Sue and I took Beau with us and made a run down to Marissa's to pick Mia up Saturday morning 08/03/19 at 9:00 am for a sleepover.

Sue helping Mia make a bead bracelet.

Sue had suggested on the spur of the moment a couple of days before that it would be fun to have Mia for the weekend. When I asked Marissa to ask Mia about that, she was all for it. Marissa and Gary then decided they could take a quick overnight trip of their own, and booked reservations down at the Mohegan Sun casino in CT.

Though the sky looked menacing, all the weather reports said just some showers from 9:30 am and only lasting about a half hour. Our plan was to take Mia on a hike up Blue Job before heading home. However, it started to sprinkle just as we were picking her up. We made a stop at Lowes in Rochester to not only pick some items up, but also to see if the rain would stop.

When we left the store, the rain had become more of a sporadic light sprinkle. That was encouraging, but not being sure if it would break or not, we headed toward Blue Job. The closer we got, the clearer the sky became, and the lighter the sprinkle. We figured it would be fine, and so we parked the car and headed up through the woods with Beau investigating everything.

Mia holding a heart shaped stone she had found.

Beau checking things out along the trail up.

Mia pointing at a small Orange Salamander she saw crawling over some rocks at the side of the trail.

Sue explaining something they found in the sand.

We were about half way up when Sue spotted some blueberries off to the side of the trail. But just as she and Mia went in to pick some, it started to sprinkle a little harder.

The girls busy picking blue berries just as it began to sprinkle

I was off the trail in a small clearing that enabled me to see the sky, and how the clouds were forming. I started sailing in small boats on Lake Michigan when I was very young, and learned how to read the sky. This didn't look good. I told the girls to finish up as we needed to start to head back down.

We didn't get far before the distant sound of rolling thunder could easily be heard. Of course, this just frosted The Beau Dog, and he went scurrying for cover in the woods. He'd hide under some bushes, but after we'd pass by and low booms of thunder would roll over us, he'd be out dashing for the next hiding place. He was something.

And then it started to rain heavily.

Mia following behind with the umbrella.

Mia and I dashing for the car through the pouring rain.

Just as we got to the car, it really opened up with huge drops of water, just soaking us as we scrambled to get into the car.

The not so brave Beau huddled under Mia's feet as thunder boomed around us, and rain splattered loudly against the roof of the car.

By the time we got home, the bulk of the storm had passed leaving just some light scattered sprinkles. But that was fine because Sue and Mia got into a beading project out in the back porch that kept them busy for awhile.

Mia watching Sue pull out her beading materials.

Lots of very cool stuff....

Showing Mia how to thread the line through a bead was my only contribution.

From there, she and Sue were at it, and Mia made a lovely bracelet for herself that she wore quite proudly for the next few days.

Amazingly, by early afternoon the sky had cleared, and the sun was glowing through the remaining puffy clouds. Sue asked if Mia wanted to help her out with some chores around the backyard, and so the two of them were off for a couple of hours together.

First up was chasing some butterflies. That qualifies as a chore, right?

Well, then they got serious with some digging in the flower gardens, and replanting. You can see the bracelet on her right wrist that Mia had made with Sue.

After working for quite awhile, Mia asked Sue to pull out the pool for her. I warned them that the water was going to be really cold coming right out of the well. But even spraying Mia with the hose didn't deter her. But she didn't stay very long in there, that's for sure!

Sue's friend Jen stopped by for a quick visit later that afternoon. She was babysitting her 9 month old granddaughter Adriel, and wheeled her around the yard with Sue and Mia.

Mia talking with Adriel.

Mia showing Jen the tree house.

Too much fun in the tree house!

Heading back down the hill from the screen house.

Jen had to get Adriel home, and so they left just before Colin showed up. We had invited him over for tacos so he could have some time to see Mia before we stuffed her into bed.

Uncle Colin, Mia, and Sue enjoying the afternoon in the back porch.

Colin showing us his drone. He got some terrific pictures of the house as it swooped around the area.

After dinner, we could see that Mia was pretty pooped out. Sue gave her a quick bath, and then hustled her off to bed. We had a nice chat with Colin for awhile, but he was pretty tired, having been out on 2 minor fire calls earlier in the day. After he left around 8:45 pm, Sue and I watched just a little tv and then called it a day as well.

Mia was up early, too early, Sunday morning with Sue. She came at 6:30 am to get me out of bed because she was so excited to have 'Gram Sue's pancakes' for breakfast that she wanted me to get on with it!

Mia with a heart shaped pancake that Sue had made specially for her!

Mia out jumping on the trampoline with Beau watching from the distance. Even Sue joined her for awhile. I'm just not real sure who the kid has been all weekend, and who the adult was supposed to be....

At 9:30 am, I drove her down to meet up with Marissa and Gary as they were all going out on the boat. We had a great visit with her, and hope to do it again soon before she goes back to school.

Unfortunately, Monday morning Marissa called to ask if I could come down and be with Mia for the day. She was sick when she got up, and was running a 103 degree temperature. I guess now, the doctor won't see a child until the temperature hits 104; when I was bringing Colin and Marissa up, it was off to the ER at 103 without question.

She slept all day, only getting up around 11:30 for her meds and some lunch. She seemed fairly well, but her temperature was still 102.8. And when I got her up at 3:30 pm, it had gone to 104.4. But that was under the tongue; under the arm pit it was 102.7 or so - all on multiple takes.

Marissa called the doctor from work, and they wanted to have her take Motrin on top of the Tylenol and then call them in an hour if things hadn't changed. So, Marissa left work, got some Motrin, and came home to be with her.

We chatted back and forth through the night and into Monday morning. Mia's temp had come down to 103 and change, and the doctor had said that this virus that was running around would probably keep that temp up for a few days. Poor little Mia.... But, other than a temp that was down to 102.5 or so Monday afternoon, she seemed fine, drinking liquids, and eating food.