When Erik told me we were going to move again, I made one thing clear, and that was that we would NOT miss out on my family's vacation up-north. We've been doing this every year, since even before I was born. It started with my Dad's family going up-north, and then was our family, with our aunts and uncles when we were little. Most recently, with 17 family members, it now is just our family. (My three sisters, parents, and us). We go for one week every year, and I was not going to miss out, because the kids will have memories that will last a lifetime. So Erik agreed (mainly since he's been apart of these trips for 11 or more years and enjoys them as well).
I should have know, with living so far away, traveling would not go as smooth as in the past. We decided to fly into Milwaukee since the airfare was MUCH cheaper and it's a more direct route to the Northwoods, than from MN. There are no direct flights, so we had to connect in O'Hare. Not exactly how I wanted to start the vacation, but it couldn't be THAT bad in the summer right?
Our vacation started with the "economist" telling me that we would NOT be checking on our luggage. Instead we would bring 4 carry-on's, 4 backpacks, 3 car seats, and one stroller all over every airport. Since the fee's have increased for bags, it's understandable that a family of 5 gets walloped when they check on their bags. I wanted to just check one or two bags, but Erik was afraid that they would not make the connection and we'd be stuck waiting for them. As much as I didn't agree with him, it was possibly the first smart "common sense" decision of our marriage on his part! (:
When people hear my stories, they always say they can't believe that happened to us. Well, let me tell you, I could NOT make up this stuff, even if I tried to! This is just the way my life goes, and I have to look back and laugh when all is said and done!
Our day started out at 7am EST leaving the house. I had cleaned the whole house, kitchen floors, etc. and did NOT want to eat at home. So, we locked up the house, and on the way to the airport stopped at McDonald's for a quick drive-thru breakfast. They handed Erik the drinks and there were three OJ's and one coffee. Erik took off the three OJ's and handed them to the boys in the backseat. Well, the coffee was by itself and dumped ALL over Erik's lap. Let's just say, he was in a TON of pain, and was yelling at the ladies in the drive-thru to get him napkins! (Thank goodness for the lawsuit years ago to make the coffee not so hot, or else we might have been in trouble). So, now we are headed to the airport, minus one coffee, and with a big stain on Erik's pants!
We got to the airport and our tickets wouldn't print out. The lines were SO long and I was afraid we would miss our flight. Finally a nice lady from US Airways who was directing traffic took my ID and went to a back room and printed out our tickets for us. We did not have to wait in the huge lines. I thought she felt sorry for me, but after more consideration, I actually think she wanted to get my boys OUT of the terminal! (:
We got on our flight and Bubba slept the whole way. When we got to Chicago, we made it to our gate fast, and Erik went to get lunch for us before we boarded the next plane in 20 minutes. I went to get a stroller tag, and the lady asked where I was going? I said, "To Milwaukee" and she replied, "Honey, that airport's been closed since yesterday!" I told her to "Shut-Up" because that was "All I needed!" She then told me she was DEAD serious! 7 inches of rain in one hour, and 3 feet of water on the runway!
I was shocked that they didn't tell us that in Charlotte, and try to re-route us there. Since we had 5 in our travel party, there were no spots for us on any other flight in WI or MN- Appleton, Wausau, etc. So we thought we'd call the rental car company and pick up our car in Chicago instead of Milwaukee and pay a little extra. Let's just say they were taking advantage of the situation and wanted to charge us $400 extra to get it from Chicago. So, then we asked for a one-way car and they were all sold out. Our only other option besides calling family and asking them to drive down, was to take a bus!
So, the five of us, our four bags, three car seats, and stroller had to walk what seemed like a mile to get on a bus. I was in TOTAL panic mode. I was sweating, crabby, and mad at the world. Didn't anybody understand what a PAIN it was that this was happening to me with my 3 kids!?!?!?!
(On a good note, thank goodness we had all of our luggage, or it would have been an even bigger mess trying to find it once MKE opened up again!)
So, the bus ride went well, and Bubba loved the first half and slept again on the bus. We finally got to MKE at 4:30pm EST. Once we got there Erik went to get the rental car, and pulled up with a CHEVY MALIBU! (NOT an SUV or over-sized car!) By this point, I was SO mad, I couldn't even talk. Not only did all our kids car seats barely fit in the backseat of the Malibu, without sliding them out one-by-one to buckle them and trying to SLAM the door shut. But we barely had room for our luggage AND the stroller! Also, I could bring NO groceries up-north and would have to drive back down 45 minutes to do the shopping after I dropped off the family at the cabin! MAJOR pain! Erik said that they had no other cars left, because of the airport situation, and they checked out everything else. I can tell the ride 5 hours up-north was going to be 'real' comfy! NOT!
Things got MUCH better from there. We visited my Grandpa and Grandma and then made our way to stay overnight with my cousin and her family. Many cousins and family came over to hang out, and we had an absolute BLAST! MUCH, MUCH NEEDED after the day we had.
The trip up-north was also a lot of fun. The boys did great, and loved every minute in the Northwoods. They played with cousins, fished with Pop, tried to dunk Granny in the water (Megan promised a BIG KING SIZE candy bar to the winner). We visited with family, had campfires, swam, went for boat rides and went into town. Only downside was Andy did not sleep well, and was up between 4:30am-5:00am most mornings. But we made the most of it!
On the way back we stayed with my aunt Collen and had a great time swimming and visiting with Grandma-Great. My boys LOVE Colleen's tacos and were treated with them, and many goodies as well! Our flights back were pretty uneventful, besides the fact that Bubba did NOT sleep...which made for a long day for us, and for the other passengers on the plane! Not sure I'm going to fly soon again with all the boys, but it was a vacation well worth it and we built many memories from it! It really makes you appreciate family...and we all miss them already!
This year, Curtis and Johnny want to play fall baseball. Living in a bigger city, means harder competition. So, tonight, we had to go to try-outs. Curtis has to try out for machine pitch. I think at this age, baseball should be for fun. I don't want my kids to be stressed out playing it, or worrying about it. Most importantly, I don't want an experience like try-outs, to leave a sour taste in their mouths. But, if they want to play sports here, this is what we must do. Curtis was SO excited ALL day long for his try-outs. (I on the other hand, had a stomach ache all day!) He had me lay out all of his baseball things while Bubba was sleeping, to make sure we didn't forget anything. The glove that he is using use to be my glove when I was younger. Before I used it, it was used by one of my Dad's players in the State Tournament back in the 80's! It is the BEST glove! 
I was shocked at how official the try-outs were. The coaches all sat in the outfield with notebooks or laptops. The announced each kid by name and number. He was number 241 to try out. (Middle of the alphabet). Totally didn't expect it to be that big! (We definitely are NOT in Minnesota anymore!) Then he got 5 pitches, 3 ground balls, two pop flies, and had to run the bases. It went pretty fast and I was SO nervous...and he was TOTALLY fine! Here he is getting ready to field. We find out next weekend what team he is on. The one good thing about trying out, is the teams should be more even, as they know the abilities of each child! 
