Matt, Lindsey, Kaylee and Braden: A New Year and A New First

Before the flight...

A little nervous, but at least Dolly was here...

So excited he could hardly contain himself...

I know that I have completely skipped all Christmas and holiday event pictures. Those will come soon. However, I had to go ahead and update from today before I forgot the kids' comments.

This morning we got a nice surprise. Matt called and told me that he would be flying from Florida to Nashville to Addison (just north of Dallas) and then had a short ferry flight to Dallas Love Field. That NEVER happens. Today was day 6 of his trip, and typically day 6 takes him to places like Southern California, New York, or Timbuktoo... Then, he gets home late on day 7. Since he was going to end in Dallas the company would allow him to come on home for the night. The big surprise was that they were going to allow me and the kids to ride with him from Addison to Love Field - the kids have never gotten to ride in one of his planes when he was flying, so this was going to be quite a treat.

So, Matt called his mom and asked if she would drive us over there - so we wouldn't end up having to go back later to get our car, and she thought that would be a great idea. We didn't tell the kids about going for a ride until right before getting on the plane. Of course they were thrilled at that point - they got to see their Daddy in the middle of the week and go on a ride in his Hawker 800 XP (as they tell everyone). :)

We loaded up in the plane and Matt and his Captain prepared everything up front while I tried to keep the kids from being too loud or out of control. Braden sat in his seat patiently watching out the window for things to start moving, and Kaylee got a little more nervous by the minute. She asked how high we were going to go and if we would get close to the sun or not. Thank goodness for the left over sprite from her lunch. I kept offering her sips of that to take her mind off of her nerves. Once we finally took off, the kids squealed at every turn or movement we made. Their comments from that point on were priceless...

Braden during Takeoff

Kaylee just after takeoff...

As soon as we could start seeing houses from the air, Kaylee informed me that she was pretty sure she saw our backyard (nevermind the fact that we were 45 miles from home). I'm not sure who said the next thing, but they informed me that they were pretty sure that they could see China - or at least the Ocean. About 5 minutes before we landed Kaylee asked me, "Mommy, where is that lady that comes out and gives me snacks?" (She later told us that she thought that maybe the lady was getting snacks ready for us in the bathroom or something). I guess she is used to the airlines or something. It was priceless and when I told Matt he made sure to tell the Captain that his daughter was a little dissappointed that the flight attendant never appeared.