Brm Brrm!

A few weeks back, we planned to attend a comedy show to celebrate a friend's birthday.  Being the thoughtful and incredibly reliable friends that we are, we promptly forgot about it and instead planned a weekend to Austin so that Andrew could use the racetrack and take a racing lesson from the pros.  I think we were forgiven, but I still feel guilty, and disappointed because I love comedy.

After a trip to Ikea for a meatball lunch and a chest of drawers (I sold my entire bedroom set on Craigslist, then realized that left me with nowhere to store my clothes), we met Andrew and Riley at the racetrack.  Walking around Ikea, I felt like an idiot.  All these years I've been simply throwing clothes into drawers without regard to organization, so I snatched up some of these genius products and decided to be a better person.

Ikea Skubb Storage Box,drawer Organizer,multiuse Set of 6, Purple. "Be a better person".

 

It was pretty cool to watch them speed through the course, trying to improve their time on each lap.  Andrew's Miata is not built to spec, so it was a little slower than the racing Miata Riley was driving.  Also, Riley drives like a man with nothing to lose, so his laps were super fast.

Go Andrew!

""zoooooooom""

 Riley

I didn't get a photo to illustrate this well enough, but sometimes it seems the tires came off the track.  Andrew spent most of the morning in class, learning the skills of race track driving.  Then, the drivers were let lose on the track to practice their newly acquired skills.  Once the course is complete, you are then qualified to use the racetrack.  People bring their super cars to this track so that they can experience their vehicle's potential, without going to jail, and while we were there, we saw some pretty cool cars.

 

 

After the racetrack, we headed to the Audi dealership.  Andrew is itching to buy another car (we only have three motor vehicles, three dirt bikes, one motorbike, and six roadbikes so there's clearly a need for more transportation) and he wanted to test drive an S4.  After 1.3 minutes in the car, I suggested that he leave Mary and me and take the car for the test drive.  After some discussion, we decided this was in the best interests of our relationship; we all knew that someone would drive too fast and someone else would yell and hold a nasty grudge.

 

That night, we stayed at a "suites" style hotel which excited Mary because all nine year olds love a buffet breakfast.

 

The next day, we visited Austin zoo before heading home.  The zoo is a rescue sanctuary for abused or neglected animals. 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed the zoo, particularly because Austin Zoo is a relatively quiet affair with short lines, a simply entrance procedure, and lots of shade.  However, it is also quite sad to see animals hosting evidence of their previous abuse.  We couldn't figure out exactly what problems this leopard had, but he seemed to be having trouble walking and breathing at the same time.  Perhaps he is just an old fellow.