First Plane Ride

For the past two months or so we've been talking up our exciting plans to head to Colorado for my brother's graduation. We told the littles about how they were going with mommy and Nana on an airplane for the first time, bought them headphones so they could watch movies on the plane, and got them excited about seeing all the extended family that would be there. Noelle was definitely excited and has been asking for the past month or so if we would be leaving for Colorado the next day. And when we woke up early last Thursday morning to head to the airport, they were excited enough to cooperate with getting dressed and out the door!

Luke dropped my mom, the kids, and me off at the front, and thankfully a really nice guy helped carry a carseat to the curbside check-in so that we could wrangle the kids and luggage without Luke having to step away from the car. After a smooth check-in, we headed inside and thankfully were able to get through security quickly. The kids seemed interested in watching everything around them, and did not get impatient with having to stand in line.

Once we found our gate, I walked around with the kids, exploring the moving walkway and watching the planes out on the tarmac. Jonah especially was enthralled by all of it! I'm pretty sure he could spend an entire day at an airport watching airplanes come and go.

Since we were flying Southwest, we hoped to be able to board early enough to get a row of three seats with an aisle seat for my mom on the other side. Thankfully after the A people boarded, families were able to board and we found seats all in a row towards the back of the plane. Noelle and Jonah watched out the window and pointed out the moving luggage carts and other activities down below. Once it was time for takeoff, I handed out Frozen fruit snacks (or Anna snacks as we call them) to hopefully keep them both occupied, and chewing so that they wouldn't get plugged ears.

The flight itself went pretty much as I expected- Noelle was kept happy (for the most part) by watching movies, and Jonah screeched/screamed on and off because he couldn't just get up and walk around.  At one point, a very kind flight attendant came over and offered to walk him up and down the aisle. He very willingly went over to her and they made a few trips up and back to stretch his legs. I felt bad for those around us, and I'm pretty sure Jonah was the worst behaved child on the plane, but I also know it could have been much worse!

Once we arrived in Denver, we gathered our luggage and the carseats, found some lunch, and then spent some time wandering around and waiting for my dad to arrive, who was coming directly from a business trip. We had so much stuff, but we got it all to the rental car without too much trouble, and then the kids both took a nice little nap on the drive from Denver to Estes Park. The drive there was full of beautiful views, and we got to our condos in time to get settled before joining the rest of the extended family who had already arrived!

Jonah checking out the front of the plane!