Completely jacked up

Chris and I try our best to take the kids to as many different places around town as possible.

We love going to new parks, restaurants and random places.

So, we decided to take the little Monkey to a new park for the afternoon on Father's Day.

This park is right in the middle of this little town not too terribly far from our house (just far enough so that we thought the little Monkey was going to burst at least one lung before we found this place hidden in the middle of "downtown").

The park itself is just gorgeous with a huge open field that would be perfect for picnics and playing ball... awesome tree carvings...and this quaint little stream that flows between the parking area and the rest of the park.

Ahem...let me preface the rest of this story with a little disclaimer:

Chris and I have an ongoing joke - we always wonder if people in more affluent areas of town feel about us the way we do when we are driving through less than desirable areas of town.

We always laugh when we pull in next to a car that costs six figures and wonder if the people in the car are reaching over to lock their doors (or voice activate the locks) and telling their wives to just "wait a second before you get out" because of the way we look and the car we drive.

Imagine the looks on our faces when we pulled into the parking area of this beautiful park and saw a family swimming in this little stream.

I mean, I do understand this is Alabama and things of this nature will occur...but I honestly don't recall a time that I have ever seen naked children swimming in a stream...next to a parking lot...at a public park...on a Sunday afternoon.

I would expect naked individuals in a lake...at night and totally approve of it, but this doesn't quite fit my logical thought process.

Chris assured me that it was fine, so we packed up the stroller and headed out to the park - over the bridge above the naked children - squeezed by the large shirtless man in overalls - stepped over the decaying fish on the sidewalk - and finally walked past the man taking a nap on the picnic table.

This story does absolutely nothing for the people of the South.

The only thing that would have made the moment perfect was if there was a lady in her house coat, eating pork rinds, with curlers in her hair telling the news crew about the tornado that just near about blew her whole entire house away.

I still can't believe we ever even got out of the car...