"Here She Is, Miss Ameri..."

Ok, it's not Miss America. It's something completely different, and tons more classy. Yes Kari, this is the post you have been waiting for. For those of you who don't know, I participated in a little thing called a beauty pageant just last month. Let me explain...

So back in the beginning of November, just a week after Halloween, Brittany and I headed down to D.C. for the weekend to hang out with my friend Jana. This weekend in particular was a very special one, as we had decided we would make a trip out to Bridgeville, DE to check out the Annual Punkin Chunkin Championships. And yes, it takes place in the middle of a huge field in the middle of rural, redneck-ville America.

You may be asking yourself, what is Punkin Chunkin? Well, click here for the explanation. Well, when the three of us decided to go to said Punkin Chunkin festival, it was discovered that festival events included a beauty pageant. Brittany refused to participate, but Jana (who technically shouldn't have been able to participate) and I decided that this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up (when else would we have a chance to be in a beauty pageant, especially where we didn't have to wear a formal gown). The best part about being in the pageant is that everyone is a winner...everyone got a tiara (a pumpkin one) and a sash. What could be better than that?

So that Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to make the drive to Delaware. Poor Jana didn't get enough time to get ready, so she drove with curlers in her hair and as we got closer to our destination, she finished her hair in the car...while driving (and doing her hair included a bump-it)! We actually have some great video footage of this.

Amazing!

Jana and I already for the pageant, just waiting for things to start.

After the pageant, this guy would pull Jana aside and take some
close up pictures of her (with like a telephoto lens on even). Kind of weird.

(Side note: Brittany and I actually saw this guy on the subway earlier this week. Very random)

Punkin Chunkin is a very classy event. Just check out the type of people who attend.

Very sophisticated carnival games are played. Check out that throw.

(Note, this is not the actual punkin chunkin event)

Still waiting for things to start...

And the pageant begins...
The emcees included Mrs. Delaware and one of the founders of Punkin Chunkin.

First we had to wait for all the 0ther age groups to go. Each participate would have 30 seconds to tell the audience a little bit about themself, and then proceed to do a little bit of fancy pageant walking while the emcee would read the persons bio (with info such as where they are from, name of their parents, favorite food, etc).

Finally it was our age group's turn (4 contestants in total). I was the second up...

...followed by Jana. She clearly got more into this than me.
She had some very fancy pageant walking going on.

Then after the judges had time to deliberate a bit, it was time for the crowning of the winners...

Let me just tell you, some of these 4-7 year old little girls had already participated in multiple pageants and were bragging about the trophies and crowns they had won. I swear I will never let any of my daughters participate in such things.

Here is the judges table. You can see Brittany on the left.

I ended up getting 3rd runner-up (again out of 4), and Jana got second runner-up. To be honest, the two of us walked away with the better tiaras. The other ones were way too big and had ugly faces on them.

The other two girls were more fitting winners, too. The first runner-up had camped at the event the night before (yes, their is camping at the event) and the girl who won had already kicked back a couple of beers before the pageant. Very appropriate for the demographic that was in attendance. Let me add though, both girls were both very nice and we all had a good time together. All of us were doing this for kicks so that definitely took away any pressure (not that there was any to begin with).

See what I mean about those tiaras? Jana's and mine were much classier.

After the pageant, it was time for the three of us to check out this whole Punkin Chunkin thing. There was a lot of activities and a whole lot of food, too (again with plenty of drinking going on, and it was only 10am when we got there). There was even mechanical bull riding. Check out the accessory on this bad boy (on the leftside on the back of the bull).

Since Brittany didn't get a tiara (which Jana and I proceeded to wear the rest of the day) she decided she needed to buy a pumpkin hat. Doesn't she look cute?

The rest of the day, Jana and I got asked by people if we would mind taking pictures with them. We really were Punkin Chunkin royalty. One of the best times was when this older guy asked us if we would mind taking a picture with his two boys (probably around 17 or so). But we really did stopped right and left, got cat called, but it our crowns even scored us free t-shirts (which Brittany got jipped on).

Here are some of the pictures throught the day...

Got to love this guys outfit!

The punkin chunkin air-cannons.

People doing beer bongs...are you seeing the trend here?

Watching pumpkins getting shot off.

Jana eating scrapple. Yes, scrapple.

Sara Palin would be so proud.

The Punkin Chunkin trophy.

Another random person we took pictures with.

Check out this guys painted head...

Pumpkin beer helmet. Enough said.

As we were leaving there were so many tailgaters just hanging out at their cars in the parking lot drinking and cooking food on their grills. Check out this amazingness...

The limo certified the clazziness (as Jenn would say) of the event.

It took about 30-40 mintues to leave the event, at like 2:30pm. Plus, the line of cars trying to get into the event was at least back up to 3-4 miles. It was insane! The best though was as we passed one group of people, these girls yelled to Jana and I that they liked our tiaras, but then a guy with them told Jana, "Hey pumpkin queen, I wouldn't kick you out of my bed."

There are no words.

On our way back to D.C. we had to make a couple of stops to take some pictures.

First was with this fancy mailbox we had passed on our way to the festival. We each took turns posing with it.

Brittany's fish mailbox was really give her a challenge.

Another moment Sara Palin would be proud of!

Our last stop was a short detour to see the world's largest Acorn. Would you believe it is in Maryland just outside of the D.C. city (or district) limits? Ok, well it's not a real acorn...

The way this picture turned out was not planned...well at least me in the background (you might need to click the picture to enlarge in order to truly appreciate how amazing this picture really is).

After a Saturday full of new life experiences, we spent Sunday afternoon (after church of course) at the National Arboretum and the Smithsonian (American History museum).

It was a very nice November day.

Checked out the bonsai trees.

And the Capitol columns.

This picture is for Brittany's nephew who loves trains.

And that, my dear friends, was my weekend in D.C. A very unique one at that!