Soundbites from The Great Trip of 2009

These are the rest of the stories I collected from the trip, and then my posts about The Great Trip of 2009 are Done.

In Utah, Elijah spent the night at Aunt Lisa's house (she bribed him with video games and Lucky Charms--he loved it!). These next three soundbites are from his stay at her house:

Lisa was telling a story about a little boy who was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said, "All of you are members of the church." Elijah said he wasn't a member. She said, "Yes, you are. You're a Mormon," thinking that he didn't recognize the church's full name. He said, "No, I'm nothing." She pressed him a little further until he said, "I'm not a member. I'm nothing! I HAVEN'T BEEN BAPTIZED!" - July 12

"Do you want to see my muscles?" ... then he punched Lisa in the chest (to demonstrate his strength, of course) - July 13

Elijah asked for "coffee" in his hot chocolate (at home we put creamer in our hot chocolate: Coffee Mate brand) - July 13

A Justin and Teancom conversation:
"Teancom, roar!"
"I can't."
"Why?"
"I'm broken."
-July 13

Teancom was giving kisses. Then, holding up his pointer finger, he said, "Only 1 more." He gave me another kiss. Then: "Only 1 more." etc. -July 17

We visited Grandpa Downs one evening. Teancom is notoriously slow at warming up to people, so he wasn't keen on giving Grandpa a goodbye hug. Grandpa handled it nicely, and then said, pointing to each person, "Did you know that I'm a Robert, and you're a Robert, and your daddy's a Robert?" Teancom's eyes got really big. He spent the next minute pointing to Daddy, then Grandpa Downs, then himself, and then doing it all over again. It was really really cute. I think Teancom liked being one of 3 Roberts. - July 18

I was putting Teancom to bed. I whispered, "I love you."
Teancom whispered back, "I wubbed you, too. Now be quiet." -July 19

A tender moment with Elijah:
"Mommy, you're the mostest thing I love."
Then, while my heart was full, a moment later he said:
"It's a beautiful day, huh, Mom?"
I said it was. I thought about how wonderful being a mother is, and how happy Elijah and my other kids make me.
Then he said, "And, Mom? I'm hungry."
- July 21

At bedtime on Teancom's birthday:
"Happy Birthday, Teancom," I said.
He responded, "Happy Birthday to you, too." - July 21

My Dad was lecturing Elijah about something or other. Teancom joined in, as kids do, with, "Yeah!" Elijah looked at Teancom and said, "Stop it! You're not my dad!" Then he paused and thought for a second and added, "Or my grandpa. Or my uncle." ... or anyone else in a position of authority over me. - July 22

A random moment:
Elijah said, "You can exercise your bootie like this," and then he grabbed his butt. - July 22

"Water beds are crazy, know why? Cause they're full of water!" - Elijah, July 23

A fire truck passed us on the street and Elijah enlightened us by telling us what firefighters do: "They're good finders and sneakers. They find our keys and sneak them out to us." Furthermore, did you know that "they can turn into little bitty mouses that can climb up anything"? Very useful skills when you're a firefighter. - July 24

We went to the Redwood Forest and rode a cool train. Both my mom and I remembered that the engine was named Hercules. (It wasn't. We think that might be the type of engine it is, or the company that made it.) Teancom pronounced it Turk-a-wees. In his phone call with Daddy, he said:
"We didn't ride on Tank Engine. We ride on Turkawees. REALLY, Daddy." -July 25

An Elijah and Mom conversation:
"Mom, how old were you when you were ... 8? Were you 8 years old?"
"Yes."
"Oh!"
- July 26

The End