

The first night, we went to the Arch. Before going to the top, we made a quick trip through the museum below. This was Dad's first trip to St. Louis, and he loved all of the historical stuff. He could have been Lewis or Clark! He went back later (without the kids!) and read nearly every plaque on every exhibit.