On Saturday morning 02/22/20 I drove down to Dover to pick Mia up for a weekend visit with us.

Last time I had seen Mia was on Saturday 02/15/20 to take care of Mia when she was sick. As soon as I drove up, Marissa came out to tell me that Mia had thrown up a few times during the night, and that if we didn't want to deal with her if she was really sick, then they'd stay home from their trip.

Well, let's take a look at her and see what's up. And there she was sitting on the couch with her "puke bucket" in her lap, and a very sad face. Marissa said she had been fine up until the night before, and thought it might all be because she had eaten very little the day before which may have caused her to react that way to the medication she was taking for her ear infection.

I agreed with that, and assured her that we'd be fine with taking Mia as long as she still wanted to come. I asked Mia if she would rather stay home or come with me, and she said that she really wanted to come for her visit. We got back to the house just after 10:30, and that gave Sue time to visit with her before she had to leave.

The Beau Dog couldn't stand being left out, and tried to jump up into the chari with Sue and Mia.

Sue thought Mia might like to do some water color painting, and got all the gear set up on the dining room table. They had the best time!

Mia did this painting for us, and it's really nice.

Bouncing a small green ball between us in and out of the plastic red mixing bowl on the floor. Beau just didn't know quite what to think of it all.

She and Cathy had signed up to take a wildlife tracking and identification course sponsored by Moose Mountains Regional Greenways where renowned wildlife expert and photographer Susan Morse took them on a hike through the woods at a farm in Brookfield, NH. Cathy drove in around 12:30, and they were off for the day.

I asked Mia if she'd like to take a short hike through the woods behind the house before settling in for the afternoon. She grabbed her gear, and out the door we went.

Beau leading the way up the hill toward the woods.

I asked Mia to pause in her trek so I could get a picture of the house through the woods. You can see Beau's trail through the snow, and him laying beside it up ahead.

On the way around the back of the barn, we stopped and grabbed an armful of wood for the stove. Mia got her wet things off, and we parked in front of the tv watching the pretty good, and true, 2019 movie: "Walk. Ride. Rodeo." until Sue, Cathy, and Steve arrived with the pizza.

Steve, Mia, Cathy, and Sue around the table playing Candy Land before her bedtime after we all enjoyed our pizza.

Mia was pretty sleepy, and so Sue took her up and stuffed her into bed just before 7:00 pm. We didn't hear a sound out of her until the next morning.

Sunday morning was such a beautiful sunny day that Sue got Mia into her snow gear, and they were out the door around 9:45 to take the long trail through the woods out behind the house.

Beau has the most forlorn look on his face, ears back, and trying to turn away as Sue applies some winter foot pad ice protector to his feet. He just wasn't hearing any of it....

And up the hill they go.

Sue texted me about a 'photo op', and I opened the front door and caught this shot of her carrying Mia up the hill in front of the house. They had taken the trail way down behind the house and then instead of looping up over the ridge, had come down the hill to the road.

We took a snow break and all drove over to the store to do the food shopping. Fortunately, the store wasn't too crowded, and we were back home in no time.

Not long after packing the food away, Sue and Mia were back outside sledding on the hill behind the house.

Up the trail dragging their sleds.

Over to the middle of the hill with Beau rolling around in the snow ahead of Sue.

Getting ready to let 'er run!

And they're off!

Flying down the hill with Beau in pursuit.

Mia wants to go again, so I went back inside while they kept at it.

After they came back in, we had a bite to eat, we then put Mia up for her nap. Sue was off again with Beau for a more rigorous walk, and I had some things to do while she was gone.

A quick lunch before going upstairs for her nap.

We had told Mia that if she slept well, that Sue would take her out to play in the snow with Beau. And she slept right until Sue went up to get her at 3:45 pm. And by 4:00, they were out in the snow and building a small snow man.

After they came in, Sue took Mia in for a nice warm bath, and washed her hair. While they were doing that, I got a fire going in the wood stove, carried more logs in from the porch, and got all the pots and pans and supplies out for cooking dinner.

I started diner prep around 5:30 with Mia supervising — as usual. We had a wonderful time of it!

Sue sitting with Mia on the bench by the kitchen window as I got all the cooking gear set up. Though she looks tired in the picture, she was far from that — a constant stream of chatter was evidence of that!

Mia assisting with the cooking

Filipino Coconut Chicken with Pineapple just about finished cooking.

Mia and Sue toasting before dinner.

Mia lobbying to stay up, but it was late — almost 7:30 pm — and so up she went after brushing her teeth.

Mia slept really well Sunday night. Sue said she wasn't up until just after 7:00! Sue got helped her to get packed up, and to then sit down for some breakfast. She wasn't much interested in that, however, and just picked away at her toast.

I think she's considering passing her toast off to Beau....

Because Mia had a gymnastics make up camp to get to Monday morning, Marissa picked her up at 8:30. And then... it was quiet....

After Mia left, Sue got Beau out for a walk, and then we headed into Rochester to run some errands. Sue had been wanting to try the hamburgers at Wild Willy's, and so we swung by there for lunch.

The burgers were good, but we didn't feel they were as spectacular as some folks we know felt. The mushroom and onion burger was cooked really well, and the meat was terrific, but it lacked any real distinctive flavors. The herb fries were nice, but had very little hint of rosemary that was mentioned they had. Terrific wait staff, very friendly and attentive, though I don't care for having to go to the register to order when you're eating in. The burgers here are not up to, say, The 110 Grille, or The 99 Restaurant.