La. Easter

we had a great trip to louisiana for a brief 5 days over Easter. Hennie was out of school that week, so it was the best time to leave. The plane was scheduled to lift off at about 9am, and we were driving our car to the airport, so it was an early morning with a couple of groggy but excited girls. right before we got out the door, around 7am, the girls noticed that there were a couple of raccoons who had joined our 6 (wild) cats on the deck. we'd been feeding the cats for a while now, and had not seen the raccoon family for a couple of months, but they are obviously back. the last think i saw when i did one final walk thru the house to check for missed luggage and lights, was two fat, sleepy raccoons walking back across the backyard, climbing up the neighbor's backhouse and disappearing into the crack between two buildings to go to sleep. the sun was coming up. and the cats, who had been waiting meekly in a wide circle around their guests, were now having their turn at the remaining food.

the flight (two connections) was a bit hectic, but all in all, it went very smoothly and the girls couldn't have been better behaved. But we were happy to arrive on the deck, open the first bottle of wine, and start the first fire.

Hennie (& Hege) learning to play checkers. This is a board made by my grandfather (morfar Tolar... "Paps")

Hennie had this loose tooth for what seemed like 6 weeks or more and it fell out the day after we got there. Hege & I couldn't believe it lasted as long as it did because for most of that time Hennie was able to bend it at a 90 degree angle. the funny thing is that after all the preparation and talk of the Tooth Fairy (Hennie had brought a little pewter box to put the tooth in for the tooth fairy), Hege and I went to sleep that night and never remembered to sneak in and take the tooth. We woke up at dawn, when mette began to stir (and shout out to Mama), and we both instantly realized that we'd forgotten all about it. Mother came out of her room as well, and everyone ran around slapstick looking for money. somebody found 3 dollar bills and hege folding them into a little bunch as she ran into the room. All this happened in under 2 minutes, with mette becoming more anxious and hennie waking up. As Hege ran in, Hennie was pulling the box out from under her pillow and opening it to find that the tiny tooth was still there. Her face fell, and she seemed crushed "The Tooth Fairy didn't come!" As she got ready to cry, hege distracted her by doing a more 'thorough search of the sheets and pillow and managed to hide the little wad of money in a fold of the bed so that they could discover it after all. We explained that sometimes the Tooth Fairy left the teeth and just gave the money anyway. That it is hopeless to understand these things. The Tooth Fairy is an enigma best left undisturbed. She seemed happy enough and the morning was saved.

they loved their big bed