"Take a lot of pictures .. . "

“Take a lot of pictures,” said Hallie when I told her we would spend Halloween in the greater Denver area with the “Mile High Warnocks,” son Yancey and family. And both Mike and I have done our best to comply.

We had already had a good time before we got to Denver. We spent Saturday with son Clint and family in Gooding, Idaho. Mike and Clint took Nellie and hiked to Teapot Cave where Mike took a lot of pictures. He says he will post about that later. All three agreed that they had had a really good time. But Elisha and I had a good time, too, with our “shop Gooding” tour. We visited several thrift and antique stores, and I found some vintage craft magazines, if you call the ‘80s and ‘90s vintage. I did find one Star Crochet booklet from 1941, however, and the price for all four was definitely right – less than a dollar.

Sunday we drove on to Denver, leaving Gooding at 4:45 a.m. and driving in the morning darkness until about 7:45 when it was finally fully light outside. We arrived at son Yancey’s at 5:00 p.m., in time for a delicious dinner and some fun with the family.

Mike calls young Emmy, who is four, “Little Em.” Apparently she’s supposed to call him “Big M,” but they argue over who’s big and who’s little. And she’s apt to call Mike “Uncle Murray.” (Murray, our eldest son, apparently bears a striking resemblance to Mike, at least in Emmy’s opinion.) Occasionally she calls him “Uncle Mike.” But she always calls me “Gramma Kathy.”

I don’t like to write about religion and politics, but I have to tell you about Little Em’s unofficial presidential poll.

“Who’s running for President?” asked Kelly, Emmy’s mom.

 

“Barack Obama,” Emmy replies.

“And who else?” prompts Kelly.

“Mitt Romney,” says Emmy.

“Emmy is running an unofficial poll,” Kelly explains.

“Who are you going to vote for?” asks Emmy as she steps to her little easel.

So we told her and she applied two hash marks and tallied the votes for that candidate. “How do you make an eight?” she asks. “Is it the two circles?” And then she carefully – and correctly – drew an eight.

Shopping here in Thornton is one of my favorite things to do, especially at this time of year, and Kelly and Yancey are always obliging. They both had the day off, and it was great to be able to spend time with them and Little Em. Kelly took me to the grocery store where I replenished my stock of spices, so much more affordable here than at home.

After lunch we went to a wilderness preserve a few miles from the house to find some geocaches – “a treasure hunt,” Grandpa Mike told Little Em. And she was great at finding them and also putting them back for the next seeker to find. We spent two hours there and I’ll let you guess which of the “Ems” cried when several of us deemed it enough for the day.

Things improved -- people quit crying -- and Emmy helped me mix a pumpkin pie. 

The “big kids” (14 and 16) are busy with school activities, so our time with them is limited. But it’s great to see them. As my southern mother-in-law used to say when she came to visit, “I just want to be with you all.” KW