Erikobby's World: Howdy, Tennessee!

Oh, hey TN! Pleased to meet you! We had a successful road trip from Ithaca to Knoxville without much worries. We actually drove straight through to almost the bottom of VA the first day...9 hours! Go Bianca! Of course the trip was a tad bit uncomfortable seeing as how we stuffed our entire lives into that little car (and had to "buckle in" the TV haha). Then we only had like 3-4 hours to go to Knoxville, hooray! Apparently we were late getting there because by the time we got to the office, the movers called and said they already moved us in and the internet dude was pretty much there, but hey, it was better that way I say! We came there to a nice furnished apartment and they didn't have us getting in their way. Win-win situation. We did forget something though...checks hahahahaha. Oh my. But all was well. The apartment complex was AWESOME! They had a salt water pool and even though we had a first floor apartment, it was sitting on a hill, so we got a balcony...so it was kinda like having a second floor apartment except without the horrible stairs. Can we just stay here please?!!?!? Plus the office people are so nice and apparently we live 5 mins away from Wal-Mart, a mall, AND Don Pablo's. I foresee us going there every week. Plus the nice part of town, West Knoxville, is just like 20 mins away on the highway that's like right next to us. And we're only 10 mins away non-highway driving to Bobby's work. Let's prepare for the best summer of our lives. WE LOVE YOU, KNOXVILLE!

So here is our first adventure. The weekend after we moved in, Bobby's brother David organized a mini family reunion with all of us around the south, which was AWESOME! It was in a cabin in Sevierville, which is like less than an hour away from us. Let's see, who was there? Bobby's grandparents, his brother David and his wife Holly and their 2 kids, Joey and Lizzie, his cousin Matt and his daughter Sophie, and his other cousin Micheal and his daughter Riley. The cabin was in the woods and super cute! And it was HUGE! We all had our own rooms (well each family anyways). Everyone was really excited to meet little Bianca, especially Riley who fell in love with her. That night we all ate at Texas Roadhouse, yum yum! Bianca had fun playing with Granny's spoon at the table! We just hung out that night and the kids played. Ready for fun the next day!

(Bianca and Lizzie)

We got up pretty early and ate breakfast at a Cracker Barrel, which was yummy. Then we kinda all split off to go on our own adventures. The consensus of the guys and kids wanted to go to Ripley's Believe It or Not (despite me and Joey arguing for the aquarium), so we went with them there, even though we've already been to one. But a good time was still had!

(playing with Aunt Wanda)

(Grandpa taught Bianca how to clap!!)

Then we went back to the cabin and got the grandparents and went to Parrot World, just for Riley and/or Sophie. It was neat. Bianca slept through it all, sadly. But there were a lot of pretty birds there. It honestly was not worth the money, but meh, it was something to do I suppose. Oh, and you could feed a parrot at one point, so Riley and I went in to do that...and the stupid bird BIT US!!! We were both bleeding a little bit, gah! Silly birds. But Bianca did wake up at the very last minute and saw at least A bird. :)

We just hung out the rest of the night in the cabin. Holly missed out on most of the fun activities because she had to take some tests at the library, but we all had a good day I can say. I think the kids and guys went out that night to a go cart place or something, but we were sleepy.

The next day was our last day since Bobby had to work the next day. :( So sad. We relaxed that morning and hung out, Riley took a lot of pictures of us, and we got some pics of the kiddos all together.

(Our Bedroom!)

(Sophie, Joey, Bianca, Riley, and Lizzie with Holly)

(Take 2?)

(Falling asleep while eating...

(Woke up for one last lick...)

(And passed back out! That's my girl!)

After Bianca's nap we all decided to go to the go-carting place. It was a little hot out, but fun. We watched the youngins ride some go carts and ride some rides. I even got to ride some with Riley, which was fun actually.