We made good time from Minneapolis to Rochester, and checked in at the Ramada Inn – the same place we stayed last year. Mikaela and Jon prefer the Ramada to the luxury Hotel Ivy that we stay at in Minneapolis, and they wasted no time taking advantage of their favorite thing about the hotel (well, the pool and the free breakfast buffet). Jonathan was the King of the Kiddie Pool, flirting with the teenage girls.

was disappointed that the big pool was closed due to a maintenance issue, so she couldn’t use the slide. But she adjusted quickly to splashing around in the “Turtle Pool”.

More importantly, Mikaela and Jonathan enjoyed getting to spend time with Grandma Sali and Grandpa Steve, who were in Rochester from Montana, and Uncles Gabe and Eli. I only got to spend Sunday and part of Monday in Rochester, because I needed to get back to work. So I flew home on Monday afternoon. But Miriam, Mikaela, and Jonathan stayed and played for the week. I did get a chance to take long-overdue family portrait for the Holmes clan

Sorry for being slow at posting the wrap-up of the Minnesota Trip – getting back just in time for Mikaela to start first grade had me a bit distracted. HIghlights of the last few days of vacation included a return trip to the House of Bounce (this time, Jonathan got to come too – last time, he was napping), a fun evening at Thursdays on First – a summer-long outdoor event in downtown Rochester, Shabbat dinner at the Mouse House, more fun in the parks, and back-to-school haircuts (Mikaela’s included getting her nails done, too).

At Thursdays on First, Jonathan made a new buddy from France. Miriam got a cute picture of the two of them – I just need to figure out how to get it out of her phone. They met while patiently (well, as patiently as two-year-olds can) waiting for the music to start while the band was setting up. Meanwhile, the noise was a bit much for Mikaela, so she retreated to the Barnes & Noble with Grandma Mouse to enjoy some quality time with books.

It rained on us pretty much the entire way home, but the rain didn’t give us any trouble. For some reason, the spedometer in the Santa Fe decided to stop working while I was driving – the reading would drop to zero while we were crusing along at highway speeds. Luckily, we figured out the function of Miriam’s GPS that would display current speed, and managed to get home without acquiring a speeding ticket. Of course as soon as we got home and Miriam resumed driving the car, the spedometer started working again just fine.

We set out for Rochester, MN on Sunday, beginning the more relaxed leg of our vacation trip. Not that it hasn’t been fun – it’s been great. But the pace has been much more relaxed. We’ve spent much of our time hanging out at the “Mouse House” with Steve and Sali and Gabe and Eli. The kids have enjoyed the pool here at the Ramada Inn a couple of times already. Jonathan sticks to the kiddie pool side, while Mikaela and I have been playing a running series of water basketball games. She’s won six straight (with modified rules – we play to 10; her baskets count two points, mine count one; I’m not allowed to raise my arms up on defense or to rebound) and has declared herself the CHAMPION!

Mikaela got to go fishing with Paca Steve – she caught three fish (and had a fourth, but it flipped away as it was being removed from the hook), which she proudly brought home to show us before returning them to the lake. She also got to show off how she learned to hit a softball at Sports Camp this summer. And today she went to a Pump It Up-type place called House of Bounce, which had slides so big even Mikaela didn’t meet the minimum height requirement for one of them.

Jonathan has jammed on guitar and harmonica with Uncle Gabe, enjoyed playing at the parks, and playing with Paca Steve, Grandma Mouse, Uncle Gabe and Uncle Eli. Lately, his favorite video has been Sesame Street’s Peter and the Wolf. We discovered tonight just how much Jonathan has fallen in love with classical music. Looking for something on TV to keep him occupied with Mikaela took her bath, I found a Mostly Mozart performance on PBS. Jonathan was absolutely mesmerized. He listened and watched raptly, identifying instruments that he recognized from Peter and the Wolf, and at one point even correcting Miriam that an instrument was a basson, not on oboe. Guess I’ll need to talk to Dana about symphony tickets when we get home!

They played at the “SuperPark” (there’s a great picture in the gallery of Mikaela on the zipline there) and visited the geese at Silver Lake. Mikaela enjoyed a new air-pump-powered rocket. Jonathan got to practice his crawling, and they all just had a generally fun (if too brief) vacation there.

Mikaela is also doing well. She’s been disappointed by all of the Monday holidays lately, as that means she misses both swimming and dance class at school – her two favorite things. She works really hard at being a good big sister to Jonathan. The other day she insisted on helping to change his diaper.  She got frustrated when his squirming legs made getting the diaper on more difficult than it is to put a diaper on her baby dolls. She said, “Hey, baby, quit movin’ around like that!” She also likes to help give Jonathan his bath – she’s an expert at rubbing the shampoo in his hair without getting any in the baby’s eyes.

It seems Miriam and I are perpetually tired, but that’s to be expected at this point. Miriam is starting to s-l-o-w-l-y transition back to work.  She’s taking care of a few things that can be handled by phone and Email. But it will still be a while before she’s back in the office. I enjoyed getting to spend extra time with the kids, thanks to all of the Federal holidays at the end of December/beginning of January (including the Presidential funeral day). I’m getting back into the regular swing at work myself, though luckily it doesn’t look like I’ve got any travel coming up soon.

