Take Off, and it begins

Well, I knew I would either have really great airplane photos or none at all...and the latter is the case. Having not flown with children before-I overcompensated with LOTS of things to keep them occupied, forgetting of course, that they would most likely be so amazed and intrigued with their surroundings, that they wouldn't need all sorts of 'busywork'. And I forgot how enamored I would be too. What ended up happening is that I carried the bookbags I packed for each of them, along with my huge carry-on purse and camera bag while also lugging all three winter coats we had shed soon after getting to the airport. I was right, too, that I would be a blubbering mess when leaving my Mattie and frankly, I was in no mood to take any photos. Nor did I really realize how much a toddling boy plopped on your lap squirms.

All in all, our most beautiful flight-the very first one-is left only to be remembered in our memories. It was overcast on land but once we ascended into the heavens and flew above the clouds, we glided through and over their softness and saw the bright golden sun where once, it had only been gray shadows. The clouds were billowy and the edges caught and held the golden rays of the sun within making the most beautiful, unbelievable sights. They were to us airborn as grass would be to us in a car. The clouds were the ground that we hovered over and above us was only the air below the sun. It was amazing. TRULY amazing.

I learned from my previous mistakes and prepared accordingly for our flights home; I packed all the bookbags and coats in the suitcases and carried only some coloring supplies. Then, for a while, Andrew zonked out on my lap so I could snap ONE, less than amazing photo, out of our airplane window as proof that we were indeed riding in one.


This is me at our layover airport: exhausted, still bleary eyed from my blubbering goodbyes to Matt and letting the children run off some of their pent up energies. It turned out, our second plane was 3.5 hours late so our layover wasn't quite as hurried as I had imagined it would be.



These two, on the other hand, didn't seem worn one little bit. Even though it was nearly midnight. Even though they are accustomed to going to bed by 7:30/8:00. Nope. Didn't phase THEM a bit.


The children thought the moving walkways were the coolest thing. Actually, I did too. But, since I was the stroller-driver, I didn't pop on and just decided the watch THEM enjoy it. And they did. When they got close the the edge they would run the other way and ride it again.



The getting off was the tricky part... Notice the plane Andrew is sporting. Yeah. I know. I'm pathetic.



Oh wait-NOW-with less than an hour before the arrival of the second plane, they start to get a bit weary looking too.


But then they find the shoe polishing station. Since it was late, there were no workers. There is something pretty cool about spotlights on chairs, I think. It drew them like flies on honey. So did the flying pig in the background.


And of course, a few other worthy distractions...