Wanted to capture a running tally of some of the more special / obscure / memorable quotes of our trip. They're mostly out of the mouths of the girls. Full disclosure: a disproportionate share of quotes come from Sadie, our chatty, verbal-stream-of-conscious-sharing gal :)
"Do you believe that everything is already decided for us? I'm not sure. I'm puzzled by how my brain thinks." (Sadie randomly during bedtime chat in Queenstown, NZ; February 2021)
"Goodnight lighthouse! Except it won't go to sleep. It's nocturnal!" (Sadie about the lighthouse at Castlepoint, NZ; January 2021)
"Thank you for taking us to the pub. It was really nice!" (Paige about going to dinner at the local pub in Castlepoint, NZ; January 2021)
Sadie:"I don't want to go through puberty." Sarah: "What is puberty?" Sadie: "It's the woman's cycle of becoming a woman!" (random conversation in Castlepoint, NZ; January 2021)
"Why do women face more challenges and pain?!" (Sadie asking about women giving birth; January 2021)
"You just gotta believe in yourself and do it!" (Sadie to Doug while climbing the volcanic rocks of Mt. Ruapehu; January 2021)
"It's OK Mommy. It's still an amazing experience!" (Sadie's response when the sky was too overcast to see stars during our overnight in the star gazing huts in Banks Peninsula, NZ; October 2020)
"I learned that you can't judge a book by it's cover. I thought those toilets would be really gross, but they were actually clean and nice!" (Paige about "long drop" toilets outside at Onaru, Banks Peninsula, NZ; October 2020)
"You say you don't deserve it, but you do! For being good parents!" (Sadie's response when we commenting on enjoying the stunning views of our Banks Track 1st night lodging, without having hiked yet to earn it; October 2020)
"Mommy, those guys are definitely not All Blacks [NZ national rugby team] because people would be coming up and asking for their autographs" (Paige about a group of adult males in athletic gear in a pub in Christchurch, NZ; October 2020)
"Guys! In our year of traveling this is one of my favorite places!" (Sadie about Castle Hill rock formations, NZ: October 2020)
"Yeah, it's easy! All you do is close your eyes and go to sleep!" (Sadie when asked if it was hard to sleep without her stuffed animal, Fifi after sleeping with it every night for 1+ year and then deciding not to bring it with us on 2-week holiday); Lake Tekapo, NZ, September 2020)
"Oh, I could live a life like that!" (Paige about a man walking around in shorts on a frigid cold day in Lake Tekapo, NZ; September 2020)
"If you're a child, this is like your paradise!" (Paige about a huge jumpy castle obstacle course in Lake Tekapo, NZ; September 2020)
"Do you need shoes, Paige?" (Sarah to Paige on her way outside to play) "No! I'm Kiwi! Kiwis don't wear shoes!" (Paige's funny & accurate response - New Zealanders love being barefoot!) (At home in Queenstown, NZ; August 2020)
"Can I have a cuppa?" (Paige asking for a "cuppa", the NZ saying for a cup of tea, at home in Queenstown, NZ; August 2020)
"This isn't RTW. We're basically living here!" (Paige saying that our current stay in New Zealand doesn't count as "RTW" (Round the World, which is how we referred to our previous international family travels this past year); at home in Queenstown, NZ; August 2020)
"This is what you get when you're patient. You get something good!" (Paige about the lunch she cooked up all herself, at home in Queenstown, NZ; July 2020)
"Daddy, I'm curious . . . What's your biggest fear? Is it a dinosaur eating you? Is it getting stinged 500 times by a stingray?" (Sadie inquiring to Doug over breakfast before school in Queenstown, NZ; July 2020)
"It looks like someone is tooting out rainbow stars!" (Sadie about the colorful fireworks atop Coronet Peak that we watched from our Crystal Cottage home in Queenstown, NZ; July 2020)
"I am the moon spotter. But those are not moons." (Sadie while searching for lost swimming goggles in Queenstown, NZ; July 2020)
"Daddy, if you could see any friend right now, who would it be? I would want to see Pop Pop." (Paige randomly in conversation with Doug at home in Queenstown, NZ; Pop Pop is the girls' amazing 95-year old great grandfather on the Williams family side; June 2020)
"Mmmm. This candle smells so good! It smells like Grammy's house. Grammy's house always smells so beautiful!" (Sadie about the smell of a newly purchased candle at home in Queenstown, NZ; June 2020)
"We should become residents! You guys should find a job here. I want to stay here!" (Paige to Sarah & Doug on the morning commute to school in Queenstown, NZ; June 2020)
