Just another busy summer....VACATION

Well, as you can see by the lack of posts, we've been out and about through the summer. Here are some of the highlights.

We took a family vacation to Tennessee. We visited some of Heather's relatives there, toured the Ryman Auditorium, and stopped at the country music hall of fame. We also had Olivia's first trip to the zoo. She enjoyed seeing the animals, and attempting to imitate them as we went along. Before we ended up seeing the entire zoo though, we lost O. Not literally, but the poor thing crashed in her car seat. She just couldn't do it any longer. But we had a great time there none-the-less. We did come away with a few interesting stories too.

This was Olivia's first time flying, and she travelled quite well. It helped with the new iPad we had gotten for this very reason, to help Olivia travel when she wouldn't sleep, and I'm sure that literally saved us. More on the traveling front though, we left home with a plan to get to the airport early, and be set to just get organized and ready to head out. So, what did I do? Forgot the camera. I did think of it before we got on the interstate, but yet, it cost us a very valuable 15 minutes. Plus, we'd already been running late that morning. Getting up at 5:15 and trying to get everyone out the door on time is a big task, and we didn't quite make it. So when we arrived in Sioux Falls at the airport, we were half an hour behind schedule. We got through security easily though. I took Olivia with me through the metal detector. I saw they still had it, and I figured out how to get to use it instead of the imaging device they have there. So, we get to the gate a few minutes before boarding, but we all needed to use the bathroom, so Heather went, I went, and then I took Olivia to change her. They were in a hurry to get the plane out of the gate, so we were among the last to get on board. I get to the agent who scans my boarding pass, and it won't take it. She informed me that I'd been upgraded to first class and they'd changed my seat assignment. Well, I told them I didn't want it, and since the plane wasn't full, they let me keep my old seat. I knew that I needed to be there to help with Olivia. We get to Minneapolis fine, but Olivia becomes a huge pain in the airport. She's yelling and screaming and won't eat. We finally get her to calm down and head to the gate to find out the plane is delayed. Great. We wanted Olivia to sleep on the plane, not in the airport. So, we are sitting down and my name gets called to see the gate agent. I go up there and she hands me a new boarding pass. I'd gotten a second upgrade. I don't often get two in one trip, but apparently today was my lucky day and this was a very full flight. So, I gave it to my lovely wife so she could get away from the chaos for a while. She's also been taking a summer class, so it gave her the opportunity to be able to focus on getting some items done for class. So, she took the upgrade seat, and now the only problem is I don't think I'll get her to sit in coach every again....

We got to Tennessee and get our luggage and head to pickup the rental car. At the rental car counter, I get up and they pull up my reservation and tell me that I received a complimentary upgrade! Well that was good news. I ended up with a jet black shiny Lincoln. This car was so new, in only had 1,100 miles on it when we got in. Our vacation was rolling in the lap of luxury!! So we got to the hotel, and I told Heather I was going to try and sweet talk the reception is (if it was a female) and see if I could get us an upgrade at the hotel. So, I go in and sure enough, a female. So I sweet talked her a bit, and walked out with the key cards to a suite. So, now vacation was set!!! I love the extras, and to not have to pay for them was even better! So I want to say a big THANK YOU to Delta, Marriott and Avis for a great summer vacation! And one minor thank you to my work who helps me get frequent flier miles and other reward statuses for my trips. I say that's a minor thank you because I don't want them to think I need to travel more to up the level of rewards I receive!