Robot Brother

Every March the Mini-Mite hockey teams have a tournament in Silver Bay. The kids love it because we stay at a hotel with a water slide. Usually my nieces, who also both play hockey, participate in the tournament too, and they stay with us at the hotel. I came across this picture today and it reminds me of a funny story.

We were driving in the car on the weekend of the tournament. Rory (niece) Sam and Kira were in the back seat and they were getting really silly and loud and obnoxious. They had snacks and were throwing food around and just generally being annoying. We had asked them to settle down several times, but they were tired and punchy and weren't listening. Mitch got mad and told them to knock it off and clean up everything they threw around. Sam and Rory felt bad. They are sensitive and don't like to be in trouble, but Kira doesn't care. She doesn't have the ability to feel guilty about things like that. The kids were picking up their mess as we were driving into Silver Bay. At the edge of town there is a statue of a miner (pictured above) that Kira loves. When we drove by it, Kira started talking in monotone, like a robot, and said, "HELLO ROBOT BROTHER. MAY I OFFER YOU A CHEEZ-IT?" Mitch and I were still trying to maintain a level of tension so the kids would know that we were in charge and were serious, blah blah blah but we were both laughing so hard tears were streaming from our eyes. It's really hard to laugh silently too. It kinda hurts. Later that day when we were leaving town to go home and we drove by the statue again, Kira said "FAREWELL ROBOT BROTHER... UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN."