One of the joys of being a stay-at-home mom who homeschools -- when my husband had to go to Knoxville for work, I decided we should tag along. We had a great time swimming in the hotel pool, finding new and different Knoxville restaurants, visiting the really nice (and free) McClung museum at UT, and the Knoxville Zoo, which has more animals than the Nashville one and a reciprocal agreement for members. We were going to visit the art museum on Tuesday (their free day) before we headed home, but a few of us woke up yesterday with a stomach bug and so we missed out on that.

Still, we had a fun time -- made even better for me -- when I walked into Panera with the kids to buy a snack and I saw the Blogfather himself. I fought an inner battle with my celebrity stalker self and finally decided against rushing up and saying, "Are you really the Puppyblender?" I did get to talk to him though -- my four year old tripped over his laptop bag and I got to apologize. Fortunately, the laptop was not in the bag and so I didn't have to worry about damage to expensive electronic equipment.

All in all, Knoxville was a fun trip and a nice break from the routine, but I could have done without the ending.