Mia came over Monday 12/09/19 for an overnight Christmas cookie making event with Sue.

I drove down to Dover around noon to pick her up. Man, the weather was nasty! Everything was not only fogged in, but there had been a constant light rain falling all morning.

After Marissa strapped Mia into her car seat, I drove her over to her requested Burger King to get lunch. But because it was raining so hard, we just picked it up, and headed for home. It was even foggier on top of the mountain by the time we got up there.

After we ate, Sue got Mia outfitted in an apron and busy with making the dough for the cookies. Sue had set up a special folding table in the kitchen for her, probably more to contain the mess than anything else.

The girls are at it!

Lots to do!

Applying frosting to one of the cookies.

About 2:15 pm Mia came racing into the library to present me with a really great frosted gingerbread cookie right out of the oven.

Sharing one of her cookies with Gramps.

Sue called her back in for clean up as a condition of watching the iconic 1965 animated movie, A Charlie Brown Christmas. I got a warming fire going in the wood stove, and we watched it with her. It was actually really good for 1965, and we all totally enjoyed it.

Mia helped with both dinners that we cooked: a boxed mac and cheese for her, and a Bertolli Italian Sausage and Rigatoni frozen dinner for us. Well, Mia didn't care for her mac and cheese, and Sue and I were really disappointed in the Bertolli meal.

So, dinner was pretty much a bust for everyone. Sue brought light to the evening by suggesting Mia do bathies, so off the two of them went to fill up the tub. Just as Mia had finished her bath and was heading upstairs to put her pjs on, Marissa made a video call. Well, that was just the thing Mia needed, and they had a nice chat.

But then it was upstairs for bed. I got hugs and kisses, and then Sue led her up the stairs. I think Sue read a little to her, but came down shortly to no sounds. Mia didn't even ask for me to come up to tuck her in she was so ready for sleep. She was out from about 7:00 pm to about 6:00 am Tuesday morning.

Mia came up and dragged me out of bed at 6:45 o'dark clock in the am. "Time for breakfast, Gramps!" she chirped. Can't sleep though that.... By the time I had shaved and brushed my teeth, the girls had the pancake batter all set to go, and a few cooking in the pan.

Mia is such a light eater that she only ate one of the two pancakes that Sue had put on her plate. She got all huffy when I prodded her to eat, and put a real face on, telling me that I was being mean, and that I should "work on that." Didn't phase me. I kept at it and got her to eat just a little bit more through all of the abstraction and distraction that a 4 year old is capable of putting up.

What a sad, pouty face that is she put on just because she was told to eat more pancakes. No sympathy; just another thing Gramps has to 'work on'.... like the time she told me that arguing about what traffic light color meant go, and which meant stop.

After finishing that up, she raced up stairs to put her clothes on so she could take a short walk with Sue and Beau. It had rained most of the day yesterday, and sprinkled through the night. The temperature had already climbed into the upper 40s, and so everything outside was a muddy mess. When they got back, Mia was pretty dry. Sue had kept her out of the rough, though Beau was soaked.

Mia waiting for Sue to catch up.

The girls returning from walking The Beau Dog. Sue still puts an orange vest on Beau even though the last of the hunting season was the other day.

While Sue took Beau for a longer walk in the woods, I took Mia into the living room and we watched an animated version of The Grinch. It was interesting enough that Mia stayed with it until Sue got back about an hour later.

She and I just about got it finished by the time Sue had changed her clothes, and was ready to take Mia home. It had been a great little visit, though tiring tracking after a 4 year old who has about as much energy as Beau. Maybe more....

And then there was Sue's trip back to take her home.... Yeah, drama, and more pouting. Mia had brought a small snow globe with her, and had dropped it on the floor this morning, smashing it to bits. Well, no big thing because Sue had got it at a local store for her that was on the way.

So, we stuffed her into Sue's car, and off they went. I got a call later after Sue had dropped her off that she hoped Marissa knew she was joking when she told her that Mia had spewed verbal abuse at her all the way from Rochester into Dover where the shop is. Seems that they couldn't find a snow globe at the store, and because Sue had an appointment after dropping Mia off she didn't have time to look further.

So Mia sets off on a constant monologue of harassment about not finding the globe, and they needed to go back to check further, and maybe if Sue had any heart she'd take her to another store to look, and she's very upset now, and probably won't come back to visit ever again, and on, and on, and oooooon I guess it went.

Well, it looks like I'm now not the only one that will "have to work on that, Gramm Sue...."