the air up there
Eric's grandpa is a pilot, and he decided this year he wanted to take every one of his grandkids flying. Eric had flown with him years ago, but I never had. And according to him, grandkids-in-law count just the same as grandkids-by-birth, so that means that Sunday afternoon found us out at the Lebanon airport, soaring up into the bright blue sky.
We weren't sure if the kids would be able to handle the flight or not. Eric and I both thought that Beth would love it, but that Lucy might get scared. Eric's grandma was watching Evie for us during the flight and was willing to keep the other kids too, but they both assured us they wanted to go up in the plane.
So Eric sat up front with his grandpa and Beth and Lucy and I crowded into the back seat. We took off, and Beth was having a grand time talking on the headset, looking out the window, and quoting from Curious George: "The houses look like toy houses, and the people like dolls!" Lucy refused to wear the headphones, but seemed content with my arm around, peeking out the window as best she could (I don't think she could see very much).
Then, a few minutes into the flight, Beth suddenly got scared. I think maybe it really hit her that we were far, far up into the air, and she just lost it. Crying, wailing, kicking, screaming. We flew around for a few minutes while I tried to soothe her, but my assurances had no effect whatsoever. She kept on screaming her head off, so we headed back toward the airport.
Lucy, on the other hand, fell asleep. It was nap time, she was cuddled right up next to me, and I guess she was just tired (this is a kid who still frequently takes naps of up to 3 hours in the afternoon).
Beth finally did calm down before we landed (that's always the scariest part for me), but we dropped both of them off with Grandma anyway and took off again.
With no small people screaming at me or drooling on me, I enjoyed this second flight far more than the first. It's amazing just how fast you can go up in the air--at 120 miles per hour, we whizzed from Lebanon to Brownsville to Corvallis to Albany, peeking at houses we've lived in and pointing out local landmarks to each other (Hi Reser Stadium! Hi Calapooia River! Hi Marys Peak!). Eric got to fly for a little while, and then, reluctantly, we came back down to earth.
We weren't sure if the kids would be able to handle the flight or not. Eric and I both thought that Beth would love it, but that Lucy might get scared. Eric's grandma was watching Evie for us during the flight and was willing to keep the other kids too, but they both assured us they wanted to go up in the plane.
So Eric sat up front with his grandpa and Beth and Lucy and I crowded into the back seat. We took off, and Beth was having a grand time talking on the headset, looking out the window, and quoting from Curious George: "The houses look like toy houses, and the people like dolls!" Lucy refused to wear the headphones, but seemed content with my arm around, peeking out the window as best she could (I don't think she could see very much).
Then, a few minutes into the flight, Beth suddenly got scared. I think maybe it really hit her that we were far, far up into the air, and she just lost it. Crying, wailing, kicking, screaming. We flew around for a few minutes while I tried to soothe her, but my assurances had no effect whatsoever. She kept on screaming her head off, so we headed back toward the airport.
Lucy, on the other hand, fell asleep. It was nap time, she was cuddled right up next to me, and I guess she was just tired (this is a kid who still frequently takes naps of up to 3 hours in the afternoon).
Beth finally did calm down before we landed (that's always the scariest part for me), but we dropped both of them off with Grandma anyway and took off again.
With no small people screaming at me or drooling on me, I enjoyed this second flight far more than the first. It's amazing just how fast you can go up in the air--at 120 miles per hour, we whizzed from Lebanon to Brownsville to Corvallis to Albany, peeking at houses we've lived in and pointing out local landmarks to each other (Hi Reser Stadium! Hi Calapooia River! Hi Marys Peak!). Eric got to fly for a little while, and then, reluctantly, we came back down to earth.
5 comments:
So that was you disturbing our friendly skies. :) I live outside Brownsville and saw you.
What a great opportunity! How fun!
That sounds like too much fun! You're very fortunate to have such great chances to try things like that.
But this is the child who wanted to go to the grocery store to buy wings!! :(
Yes, this is the kid who has been talking about flying since she could talk! We thought she would love it! But I think the reality of just how very far away the ground was overwhelmed the excitement.
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