Sunday, August 26, 2012

"Oh noooooo...."

That pretty much sums it up. As we were landing on the ground at LAX yesterday afternoon, Bodie looked forlornly out the window and said, in the saddest tone you can possibly imagine "Oh noooooo....South Carolina...so far away." Yep, I hear ya buddy, I hear ya.

From one coast to the other, we're now back home and catching up on everything. But before I get to that, I have to share some adorable pictures from our last day in Charleston. First up, quite possibly, my most favorite picture to date of Bodie (and yes, one that will definitely be shared with anyone who questions whether HLHSers have a "good" quality of life)...
We went to a local playground near our friends' house, and the kiddos just played their little hearts out. Bodie "discovering"...
Ahhh, how I LOVE this sweet girl...
Sierra goofing off...
Bodie, working on the balance beam (we were trying to get him to put his hands up like a gymnast at the end - he wasn't quite getting the concept haha)...
Me with my loves...
 Sierra, finally figuring out how to hang on the monkey bars (please don't mind her underwear sticking out - that's kinda what happens when you let a 5-year old pick out her entire outfit!)...
And not to be outdone, Bodie HAD to take a try at the monkey bars as well. I seriously cannot get enough of his smile in that first pic. SO stinkin proud of himself...
 We had planned on capping off our trip with a visit to the splashpad Saturday morning and then out to lunch before packing up and heading to the airport for our 6pm flight, only to print our boarding passes Friday night to discover that American had changed us to a 12:20pm flight instead! It turns out American had canceled the later flight, but hadn't bothered to notify me! You can imagine how excited (oh, and not stressed at all) I was to find this out at midnight Friday night! Let me just say thank God my mom suggested we print boarding passes Friday night instead of waiting until Saturday morning!!! Yikes - that could have been bad!

But, hey, at least it gives us a good story, right? So, our Saturday plans changed a little and we spent it flying instead! I wish I could say the flights back went as gloriously as the flights out, but then I'd be lying and pretending that Bodie didn't cry himself to sleep on the first flight, only to have lower sats than I'd like during his nap - and scream for most of the second flight. Oh, and I'd be totally ignoring the fact that he insisted on going for a walk and had an utter throw-myself-on-the-floor screaming tantrum meltdown when I wouldn't let him past the curtain into first class (not that he doesn't have a legitimate argument - heck, even a toddler gets that classism is just fundamentally wrong - but what can I say, I don't make the rules).
(Bodie looking all innocent when I decided to try gate-checking his carseat on the last flight and letting him sit like a big boy...)

BUT, and yes, this is a huge BUT, all was redeemed, when, upon deplaning at LAX, Bodie and I were talking about his "Junior Flight Book" (something they give kids nowadays instead of wings - kind of like a passport, with a log of each flight, signed by the pilot). All of the sudden, the pilot came out and said "did I hear someone say something about wanting to meet the pilot and come sit in the cockpit?"

As I was screaming "YES! YES! YES! How cool would that be?" and Bodie was eyeing him suspiciously, we got to go into the cockpit! (as an aside, thank goodness the pilot was in front of Bodie, so couldn't hear Bodie saying "Mommy! He took my book! GIVE MY BOOK BACK" followed by mutterings of "Naughty, naughty pilot!" when the pilot took his book to sign). 

I may or may not have had to bribe Bodie with a promise of candy to get him to cooperate for these pics, but hey it worked - check it out! 


 This pilot was SO unbelievably nice! He totally teared up when we mentioned Bodie's history and how we never even knew if we'd be able to fly, let alone take a trip like the one we just took. And after we left the cockpit, he asked if he could give Bodie "one last airplane ride" and pushed his stroller up the ramp into the airport! What a super nice guy to give us such an awesome memory!
 It was an AWESOME way to end a stellar vacation! (Oh, and the first thing the kids said when they saw daddy? "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! We got to ride in a MINIVAN!" Guess I wasn't the only one who was impressed!)
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4 comments:

  1. aww looks like such an awesome trip and thats so awesome that you got to sit in the cockpit!

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  2. What a great ending to a difficult trip! I had the same problem with American this summer where they switched our flight to an earlier time without telling us. Also totally split up our family of 6. One unhappy mamma here for sure. At the last minute they put our family in the last two rows, but had me panicking for a bit.
    I'm glad you have had a good vacation.
    How is Dusk? Are his hips getting any better?

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  3. Oh my gosh your posts always have me cracking up. Bodie, "naughty, naughty pilot." Ha ha ha!!! I love that kid!
    Sorry about your last minute flight change. That stinks that they did that. But on the bright side at least you got to experience checking out the cockpit! That's awesome!

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  4. Looks like an amazing trip!
    Those 1st 2 pictures of Bodie with the toe head and chubby cheeks reminds me of Greg back in the day at Grandma & Grandpa's place in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware over the summers! Too cute.

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