Memories from Our January Trip to Abbotsflood, BC

• Laureli suddenly bellowing "I need to go HOME!" halfway through our first day of driving.
• The girls nicknaming our van "Rocket Van" and singing the Little Einsteins theme song at the top of their lungs over and over again throughout the trip.
• Abby looking around the one-room, single-bed condo unit where we stayed and asking gamely, "Is this our new house?"
• Abby clasping her friend, Tobin, in an exuberant (and awkwardly long) embrace, until he finally asked, "What are you doing?" She answered, "I'm just hugging you, Tobin, because you did a great job!" (I think this was in relation to the dancing lessons she'd been giving him earlier.)
• Laureli deciding that decorating Mommy and Cariana with stickers while they slept was much more fun than trying to take a nap.
• Abby introducing herself to a boy in the Burger King play area with "Hi. I'm five, and my name is Abby," to which the boy replied, "Oh. I have a cat named that." And off they went to play.
• Abby trying to pronounce the name of our friend, Manelda, who was always "Melda" when Abby was little. We thought Abby would have no trouble saying her name now, but even after several attempts, the closest she ever came was an exasperated "Mermelda!"
• Abby telling everyone not to look under my purse because she'd hidden my dad's birthday card there "so Jim wouldn't find it."
• Abby announcing on the drive home, "Look! Laureli has dreadful feet!" at which Laureli stuck her feet in the air to show us that she had removed both her boots and socks. (It wasn't that dreadful.)
• Reece driving through a stretch of potholes so deep they actually made us bounce up off our seats. He was gritting his teeth, but the girls thought it was the best thing ever as they giggled hysterically in the back and yelled, "Wee!!!" at the tops of their lungs. They recreated the experience several times afterwards, whenever there was a small bump in the road, or occasionally without any reason at all.