"Nothing can stop kids!" (Paige during a heated game of badminton with Sarah at our rental home in Queenstown, NZ; June 2020)
"Mommy, I'm ready to kick your ass and fill it back up with love!" (Sadie randomly at our rental home in Queenstown, NZ; June 2020)
"It's like a rainbow of colors!" (Paige describing the beautiful morning sunlight and views from our AirBnB bus on the Otago Peninsula, NZ; May 2020)
"The flavors having activated really nicely." (Chef Paige as she was mixing sauteed onions, carrots and meat on the stovetop in our AirBnB bus on the Otago Peninsula, NZ; May 2020)
"I forgot about the bus because I'm having so much fun at the boulders!" (Sadie explaining that her excitement over getting to our AirBnB bus rental was distracted by how much fun she was having bounding around the Moeraki Boulders, NZ; May 2020)
"It was so good that it's worth waking up that early for!" (Sadie at the end of their first day of school in NZ; Queenstown, NZ; May 2020)
"I put some Mother's Day love in it!" (Sadie as she handed Sarah a mug of coffee on Mother's Day morning; Queenstown, NZ; May 2020)
"Daddy, you might not like this, but we're going on McDonald's road!" (Sadie to Doug when she noticed the road was called McDonald's; Queenstown, NZ; May 2020)
"Your love is like honey. You guys are sticky together." (Sadie to Sarah & Doug as we were hugging; Queenstown, NZ; May 2020)
"Someone should create a time machine and go back before the coronavirus, and then no one would get it." (Paige randomly over lunch at our rental house in Queenstown, NZ; May 2020)
Paige: "I'm going vegan for a week." Sadie in response to Paige "But you probably don't want to do that next week because your guitar is coming." (Paige & Sadie lunchtime chatter at our rental house in Queenstown, NZ; May 2020)
"It sounded like a thousands wolves howling." (Sadie about a wind storm in Queenstown, NZ; April 2020)
“It’s like I’m in a picture frame! It’s like it’s fake. It’s so pretty!” (Sadie describing our Queenstown, NZ rental home and beautiful surroundings; April 2020)
"Mommy, do I look older?" (Paige after putting on her new pair of jeans, at our Queenstown, NZ rental house; March 2020)
"It's like you're a cleaning service!" (Paige & Sadie after seeing how many disinfectant cleaning supplies we bought when we got to our Queenstown, NZ rental house; March 2020)
“My AirBnBs [for the fairies] are luxury.“ (Paige while describing what her make believe fairy houses would be like, while on a hike at Lake Matheson, NZ; March 2020)
“You make us do it because you think it’s our family sport. But it’s not! And you just make us do it!” (Paige in a moment of frustration on a long family hike in NZ; March 2020)
“I cannot live my life without going to fancy hotels. I love fancy hotels!” (Sadie at our “fancy“ hotel in Wellington, NZ; March 2020)
"We're an anything family! We try new experiences and foods, and stuff like that." (Sadie at over a BBQ lunch at Greenlee Farm, Scenic Rim, Australia; February 2020)
"I'm really glad pockets were invented. Imagine you were having a picnic and you had salami, cheese and bread. You need two hands to carry it. But you didn't have enough hands to carry your electronics or wallet or things that are important. So the pockets hep you carry all the stuff." (Sadie randomly, somewhere in Australia; February 2020)
"Keepin' my eyes open. Really nice & wide." (Sadie on a hike where we offered a "reward" for the first person to see the layers of lava in the rocks, Scenic Rim, Australia; February 2020)
"I need to say something." or "I have something to say." (Paige in general these days, right before she wants to tell you something!; all locations, since start of 2020)
"I'm going to journal here so I can watch the world go by." (Paige after sitting down to journal in front of a window in Kangaroo Valley, Australia, rain pouring down; February 2020)
"My heart is still really beating because of Paige and the monkey." (Sadie hours after a monkey jumped onto Paige's back at a monkey sanctuary in Ubud, Bali; January 2020)
"We got to Singapore just in time!" (Paige upon seeing a cruise ship in Singapore, signaling a massive influx of tourists; January 2020)
"Mommy, see his Buddha sticker. I think he has a pass to pray." (Sadie when seeing a sticker of a Buddha in a taxi driver's front windshield in Singapore; January 2020)
"It's OK if I don't have any presents. My present is you guys." (Sadie on the eve of her 7th birthday in Mekong River Delta, Vietnam; January 2020)
