Our trip plans were to fly to Minneapolis and stay with Kara (Jud's sister) and family in Rochester for a night, then drive to Wisconsin so Jud could play Whistling Straits (top ten golf course in the nation) with his dad, aunt and uncle. Then we would drive to The Dells for the Martin family reunion and finally head back to Kara's house for a few days before we came home. We left on a Wednesday morning to fly to Minneapolis as planned, but all four of us didn't arrive to Rochester until about 12:30am on Friday. We had the worst travel experience possible. This story will be long, but by no means as long as the actual travel time.
We used Continental miles to book our flight and ended up on a United flight through Denver. We got to Denver fine despite the fact that Miles didn't nap and wasn't happy on the plane at all. It was also really bumpy when we landed which made me nauseous. We found out that our next flight was delayed an hour so we decided to wait in the Presidents Club. Then our flight was delayed again and then finally cancelled because of wind shears (whatever those are). We were told by United that they couldn't get us a confirmed flight to Minneapolis or even home until Friday (Yes, it was Wed afternoon). We were put on a long standby list for the 9 pm flight. We then called Continental directly since that's who we booked our flight with. They got us on a 7 am flight on Thursday that connected through Cleveland. We then started working on trying to find a hotel (United didn't pay for anything because it was weather related). We had a really hard time even finding a hotel. Some huge high school girls softball tournament was in town and all the hotels were booked. We finally found a hotel that would hold a room for us. Good thing, because of course we didn't make it on the standby flight. After the shuttle ride and checking in, we finally got to bed about midnight Houston time (Yep, the kids too. They were actually troupers and did really well considering). Of course we didn't have our luggage - it went ahead to Minneapolis. I was super lucky that I planned for the worse and had enough diapers and formula.
Thursday morning we had to be on the 5am shuttle back to the airport. Miles was the only one that had clean clothes and he decided he would throw up all over himself, me and the shuttle on the way to the airport. He went back in his dirty clothes from the day before and I smelled like rotten milk all day. When we get to the airport we find out that our flight was an hour late. I thought that's not a big deal, we can go to the Presidents Club and get some breakfast. Then the dreaded, "so you are going to miss your connection". That's when I started to cry. I couldn't handle another day like the day before. After I gathered myself we had some breakfast and got on our flight to Cleveland hoping that our connection would be delayed. If not, we were on Standby for a 4pm flight. Miles had another rough flight, our connection had already left when we arrived and we find out we weren't actually put on the standby list even though we were told we were. That made us number 3, 4 and 5 on the list for a 50 passenger plane that was full. We spent the day in the Cleveland Presidents Club family room. I'm not sure we would have survived if we didn't have the Presidents Club. We get to the gate and there is only one seat on the plane. The two people in front of us don't want to split up so Miles and I get on the plane and leave Jud and Miller in Cleveland (Miller is screaming and throwing a huge fit when I leave because the decision was made so fast and he didn't understand where I was going). Meanwhile, Kara has basically been on call for the last two days to pick us up in Minneapolis. They live over and hour away in Rochester. She comes to pick up me and Miles and then heads back to get Jud and Miller who were arriving on the next flight at 11pm.
It was an absolutely horrible experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone, especially children. Miller and Miles were actually fabulous considering the circumstances. Jud missed playing Whistling Straits, but surprisingly all our luggage was actually there when we arrived. As a huge fan/customer of Continental I am even more upset and bummed about the merger. I can honestly say that I hate United, but unfortunately will be flying them again as we have no choice being in Houston.
Once we got to The Dells we had a great time at the reunion. We stayed at Glacier Canyon Lodge which has several water parks in the hotel. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was nicer than I thought it would be and very clean. Here is Miller ready to go on the first day.
Since Miles still takes two naps, someone had to stay back in the room with him quite a bit. That was kind of a bummer, but we were able to get him in the water some. Here he is with Jud going around the lazy river.
Martin family picture. We all had matching T-shirts (thanks Leslie) that had and old picture of Jud's late grandparents.
We celebrated all the July birthdays: Miles (1), Bijou (2) and Sam (5).
He dove right into his first cupcake and ate the whole thing.
All the guys played golf at least once and some played twice.
Peyton, Piper, Bekah and Miller goofing around.
All the kiddos (cousins/second cousins). From left in order of age: Peyton, Piper, Bekah, Bella, Sam, Miller, Max, Bijou and Miles.
Daddy and Miller watching fireworks in a tube.
We had a lot of fun when we got back to Rochester. Jud, Max, Chad and I went to a Twins game, we had an adult dinner out night and lots of fun kid cousin time.
It was so much fun to see everyone! I hope we get together at least every other year.
I ordered these lolly pops for favors and used them as centerpieces. I think they turned out well. I also bought beach balls and we blew them up and scattered them around for the kids to play with while at the party and then they got to take one home with them. We brought our bounce house too.
Miles in the bounce house.
Miles getting ready to blow out his candle. Okay, I helped him a little.
Family picture.
The party was at 9:00am since it was so hot. We had breakfast food (fruit, mini muffins and mini sausage kolaches). We had vanilla and cookies and cream cupcakes with ice cream. Here is Miller enjoying his ice cream. Can you tell it was hot?
Noni and JoJo with the birthday boy.
We had a lot of fun. The park was perfect for a first birthday party, but next year his party will be inside some place. 
