A Day in the Life of...

Us!!! Ok, so yesterday, we went on a little day trip for our long awaited meet and greet with Nikki (Nikki from Etsy)!!! With the luck that Justin and I usually have combined with the luck that Nikki usually has, we should have guessed that the trip would be a comedy of errors. We made plans to meet at the East Tennessee Discovery Center in Knoxville. Looks like fun, right? Well, it would have been, if they hadn't been CLOSED. That's right. No notice on their website. No explanation for the closing on the door of the place itself. Nothing. So, then we were pretty much like "uhhhhhhhh.........". Since neither of us are actually from Knoxville, we didn't really know what else there was to do. There's the zoo, which we had discussed previously, but decided against because it was pricey and because we thought it would be too hot. Well since our original plans fell through, we decided we'd go eat and try to figure out what to do for the rest of the day.

We went to a place called Salsarita's. It's basically like Subway with Mexican food. You pick either a taco salad, taco, burrito, or nachos and then they have a big bar of toppings and they ask what you want on your stuff. First thing's first. What kind of travesty of a Mexican restaurant doesn't give you complimentary chips and salsa?!!!! This place, that's what kind. Yeah, you had to actually pay for your chips and salsa!! Not only that, but a damn taco was $3.29. For a regular beef taco!!!! WTH???? $3.29 at Taco Bell would get me about 6 tacos. And I don't even care if Taco Bell always makes me slightly ill. I'd rather have diarrhea all night than pay $3.29 for a damn taco.

Anyway, so we decided to go to the zoo after all. There just wasn't anything else to do and we knew where it was so it kind of won by default. We were right the first time. Too pricey and too hot. About 20 minutes in, all the grown folks (that would be me, Justin, and Nikki) were dragging. At the end of it, the only person with any energy left was Sebastian and we all know what a spaz he is, so that was no surprise. It was hot like a mofo and there was a LOT of walking involved. We got to the delirious, exhausted stage of hotness. You know, when you're walking all slow and go back and forth between laughing at nothing and fits of inexplicable anger. Yeah, that kind of hot. But, it was still a lot of fun and I got some great pictures!

Ooooh pretty!!



Ok, they weren't supposed to be up there. But it made for a really great picture!



Moving on to the Butterfly Room:



Now, I ask you, what is better than a Butterfly Room? What about, maybe, feeding a camel!!?



No wait. I know! A CAMEL RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Haha!!! Awesome, right?


Here's Bethany looking a little freaked out by a camel:




So, then we saw the chimps. Apparently it was grooming time, because I snapped a picture of one of the chimps giving another chimp a pedicure. Heehee!



I'd like to mention that Justin, Nikki, and I all got a good laugh at Justin calling the chimp's "area" a "butt-gina".

Ok, seriously, this was the best part (well, except for the camel ride). Here are a couple of gorillas that pretty much perfectly embody the way that we were all feeling by the time we got to them.

Gorilla #1 looks like he's thinking "Oh my God, please just shoot me.":



Gorilla #2 looks pissed. He was just laying there with his arms crossed. See?



And here's what his face looked like:



Doesn't he look so pissed? Like he's thinking "God, I hate you" or something? Anyway, so we stayed at the zoo for a little more than 2 hours. We wanted to go to this Hispanic Rodeo that was being held in the same park where the zoo was located. But, when we went to check it out, it turns out that it was $35 per adult!!!!! Say what??!!! So, we didn't go. After that bit of disappointment, we went to Chuckie Cheese's and just let the kids run wild for a while and all of the grown folks sat and talked. In the air conditioning!!!!!! Then we all went and grabbed some dinner and after that, we left for home. It was an awesome, if exhausting, day. The kids absolutely loved Nikki and her mom. And of course, so did I! We had a great time together and we're all excited about seeing them again sometime soon. But not in Knoxville.