Laid Back Weekend...NOT!

Toad Suck Daze.

A time of fun, carnies, and food on a stick. And funnel cakes and corn dogs and fried oreos. Oh yeah, and white trash and rednecks and old fat ladies in daisy duke shorts.

The festivals slogan is "A Laid Back Weekend" but this weekend was anything but! My parents are on the Toad Suck committee so they basically eat, sleep, and breath Toad Suck this time of year. My sister always misses school on the Friday that Toad Suck starts so she can be down there with Mom & Dad and help them set up, etc. Next year, my parents are the honorary chairmen for the whole festival. Needless to say, Toad Suck Daze is a BIG (and yes, I'm doing the arms wide open motion) deal in our family. Friday they managed to scoot by most of the day without much rain. Friday night, tornadoes were pretty much everywhere but Conway. Saturday morning, the weather was hazy and HUMID but the rain was minimal. I got brave and figured I'd load up the boys and take them up there for a little while. If I knew anything, I knew that I did NOT want a repeat of last year: Jake kicking and screaming that we were terrible parents because Toad Suck was cancelled because of the monsoon that they had last year. You know, because it was all my fault that it was raining on Saturday and I didn't take him on Friday like he asked. We are talking big crocodile tears. It was terrible. Anyways, I loaded the boys up and we headed up there. It sprinkled on us some but not too bad. The boys road rides. That was it. They didn't want to look around, they didn't want to get a snack. Nope, all they wanted to do was ride the rides. So an hours and 20 toad bucks later, we decided to head home. I had an excuse because I had to drop my sister off at church. On the way out, I asked the boys if they wanted some cotton candy. Of course they said yes so I dropped $8 for 2 bags of cotton candy. Yes, that's right - $8. Not only did I spend $8 on cotton candy, but the boys each took one bite and said that they didn't like it. Crap. I'm stuck with $8 worth of cotton candy to either eat myself or....eat myself. Apparently John doesn't like it either. I've been with John for almost 14 years and I had no idea the man didn't like cotton candy. Whatever.

So after I took the boys home, I had to go back up to work in the Toad Bucks Booth. The weather was partly cloudy with the occasional sunshine. I reported to my station at 4 and was having a blast selling Toad Bucks and watching the interesting crowd of people that was passing by. That was until the Sheriff's Deputy that was our security guard said that there was a bad storm heading our way. Crap. So we sell some more Toad Bucks and then the rain starts. Crap. It starts raining so hard that they tell us to stop selling the Toad Bucks. Then, all of the sudden, it was "Take Cover!" Extra Crap. Did I mention that I'm terrified of storms? I've got a box full of cash and Toad Bucks, it's P-O-U-R-I-N-G down rain, thundering and lightning and I'm trying to fine a safe place to get. I'm stationed by the Farris Agency and the first place that was OPEN for me to get inside was Michelangelo's. then I hear two words that send me into instant panic attack: Tornado Warning. Not only is there a tornado warning, I'm stuck by myself downtown (well, technically I wasn't by myself but I didn't know a soul who was taking cover with me) and my husband and boys are at home - across town. Full scale panic. Then the sirens go off. I spend the next however long sitting in the stairwell on top of a keg. I'm texting John making sure he has the boys in the laundry room, knowing full well he's probably out on the front porch watching the damn thing go by! By the grace of God, everything turned to be ok and I made a bee-line for home.

Sunday afternoon was a lot less stressful. My nephew and niece had their birthday party so I got to see my in-laws and visit with family. The weather was really nice and the kids had a blast playing outside.

Jake with Aunt Kristin.

Kristin and John

After the party, we headed to our favorite place to eat - FUJI'S! The boys love eating there (even if they eat chicken nuggets and french fries) because they enjoy watching the hibachi chef cook the food. I swear we brought home enough food in a to-go box to feed our entire family for another night!

Aside from the bad weather drama, we had a good weekend. Next weekend, we are going to Branson with Mom, Dad, & Sis and we are all very much looking forward to that!

Have a great week everyone! :)