People Say the Darndest Things

I am in Washington right now for a family reunion. It's been a great 5 days, and I'm still here for a few more! I'd have to say that one of the best things I'm experiencing here at the reunion is the little kids in my family. Only one of my nieces is here, Taylor, but I have some younger cousins here, and my cousins' children are all quite young. They are so much fun to listen to because they really say and do some funny things. Here are a few examples:

My cousin Mette's daughter Olivia was describing why she doesn't like wearing shorts. We think she was describing a wedgie. She said, "My underwear scrunches up and sticks to my bum." I laughed so hard when I heard this!

Mette's youngest son, Gareth, is maybe 6 months old, and a very fat, happy baby. I have had so much fun tickling him and making him laugh. The funniest thing to see is when he really isn't happy (when he's hungry or tired) and he tries really hard to be happy so he'll smile a little and he won't cry, but he'll make these funny grunting noises and his eyes look worried. You just know that he'd prefer to be happy, but he just can't help himself!

My cousin Betsey's daughter Mercy was coloring with some crayons and singing to herself. I wasn't really paying attention to the words, but my aunt told me that she was singing, "Silver where are you? I need you green. Blue, come here." She was singing to the crayons that she was using! What an imaginative mind!

This next story is about something funny that I almost said. I was laughing at myself all day about it. I was sitting outside, and I heard a child saying over and over "Ow. Ow. Ow." I wondered who was getting rereatedly hit. So I looked around and saw my cousin Mette's son Justice whacking himself again and again with a stick. It was obvious that he wasn't really hurting himself, he was just doing it for something to do. I wanted to say something to him so that he would stop (it was annoying), and I was about to say "Justice, self-flatulation is not acceptable." Fortunately, I realized that was wrong and took a moment to think about that statement, and at the end of that moment Justice had stopped hitting himself so I didn't need to say anything. It took me several minutes to realize that the phrase I was looking for was "Self-flagellation is not acceptable." Wow, big difference there!

Anyway, we're having a ton of fun, and I look forward to more fun stuff!