In extended family news, things have been pretty busy over the past month or so. Corey & Mo went on their cruise – I hear they had a great time, and I’m sure they’ll have pictures to share soon. Matt, Sarah, and Samantha moved into their new place in Raymore. Larry had surgery that ended up being more complicated than expected, but he’s home and recovering well. Ben & Shirley moved to the Atriums and sold their house – I helped them with the mezuzah hanging at their very nice new apartment. Steve & Sali will be moving soon as well – the destination depends on where Steve’s new job takes them. Gabe continues to travel around the country performing, and Eli is awaiting news on research funding for a graduate school project.

Wednesday
I posted about Wednesday night in the arrival post below.  But there is one thing I’d forgotten about.  Mikaela was already in her pajamas when we arrived at Steve and Sali’s.  But she managed to slip away and climb into the bathtub and start playing with her duckies.  The bathtub was still wet, so we had to change jammies before putting her to bed.

Thursday
Pretty typical Thanksgiving Day.  Watched some football.  Ate a huge Thanksgiving feast between games.  Tried to fight the effects of the tryptophan while watching the second game.  Everthing was great.  I can confirm that Mikaela still loves cranberries – she ate two large helpings.

Friday
I was up early, so I decided to brave Black Friday and check out the after-Thanksgiving sales at Best Buy and Staples.  Afterwards, I realized that I probably missed some opportunities to make some extra cash on E-Bay, as the crowd in Rochester was a bit smaller than it probably was elsewhere, and I could’ve taken advantage of some great deals.  The snow chased us from Kansas City – the morning’s rain became big, fat, snowflakes.

Saturday
Mikaela spent the morning playing in the snow with Miriam and Pakka Steve.  The built snowmen and he pulled her around on a sled.  Saturday afternoon we headed to the mall.  Since the Holmes clan hadn’t all been together in one place in quite a while, this was a good opportunity to get pictures taken.  Thanks to Miriam’s luck at buying the Super Picture Club card during the two weeks or so that they were available (before the marketing guy who came up with it was strangled by JC Penney’s accountants), the whole picture package cost about 13% of what it would have been at regular prices.  We took a break from Turkey and had Chinese for dinner.  Mikaela enjoyed the fish in the tank and the noodles on her plate.  She like the baby corn from the dish that Uncle Eli ordered, so we made the incorrect assumption that she’d also like the broccoli from the same dish.  It seems that the broccoli absorbs more of the spicy sauce than the baby corn.  Boy was she mad!  Luckily, that was near the end of dinner.  She was calmed down by the time we got back to the house.

Sunday
Everybody headed out pretty early.  Steve and Eli had planes to catch.  Sali took them to the airport and we hit the road.  The fog between Rochester and I-35 was amazingly thick, but traffic was light.  We made good time until we decided to stop for lunch at a Perkin’s near Des Moines.  Apparently, the entire state of Iowa was having lunch there.  Luckily, part of the idea with stopping was to give Mikaela some time to walk around, and she took full advantage of that.  Mikaela had pancakes with sprinkles – and proceeded to do her best to pick out the sprinkles.  Mikaela fell asleep right on cue for a 2:00 p.m nap (well, 2:20), and woke up after an hour and a half as we were entering K.C.

The big "first" came when we stopped in Des Moines for dinner.  We stopped at a SuperTarget, so that Mikaela could roam around for a while in addition to getting dinner.  First stop was the bathroom, and Mikaela actually used the potty for the first time!  We won’t be moving from diapers to underwear anytime soon, but this was a big first step.

When we got to Rochester, Gabe and Eli were there at Grandma Mouse and Pakka Steve’s house waiting for us.  Mikaela was excited to see everyone, and enjoyed playing the piano and leading Uncle Gabe and Grandma Mouse in singing the ABC’s.  She was too excited to get to sleep anywhere close to her normal bedtime, but she finally went down with Miriam a little after 10:00 p.m.  Hopefully, everyone will sleep in at least a bit in the morning.

All of this snow information has caused some changes in our Thanksgiving travel plans. We had planned on leaving around 3:30 or 4:00 p.m., and driving through the night with Mikaela sleeping most of the way. Instead, we’ll give the roads some time to warm up, bridges time to thaw, and head out shortly after lunch. That way, we’ll get to make most of the KC-Rochester drive in the daylight (or something resembling daylight). So far, weather reports aren’t showing snow farther North. We’ll keep our fingers crossed and our emergency roadside kit well-stocked. Good thing we just bought an all-wheel-drive vehicle!

Steve Holmes is currently in his first year of Family Practice residency at Robert Packer Memorial Hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania.

Sali Holmes is holding down the fort at the Holmes family homestead in Rochester, Minnesota. She continues working for the Mayo Clinic, and the Rochester Public Library is her home away from home.

Gabe Holmes continues to perform with Jaggedease and other musicians in Rochester, Chicago, and other cities around the United States.

Eli Holmes is a graduate student in Psychology at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico.