A 'Plane' Disaster

Last weekend, Greg decided to plan a family day for us. He said he wanted to take the family up in the plane, fly to Tucson for lunch and then fly home. (For those of you who don't know, Greg has his pilot's license and is part of a club where he has access to a few small planes.) I was very excited for a "family day" (they don't happen too often), but was very hesitant in taking the boys up in a plane. I didn't think they would handle it too well. Plus, with me being 34 weeks pregnant and my morning sickness returning, I wasn't sure how well I would do either. Greg seemed to think it would be fine, after all, the kids love playing the "flying game" with daddy on the computer.


Saturday arrived and we were constantly talking up the flight to Ethan, who was the most hesitant to go. Ethan kept saying he wanted to see the plane, not sit in it. So off to the airport we went. Ethan and Aidan loved seeing all the planes. Finally, we came to our plane. Greg got the kids out of the truck, and started on all the plane checks, while Aidan followed close behind, with great interest. Ethan stood to the side of the plane with a look of fear upon his face. He pleaded with me to stay behind, he didn't want to go. Aidan, very eager for the trip, jumped into the plane and sat in his booster chair..."Let's go!" He was ready for adventure. I did everything to try to get Ethan into the plane. I pleaded, I bribed, and I threatened. Nothing worked, and as I looked into his sad little face, I saw tears start to well up in his eyes, so I did what any mother would do, I picked him up in my arms....and threw him into the plane and said "buck up, your little brother isn't scared." By this point Ethan was crying and Aidan was still enjoying life. I climb into the plane, & my door won't close. Then Greg tried, it still won't close. He got outside of the plane and tried to close it, we played around with this door for about 6 minutes before we got the thing to actually shut. On the plus side, it was very distracting to Ethan and he had stopped crying. We got our headsets out & Ethan says he wanted one, so we hooked another up for him. Now we were able to talk to each other. I asked Ethan if he could hear me, and he showed me a little smile and shouted "yes" into his headset. It was finally time to start the plane and head to the runway. All family on board, all with smiles. Perhaps our family day will be a success after all.

Before we can take off there is another plane awaiting departure. Ethan and Aidan stare at this plane and watch it take off. "Whoa...that was cool dad." Now, its our turn. Greg gets on the radio, does his "pilot talk" to the tower. "Clear for take off." Speeding down the runway, and lifting off into air, I hear this "oh yeah, baby" over the headset. Ethan is excited as can be. Then I check on Aidan, his knuckles white from clenching so tight to his booster seat armrests. The look on his face was not all smiles like before. It was more like he saw a ghost, his face turning a little pale. Ethan still enjoying the once dreaded flight, now saying, "Look at all the cars, look at all the houses, the clouds are big." Ethan is no longer a concern at this point. I direct my attention to Aidan who has finally broke into tears and is terrified. He kept trying to get out of his seat and climb into mine. However, this is quite impossible in such a small, limited spaced plane. I did everything to try to calm him. He looked out the window and saw the cars , he stopped crying for a moment until we hit a little turbulence that bounced the plane around. I calmed him down again, then Greg made a slight turn which made Aidan lean a little too close to the window, and again he cried. I finally told Greg, this just isn't going to work. We need to go back. Greg, a little disappointed, agreed and turned the plane around.

We land and park the plane, the crying has stopped. Greg comments on how that was his shortest flight ever. (We only spent about 10 minutes in the air before we landed.) We get the kids out of the plane and ask them if they had fun. They both answer loudly, "yeah!" Then I ask, do you want to do it again sometime? Ethan excitedly shouts, "no!" & Aidan says, "yes!" (his answer for everything) Ethan then brags about what a big boy he was that he went in the plane and Aidan was a baby because he cried. He should get a toy for being such a big, brave boy. Since I had tried to bribe Ethan before the flight with a new toy it only seemed appropriate to go along with his request. Besides, I felt really guilty about how I got him to ride in the plane to begin with. Greg and I took the boys to Target and they got to pick out a new monster truck and then we headed for home.

Our fun family adventure was over, and although it seemed a disaster, it is a day I will never forget. We probably won't be doing that for a while, but if we do, we'll leave the little ones with a sitter.