Airplane Thrill!

I got a text from my high school friend Debbie on Friday night (Oct 19) . . . "I know it's late but what are you doing tomorrow?  We want to fly down."  Sweet!  We haven't seen each other in a while so this would be perfect.  And then she mentioned that Greg, her husband, would give us a ride in their rented airplane.  Even sweeter!  I kept it a secret from the kids ALL day.  All I told them was that we had something secret planned for the afternoon.  We pull into the local airport at 4:30 and Greg, Debbie and family have just landed.  We had time to visit a bit and then the boys went up in the air.  

Ephraim and Emmet were pretty pumped up when they found out that they were going up, up and up!  In fact, I think there was a hint of disbelief at first but that gave way to being ecstatic!

 Thrilled beyond words for what he was about to experience.

 Emmet and Ephraim sat in the back while Seth sat up front with Greg.

 Taking off!  They had about a 20 minute flight up the road, over our house and beyond.

When the boys got back, it was time for the girls to ride.  I was a bit apprehensive about how they would handle it but they were brave and acted like pros.

 Eliza getting the hang of the headphones.

 Flying over our house, in the middle.  Okay, actually you can't see it since it is buried under the yellow trees.  You can see the barn with the green roof in the center of the picture.  You can see the neighbor's house across the road and up the road.

The town of Fremont.  

Greg thought it best to have one child in front and one in the back with me.  Probably so the kids don't flip out and go hysterical and try to climb up front if that was where I'd been sitting.  So, Eden was the only child to sit in the front seat!  Big stuff.  

We were able to enjoy some time visiting in the airport while enjoying a snack.  And then it was time for them to fly off into the sunset to Des Moines.

It was a short, but enjoyable 2 hours.  We're so glad that they thought of us when making their plans of what to do with a plane for an afternoon.  It was an experience my children won't soon forget.  In fact, Eliza's ambition to be a fairy has now advanced to being an airplane fairy.  A personal airplane ride is quite a privilege and we were all thrilled to spend time with some great friends.