This Aint No Family Show...

Let me warn you before you read on: This isn't going to be about any special lesson I've learned or teach to my students. This won't be an inspiring story I read about, or a thoughtful discussion meant to make you think. This will be dirty, straight forward ventification! Yes, I know that ventification isn't a word, but I don't care. Know why? Because this is my site and I can write about, and spell any way I see fit.

Let me paint a picture for you... 

It's Fiesta here in Santa Barbara, which means everyone takes a break from their week to get together and party - - some more than others, but we all find a way to celebrate and have a blast. Downtown on State Street is for the younger crowd who wants to bar-hop, get plastered, and wake up the next day not remembering who they handed their phone numbers to. For those who don't want to go all "college, make-out with everyone who looks at you," there's Mercado Del Norte a couple miles upper State Street. This is where the families come to eat, play games, and put their kids on the fun rides. There's miniature golf, swings, and tons and tons of baby strollers. This is where Liane and I decided to take our 6 month old, Logan for her first Fiesta.

Of course, there wasn't any parking so we had to hike from Sacramento to get to Mercado. As we got closer, I heard this faint noise which sounded like rock music. Actually no, not rock... heavy freakin' metal that blasted at maximum volume. Could this seriously be coming from the Fiesta celebration? Usually, Fiesta is filled with wonderful Spanish or Mariachi music that's played with instruments I've never heard of, and dances that make me fall on my face. This type of music is what makes celebrating Santa Barbara's Fiesta so much fun, especially when you bring your family and meet other families for the party. Oh... but not tonight, not in 2009- -

This year,we had 5 teenagers on stage screaming their lungs out, playing God knows what, as if they were each losers from American Idol, trying to prove a point to Simon. 

"We don't suck, Simon! We don't belong on our own island, Simon! Listen, we'll prove it to you..."

Every child you saw looked as if they were walking through a horrendous haunted house at their neighbor's Halloween party. They all had their hands over their ears, over their eyes, and a look on their face that said, "Mommy and daddy, you seriously brought us here? Really?! You thought this would be fun family time? Really?!"

Logan waited until we got home to express her displeasure with our choice of Fiesta locations. While changing her diaper, she pulled me closer and whispered in my ear, "Dad, never again... never!"