North Carolina

Our Wisconsin travel adventures didn't stop after we arrived in WI. When we were leaving to go to North Carolina we got to the airport and our flight was seriously delayed. We would have missed our connection from Chicago to North Carolina if we had waited, so the gate agent suggested we take the bus. Now, she saw that we had a baby and all of our luggage trailing behind..."the bus?" I asked. She said that it only takes about an hour an a half on the bus from Milwaukee to Chicago, and they would give us our money back for the plane ticket, and the bus tickets were less than half that.

So, we trekked back through the airport and waited at the bus stop along with some other passengers who decided to do the same thing and after a little while the bus arrived.

At that point, we thought "what else could go wrong?" Well, the story continues. Because we were running late already the gate agent booked us on two flights...the one we were originally supposed to be on to North Carolina and a later one. By the time we got to Chicago we were definitely too late for the earlier flight, so we checked in and got in line at security (after asking an employee if the ticket we had would work for Emma). When we got to the front of the security line the agent said that she needed her own boarding pass. We told him that someone else said she would be fine, but he said no. Fortunately, the supervisor was right there and he took us up to the ticket counter and told us we could go right back to the front of the line when we got Emma's boarding pass.

We looked at the departing flight information and it said we'd be departing from a particular gate. So, we went to that gate, then decided to get some dinner. After dinner we walked back to the gate and went up to the counter when we realized that our boarding passes didn't have the seats assigned yet. The agent printed the actual boarding passes (and saw that we were going to NC) and didn't tell us that the gate had been changed. It was getting closer and closer to the time we were supposed to be leaving but our flight information wasn't showing up at the gate now. But, it was one of those gates where four flights leave out of the same jetway onto the tarmac, so we just figured another one had been delayed and ours would be up soon. After the agent saw that we had been standing there for over 10 minutes, she gets on the loud speaker and says that the gate had changed for the Greensboro flight and it was now leaving from a gate right next to where we had eaten dinner. We ran to that gate and were the very last people to board, which meant that we didn't have seats together and no one offered to switch so I was feeding Emma on this puddle jumper next to a very tall man in a very crowded seat. At least we made it on the plane, but it wasn't the most convenient thing.

Then, finally, we made it to North Carolina. Our first day there we headed over to Brenda's where all the kids (including Emma) hung out in the pool for a little while.

Here are all the cousins for their first group shot.

We went on a beautiful hike to Stone Mountain...

And walked around the homesteaders cabins which all the kids loved.

Then we went to Moravian Falls (where we got kicked out because apparently you have to pay $1 per person even to have your own picnic!), and from there headed up to Apple Hill to have lunch.

We did so many great things while we were there, but the funnest part was seeing Dan's family and all the kids. We only wish we could do it more often!!