We left the house this morning before 5:00am with pajama-clad boys in car seats on our way to take a 6:20 flight to their grandfather's house. This could really have gone in any direction: the kids could be great, fascinated and distracted, or tired and cranky. After much debate, we picked the 6:20 flight over a nap time flight thinking that getting up early is likely to be better than missing a nap. Thankfully, it worked out. In fact, I just can't imagine a better plane trip with two small boys. Harry was completely absorbed by the early morning activity outside the plane, then completely understanding of and intrigued by taking off, going up, looking down at the streets, houses, cars, and the hypothetical little boys looking back up at our plane that the hour-plus flight was literally half over before his mother and I even thought about opening our pre-packed bag of distractions. Jeremy, too, seemed to have no difficulty, although I barely took my eyes off Harry (who was simply not going to stay seated and buckled) while mommy held Jeremy. As we were walking down the aisle to leave the plane, Harry told me "that was a fun ride." At that moment the pilot was just coming out of the cockpit, so I told Harry to say the same thing to him, thinking it would be cute. The pilot seemed to think so to and practically whisked Harry into the cockpit, sat him in down in the seat, and put on the pilot's cap. Harry wasn't so sure about the cap, and perhaps not even the cockpit, but we didn't stay long and it gave me one more thing to talk to Harry about as we left the plane. Of course, the moving walkways in the airport took care of any possible anxiety he might have had about the new place.
(In the cockpit..).

Grandpa and Judy had done a lot of investigating before we arrived, planning several outings to keep the boys occupied and interested. This morning's activity was a mild, but bankable trip to a local playground. It was the wooden kind with towers that Harry called "churches" (grandpa is entering such a church in the photo at right), something our local playground doesn't have. Nor, does our playground have these wonderful kiddie swings that Harry used to love and Jeremy seems to love now (lower left). For the afternoon, Grandpa took us all for a neighborhood stroll that happily stalled in a toy store where he has found many of Harry's favorite toys.


Comments, Opinions?