Rachel called a moratorium on accidents for Saturday, so thankfully no one got hurt then or yesterday. Originally Rachel was going to work on Saturday, but her urgent care doc said no way Jose. So we got an extra day with Rachel – woohoo!

Amy made a nice breakfast for everyone (which was a second breakfast for the parents who have free breakfast at the hotel) which included sour dough coffeecake, scrambled eggs, and really yummy hashbrowned potatoes. Actually, it was all really yummy.

We decided that after the leisure lunch, we’d go see a movie. Although I’d seen Inception already, I was willing to see it again (it’s a fun movie) and everyone else was eager to see it. Amy drove us to a neat theater in a part of town I’ve not been before (can’t recall the name offhand) and we shared popcorn & watched the flick. I think everyone enjoyed it.

Amy drove us to Punch (think clowns) after the movie and we split some pizzas and a salad and an item they call the Pulcinella: a salad stuffed into a pizza crust that has bubbled up. It was all very tasty. We left Rachel playing Tetris on my phone in the restaurant while the four of us went to the liquor store nearby. I picked out an assortment of dessert items in the liquor store’s cheese shop while dad, mom, and Amy bought wine & beer & tonic water.

We returned home for some napping and then gameplay. Dad read while the rest of us played two games of Ingenious. Rachel won the first & I won the second. A fun game. We also ate the desserts I had bought, which were quite yummy.

The folks returned to their hotel (they’re experts at bus travel now) and we went to bed.

Sunday was to be Dim Sum & Winery day. We got up at a decent hour and had intended to be at Mandarin Kitchen before 10:30, but we got there at 10:30. The place was packed (literally – I felt like a sardine waiting to hear our name called) but we were seated in half an hour. The joint didn’t have an atmosphere so much as a cacophony (as dad noted). But the food was tasty and the five of us ate for $77 incl. tip. It was dad’s first Dim Sum experience and he wasn’t wowed by the food. But the rest of us enjoyed ourselves, despite the din.

Amy then drove us to Hastings, MN to the Alexis Bailly Vineyard. They have wine tastings for $5, and they give you a lot of wine for that fiver. They had 4 whites, 2 reds, a rose, sangria, and several dessert wines. There were actually a couple of wines that I liked (one even reminding me of the Granello I had in Italy that I liked). The folks who own the winery are very friendly and the place would be ideal for picnicking, if it hadn’t been so bloody hot that day.

In the gift shop, the girls bought two bottles of wine and I bought a baguette, a really nice Gran Queso (from Wisconsin), and some cheddar cheese curds (also from Wis). We returned to the house for some resting.

Since there was a heat index of around 100F, Amy decided to grill some veggies for our wine time. Apparently she didn’t need to salt anything, her sweat did the work. (No, not really, but damn was it hot). I was working on A & R’s computers to get my To Do list whittled down and got quite a few things accomplished. I may get it all done before I go – woohoo!

Wine time was wonderful – lots of yummy grilled veggies, cheese, beer bread & baguette slices, all of it tasty. While we were eating a cold front moved through, so we sat outside for awhile, until it threatened to rain. The folks returned to their hotel and the girls and I sat in the living room and looked up pets on adoption sites. Then it was bedtime (actually, past bedtime).

We’re all up now and getting ready. Looks like we’re going to Hell’s Kitchen for breakfast. The girls assure me that the homemade peanut butter is excellent, so maybe I’ll buy some for home. Gonna go brush my teeth now, then I’ll be good to go.