I had to head back to Kansas City for work, but Miriam, Mikaela and Jonathan got to stay the rest of the week and have fun with Grandpa Steve, Grandma Sali, Uncle Gabe and Uncle Eli. They played at the House of Bounce; enjoyed the Fair; and even got to go fishing.

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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, [...]

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A quick nap back at the Hotel Ivy was just enough to get us ready to meet up with one of my best friends back at KU, Michael Kleber-Diggs, and his wife and daughter. After a brief discussion, we settled on the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, which was walking distance from our hotel. All [...]

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After a pretty good night’s sleep Friday night, we woke up Saturday morning and the kids were ready to head to what Jonathan had been referring to for weeks as the “amazement park” – Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America. I’d scored four unlimited rides wristbands on EBay for $71 – they’re usually $39/each. Rather [...]

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We cut off the Muppet Show episodes the kids had been mainlining for the last five hours or so when we got back in the car after breakfast. As expected, the kids both zonked right back out. Around 8:00 a.m., I called ahead to the hotel and they told me that they our room should [...]

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We got the kids up at midnight to start our vacation trip to Minnesota. The “vacation” part of this trip (before the family visit in Rochester part) is limited to Friday-Sunday, I really didn’t want to lose an entire day of that to travel.
The trip couldn’t have started more perfectly. I took a few hours [...]

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With Bubbie’s unveiling scheduled for Sunday, June 13, Martie and Bob Kramer and their granddaughter Rylei were in town for a few days. Mikaela, Samantha, Jonathan (and even Ella) enjoyed the chance to catch up with their cousin. The fun came first – dinner out together at Martie & Bob’s old favorite, Waid’s.

Then, on Saturday, [...]

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We had a busy Memorial Day Weekend, kicked off by a Swan Princess movie double-feature with Mikaela for our Friday movie night following the last day of school. Saturday was the annual pool party at the Rooks, marking the official start of the Summer pool party season. Mikaela spent a big chunk of her time [...]

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