"Mommy, I'm going to try to be more vegetarian. Because in New York I never saw how bad they treat the animals and how they trap them." (Paige while walking through Mekong River Delta, Vietnam; January 2020)
"Eggplant is my 0 favorite vegetable. 0 is even better than 1!" (Sadie in the grocery store of our Ho Chi Minh City Garden apartment complex; January 2020)
"Since I've been using chopsticks forever, it feels so weird to use a fork!" (Sadie while eating breakfast at Hoi An Hotel, using chopsticks to eat noodle soup; December 2019)
"I love color. It's my world!" (Sadie at an Indian restaurant in Hoi An, Vietnam, about how she wishes she had a color Kindle; December 2019)
"The best gift I ever got in the whole wide world is my family." (Sadie on Christmas morning on a train through Vietnam; December 2019)
"I want to stay on this rock for an entire year. Just think, everything would be changing, the seasons, the colors. That would be amazing." (Sadie while enjoying the view at Pu Luong Tree House, Vietnam; December 2019)
"If I were a little boy and didn't have parents, I would go be a monk. Because I wouldn't be alone and would be with other people. And you would always get to see gold." (Sadie as we walked through a Buddhist temple in Luang Prabang, Laos; December 2019)
“The reason Paige is getting more bossy when she's angry is because she's getting more independent. That's what Paige told me." (Sadie about Paige in Chiang Mai, Thailand; December 2019)
“Just don’t get too famous. Because then people will be asking for your - I mean, our - autograph” (Paige in response to Sarah said something along the lines of "I want a job [after our travels] where I can do what I do well (play to strengths)"; Chiang Mai, Thailand; December 2019)
“Mommy, I know one thing you’re famous at. Being a Mom!” (Sadie following Paige's response to Sarah above in Chiang Mai, Thailand; December 2019)
"We got swallowed up by a bike tour!" (Sadie during family bike ride through Sukhothai Historical Park; December 2019)
"I hope I remember this day forever" (Sadie as we watched the sun set amidst the temples of Sukhothai Historical Park, eating our yummy dinner on the grass from the Night Market food vendors; December 2019)
"If I got a tattoo, I wouldn't it want it to be permanent, but I would get Paige's name. On my arm." (Sadie, unsolicited in Koh Lanta, Thailand; November 2019)
"I don't need a walking stick because I have super sonic shoes!" (Sadie on the way up Tiger's Nest, Bhutan; November 2019)
"I don't get it. There was these brands that make smoking stuff, and then they have a sign that says Smoking Kills. So just stop making them!" (Paige while walking through Old Delhi, India; November 2019)
"This was my favorite meal of the trip because it was real, amazing, traditional food." (Sadie about our meal at Hashem Restaurant in Amman, Jordan; October 2019)
“Jesus had no choice; he had to be famous.” (Sadie in response to us telling Kalman the artist that she has said she wants to be an artist, but not a famous one; Jerusalem, Israel; October 2019)
"It’s like cars can go anywhere on the road and they’re free!” (Cairo, Egypt; October 2019; Sadie)
“Mommy, you look so beautiful with your hair like that (blow dried). You look like a movie star; but not the clothes, just your hair. You look like the girl with the purple hair from the Descendants (Disney movie), but without purple hair.” (Nile Dinner Cruise in Cairo, Egypt; October 2019; Sadie)
“I was born to travel for a year! Because we are doing it.” (Cairo, Egypt; October 2019' Sadie)
"I would definitely like to work at a place like this. But not by myself. I don't like to be in rooms by myself, like I always say" (Sadie about Roscioli Pizza in Rome, Italy; September 2019)
"I'm glad I didn't live then (during Roman gladiator times). There's no war now (like there was then). Or maybe there will be. Trump is trying to make a war of money, and make everyone think he's the most important. I'm not kidding. Paige told me that. I believe her." (Sadie while walking around Rome, Italy; September 2019)
"I know how to speak three languages: Sailor/pirate "Ahoy mateys, to the cannons!", Spanish "Hola, Como estas?" and English." (Austria; September 2019; Paige)
"We don't worry about our clothes & we just enjoy the nice views" (Sadie in reference to all the people posing for selfies in Venice, Italy; August 2019)
"I am so not excited about this. Not even the size of a crumb." (Sadie about the Armory Museum in Graz, Austria; August 2019)
"What's better . . . Seeing a picture of the world or traveling around the world? Of course, traveling." (Sadie)
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