Redneck Riviera

Our trip to Destin this year was the first time I had heard our pleasant little destination referred to as the fabulous "Redneck Riviera".
So this time around, I thought I'd pay special attention as to where in the world this name may have come from.
Consider the evidence with me:

1. Tourists all identify themselves by their favorite SEC teams, sporting their colors loud and proud.

2. Our parking lot in the condo area consisted of such identification from about every SEC state...Alabama, Tennessee, Us, Florida, Georgia... (some would consider these redneck states alone).

3. In one day, I witnessed my husband have 3 lengthy conversations with complete strangers about who was going to dominate the SEC in football this upcoming year.

4. We had a balcony in our condo and I witnessed Nathan yelling down from the balcony for Amy to bring over a trash can (she was on the lower level) so that she could catch a poopy diaper in it. He missed.

5. One night after dinner, we were at the car getting the boys out of their strollers and realized Noah had peed through his pants. We decided to change him their in the parking lot (if that's not redneck enough) - only when I pulled down his pants, poop started falling out in chunks on the parking lot! We went to look for wipes and found NONE. So Jason held him up in the air while I wipe him down with a paper towel we found in the car. Their was no trash can in site, so the diaper (and paper towel) were left on the curb - along with the turds that fell to the ground. Please don't judge.

6. Nathan was walking on the beach one day when some people started calling the Hogs...of course they started talking instantly :). Then Nathan proceeded to tell these strangers how our beach chairs were next to Alabama people. The strangers got upset yelling "Oh we hate Bama! And we saw LSU people a bit ago and we hate LSU, too!"

7. Jason and I were at the outlet mall on night and my parents brought the boys to us. When we saw Lincoln, he had on these tiny boxer shorts from his nap still that looked quite ridiculous. If that wasn't bad enough, though, within an hour, we noticed he had peed all over himself (I swear I change my kids diapers!). I did what any shopper would do - I changed him in the dressing room while simultaneously trying on some cute workout clothes! I realized quickly the shorts were no longer wearable, so our big boy continued the shopping trip without pants! I thought if I kept him in the stroller, maybe no one would notice. But the minute we got out of the store, he saw something "cool" and jumped out in the midst of a crowd and ran to it...without pants and without shoes. Total redneck.

8. That same night, Jason and I found ourselves talking to a man we didn't know but was super nice. We got into a lengthy conversation with him (all the while I was wondering if he was noticing my pants-less child), only to realize way into our talk that the man was the super famous Sammy Kershaw (country singer who sings "She Don't Know She's Beautiful"???). Yeah.

9. Then, right after we left Sammy Kershaw (with our pants-less child), we got a ways passed our last store, looked down, and realized our sweet Noah had two packs of men's jockey underwear in his hands - unpaid for. His first theft experience (we took them back).

10. One night all us sisters/husbands went for a swim in the ocean around midnight. We thought it would be fun to then go jump the gate to our pool and take a late-night swim. The pool closed at 10:00. We're being all stealth when Amy drops her phone and shatters the case in to pieces, then Kristen starts dying out laughing, while I am half way over the wall and into the pool (apparently everyone said I did a cannonball...whatever). Within 5 minutes we see lights headed our way and we all just go under water (Navy SEALS style)...but when we come up (cause we're not SEALS), security is staring us down. They threatened us with a $600 fine and cops - including a night in jail - but we got out of it all and headed back home to our kids. Yes. We are responsible parents.

11. I wore my Razorbacks shirt to the outlet mall one night and got stopped a lot. Some fans and some absolute haters.

12. And then there was this guy...running up and down the beach everyday.

Okay - so just kidding. I found this picture online. But it's pretty stinking hilarious, huh?

So there you have it.

Why is it called the Redneck Riviera?

Well, because we go there, my friend. :)