My three grandsons along with their parents arrived at my house late last Wednesday evening for a brief visit. We had several big-time activities planned for the three days Bubby, Mac, and Jak were scheduled to stay, and we successfully executed most of those big-time plans. We went to the Denver Aquarium, Casa Bonita (a Denver tradition), The North Pole, and more. Big. Time. Fun.

It's the not-so-big-time things that I especially appreciated while my grandsons stayed at my house, though. Little things such as when Bubby and Mac accompanied Mickey and me on our daily walk the first morning of their visit.

My two oldest grandsons posed in front of Pikes Peak, marveled at the neighborhood deer, took a turn leading lucky Mickey, pocketed treasure, er, handfuls of coins someone apparently tossed along the road. And they told me stories, showed me how fast they could run, shared their Christmas wishlists, made me laugh.

Grandmas who live near their grandkids may think such little things are no big deal at all. Yet to a long-distance grandma whose days with visiting grands are jam-packed with (exhilarating! memorable!) events and activities and outings and more, those little things — ordinary everyday nothings — are very much big things when nonchalantly shared with little ones not usually around.

I'm inexplicably thankful for those little things I experienced for a few short days during my grandsons' visit. Thankful for the big things, too, of course — as well as the hundreds of photos I snapped of both.