Dad has been all over the world on his media trips. He's been to every continent (other than Antarctica) and I'm sure he lost count long ago of the amount of countries he's visited. It's got to be over 40. His love for travel is contagious. I've often thought about quitting my job to go work for an airline… just for the travel benefits.
There's an old saying "While the cat's away, the mice will play." I have many memories of things that happened while mom and dad were out of town. Typically, Neil and Ruth Ann would get their parents or one of their married siblings to come over to the house and watch us while they were gone. Then the fun began. Here are a few memories that happened while the cats were away:
1. Several things from the mother never knew post happened while Mom and Dad were out of town. Uncle Bob was babysitting when I tried to throw our cat Boots out the window, and when John and I wore baby Bob's diapers.
2. Tom's birthdays. Though I'm not familiar with the statistics, I seem to recall that mom and dad missed the majority of Tom's birthdays, leaving him with an irreversible martyr complex.
3. The 3 car pileup. While Dan and Jen watched us during one trip, Dan crashed our 15 passenger van into a small pickup truck, which got sandwiched into the SUV in front of it. Luckily no one was hurt, but I flew about 6 feet forward and hit my hands on the windshield.
4. I was particularly bossy when mom and dad were out of town, taking it upon myself to rule in self-righteous splendor. Once, when the older kids were going to watch a PG-13 movie I told the younger boys they had to leave because the movie wasn't appropriate for them. Uncle Dan told me "If something is not appropriate for them, it's probably not appropriate for you." Well played Dan.
Our favorite part of our parents' trips was the day they came home. They would lay out their suitcases on the floor and pull out trinkets and goodies they had brought home for each of us. Sometimes it was something small like a keychain or seashells, but almost always involved some local treat. My all-time favorite prize they brought home was from their visit to Hong Kong. They brought home matching karate pajamas for me, Jim and John.
Thanks mom and dad, for thinking of us on your trips and making us feel especially loved when you got home. Thank you for sharing your love of travel. And thanks most of all for sometimes taking us with you.
The more I learn about Joe's childhood the more endearing he becomes. I mean who else can say they married a man who tried out his little bro's diapers when he was 10? I guess Krista can...too funny though.
ReplyDeleteWhen can we travel the world as a LeBaron family again? China was a whole decade ago.
I really don't remember the diaper incident. And you know what I say: if I don't remember it—it didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteOnce when mom and dad were gone and Elsha was babysitting us, we woke up really early to go watch the balloons rise in Park City. While stopping to get gas on the way up, I begged Elsa to let me pump the gas. She acquiesced and I promptly pumped the gas into my eyes and all over my clothes (back in the day before any protective measures were in place). Sorry for ruining everyone's balloon trip to P.C.
I also remember when Dan crashed the van, the police officer interviewed everyone in the van. I had been sleeping and when Dan hit the brakes and rolled off my bench, slamming into the one in front of me and hitting the ground with a crash. When the officer asked me if I was wearing my seatbelt, I told him that I was asleep. He replied, "Yes, but were you wearing a seatbelt?" I gave him one of the earliest stupid looks I can remember, blinked my eyes a couple of times, and said, "I don't know...I was asleep."
love the Grand Canyon picture with Nanny and Grandpa. So classic. The pjs from Hong Kong were probably authentic, but Mom did confess to me once that she would go to Big Lots before a trip and pick up a few little presents and treats in case she didn't find anything good. I thought that was an awesome idea.
ReplyDeleteMy two favorite presents were both dolls--a spanish dancer in a fabulous blue dress (from Spain) and a china doll from Austria. Mary later gouged the eyes from that one and also ripped off the wig. I.never.forgave.her.
TJK Love you mares!
Things were always eventful when Mom and Dad were on Trips. Some memories from these times were Mom and Dad coming home from Greece to find out that I had been hospitalized with croup.
ReplyDeleteElsa and some of the other kids pitching in money for me to fry up some worms and eat them.
The finest example has to be when they left on a trip and Dave and Andrea were watching us. We were in the process of remodeling the canyon rim house and lacked some basics like railings on the stairs and carpet. To be fair there was carpet waiting to be installed, it was rolled up and perpendicular to the stairs. James Paul was over and since we both have the competitive adams gene we decided to have a jumping contest from the stairs onto the carpet. Each of us would jump over the marker we had set which happened to be the most convenient item, a closed can of white paint. After each set of jumps we would move the marker further out. When we finally reached the limit of our jumping ability the can was hit, fell over and spilled white paint all over the roll of dark green carpet. Andrea called Grandpa Adams over and James and I spent the next few hours in fervent prayer that Grandpa would not deliver the spanking of a lifetime that Andrea had promised us. It increased my testimony of the power of prayer.