New Atti-tubes!

On the 30th, Allie had minor surgery to get a matching set of ear tubes 'installed.' The doctors and nurses were wonderful and it was very quick. There was a pink 'Allie-phant' waiting for her on her bed and she's received a very sweet 'recovery card' from the team. We decided to celebrate the hopeful end of ear-pain with four new molars. It's still nice to not have to worry about whether it's teething or the ears, unless something didn't 'take' I can assume it's the gums and Orajel-away. Allie was back to her normal self the afternoon of the surgery, so the next day, we headed out for North Carolina, our Spring Break home-away-from-home, to see Grandpa and Grandmom Wintrode. We had a great time, as always.

I'm ending this blog less than an hour before Easter, so I'll finish with a wish for Easter Blessings to you all and the hope that you are able to enjoy the gift of Christ's love and resurrection with your family and loved ones close by.

And now, our NC vacation in a (rather large) nutshell of pictures...

A pre-surgery pep-talk from our little negotiator...

Alright, Doc. Here's what it boils down to...what are YOU, going to do for ME?

 The 'Kittys' featured prominently in our time in North Carolina. Allie's never really had a reason to use this word, but she decided she liked it (and them)...a lot.

Crouching-Allie, Hidden-Kitty Stance. We saw this one many times.

Me? I just want to pet and love and hug them.

One of these little guys was more excited about this meeting than the other...

Grandmom, where did she go? I was just saying we could be best friends and I'd never leave her...ever...

I'm in my PJs, I've got my water, I can do this all day long, Kitty.

I give up. I need breakfast.

And we all know breakfast is more fun with Grandpa

We brought our swimsuits, but the indoor pool's heater was broken and it was still a bit chilly for a dip outside, so we put on a swim-suit fashion-show inside instead...

That's right, you've earned that belly!

Work it....

And...freeze.

Wardrobe change! Finally! This belly can breathe!

 And we hit the links, of course.

Ah, it's a beautiful day for a game of golf with the grandparents.

What do you mean, 'Watch the ball.'?

Now, where did that land? A little help here...

I got it! Guys! I got it!

I'm packing it in. It's lunchtime, folks.

 But it wasn't ALL fun and games...

Keep swiffering, Allie...

Those greens-fees don't pay for themselves.

  We took the golf cart and headed over to introduce Allie to the putting greens....but really we introduced the putting greens to Allie.

Grandpa, is this thing street-legal?

This place is a goldmine.

Apparently, we forgot to explain the part about being quiet on the course. She wanted to make sure we saw each ball and knew that it had a name.

Good. Nice stance, Grandmom. Now not too much of a back-swing and put that ball in the hole.

Watch. This is how it's done.

 We visited the beach, but it still wasn't quite warm enough to test out her new suits. We learned that our girl wants absolutely NOTHING to do with walking on the sand. Shoes, no shoes, wet and packed, soft and shifty, doesn't matter. She's not having it. The seagulls, she loved...go figure.

I'm not taking one more step, lady. I can have my beach fun from here, thank you very much.

 Back at the house, she was her shy and retiring self again.

Hah!

 And then since we were going to have to say goodbye before Easter, we did a little pre-game warm-up with a back-yard Easter Egg Hunt.

Nothing inside? I'm going to have to have a chat with this Bunny.

Just making sure they're not hiding anything chocolate that they might want me to eat.

But to be extra sure, I'd better...

Nope. Definitely NOT chocolate.

She may be part Cullen with that white skin and her affinity for biting when needed...but she's all ours and we love her.

And of course we made sure to get in more than a few good belly-laughs during our visit.

But we knew we had to head back home as our slurp quota was getting dangerously low.