The Cat in the Hat, and The Cat on the Roof

While Brian was off skiing in Utah, the girls and I ate lots of takeout, attended some fun birthday parties, and then headed to Hickory in search of some play time with the Grandparents.

Collins was really sad to see Brian go. After we dropped him at the airport she said, "Let's not talk about it because it makes me too sad." :( So we changed the subject to aviation, and watched some planes take off from the RDU Observation tower. Then I cheered her with up with Bojangles. :)

Our first adventure in Hickory involved a very active lunch with Poppy and Nana and then a fun play experience for Collins. Dad and Heather took her to see, "The Cat in the Hat", and she loved it! 

While they were busy with Dr. Suess, Addie was busy getting ready for Spring. She was pretty excited when Mimi set up the first Easter Egg hunt of the season. 

When Mimi suggested that Addie make a pretty bouquet for Baba with some of the new flowers in her yard, Addie took her job very seriously. 

Baba was treating the whole family to a spaghetti dinner later that night, and she definitely needed some flowers for the table. 

As soon as we got to Baba's, the girls went in search of Charlie the cat. Turns out he is not an easy cat to find, even when you "meow" a lot. After some extensive searching, we found Charlie in an unexpected place- on top of Nelson's (the neighbor) garage. And he was stuck up there! It was quite the excitement when Eric (cousin) had to perform a daring cat rescue with the ladder. The girls watched in amazement as Charlie was brought to safety. 

Needless to say, we needed lots of spaghetti sandwiches and frozen strawberry delight to take our mind off Charlie's whereabouts.

I have such fond memories of Baba's house from childhood so it was neat to watch the girls explore/play there. Kristy had a hard time finding them in hide-and-go-seek!

We decided to play hooky from school on Monday (Leap Day), and that turned out to be a good choice. There were lots of smiles to be had on that beautiful warm day!

It was the perfect day for a picnic at the park, an impromptu Easter egg hunt, and getting wet and dirty in the creek. 

Addie did not listen of course and got completely soaked. But if you could have heard her cackling at herself as she got wetter and wetter, you would have let her keep going too. :)

We weren't in Hickory long, but we had a lot of fun while we were there. That's why it was a hard pill to swallow to come home to find an ant problem and then THIS....

No it's not a murder scene, but it was probably just as messy, While I was dealing with the ants, Addie somehow got the top off the red food coloring and dyed herself and the kitchen bright red. Ugh...Brian come home soon!

He finally did on Tuesday morning after having a great ski trip. On one single day, he skied seven straights hours and skied 35,000 vertical feet (not one to take it easy on a bum knee). His legs weren't happy with him, but he'll tell you the pain was worth it.