The Tickle Tree

Some of you know that I have twin granddaughters who will be 5 the beginning of the year, & that they moved with their parents to New York at the same time our younger daughter moved to Texas. We've been having serious "granddaughter withdrawal" lately, so in their honor I blipped "The Tickle Tree". From the time they were able to walk on their own, when they came to visit I'd take them for a walk around the neighborhood. In the beginning, many's the time they'd say "grandma carry me!" Since I couldn't very well carry 2 of them, I'd always respond with "Are we on a walk or a carry?" They'd say "walk" & I'd say "then come on girls-- let's walk!" & they'd trudge along like little troopers. As they got bigger, we'd walk farther, & one day as they passed this tree, they ran up to it to run around the trunk, & because it was so windy one of the branches scratched Addy & she started to cry. She was going to kick the tree for being "naughty", so I told her that the tree had been trying to tickle her to make her laugh, but that it was so windy that it couldn't control it's branches! They both looked at me with those big blue eyes, one pair of which was full of tears, & all of a sudden they looked at each other & started to giggle! The tree, from that moment on, was called "The Tickle Tree", & is the first thing they want to see when they come to visit! They run around underneath it laughing & yelling "tickle us, tickle us!" So here's the tree--now all that's missing are our little girls! :)