Bound for Chicago!!

Are you ready for a Chicago marathon of posts? I've got 6 comin' at ya and my goal will be one per night. (It's taken me over a week to get this one out, so this might actually be too lofty of a goal, but heck, I'll try for it.)

So, the day finally arrived when we'd be getting on a plane (a 737, red-bellied Southwest, actually). This flight experience has to go down in the books as the easiest standby flying trip we've ever taken, especially considering we were headed out of our smaller, local airport and we needed four tickets during the prime holiday season. I couldn't have been more shocked. In the past, I've watched flight availability for days and felt confident about our chances only to have a tour group or sports club at the very last minute come snatch all 60 some seats we thought were just waiting wide open for us. Flights can look promising and then be sold out the very next day. So, with cautious opimism I'd peek at our desired flight's availability and continue to pinch myself everytime I saw that it still looked good. And by Christmas Eve, we woke up and had a leisurely breakfast and strolled over to the airport just after lunch. (Incredible, since we are used to waking up at 3am to catch eeearly morning flights out of LAX, which adds so many variables including traffic.) We waltzed onto the plane and settled in. Badda bing. :) 

Just before we boarded, we heard the amazing news that Uncle Randy was finally, finally able to get on a plane from Portland and would actually be meeting us in Las Vegas for our connecting flight to Chicago!!! We were sooo happy!!!! The poor guy had waited in an airport for 3 days trying to get a single fight out. Sheesh. Here are the boys just after we greeted Randy in Vegas. All smiles, I tell you. What could be more thrilling than airplanes and seeing family? Not much.

Randy was awesome and helped entertain the boys during our 2 hour layover.

At one point, during a long wait for a pilot, one of the Southwest staff members asked if we wanted to go and see the flight deck inside the plane. Boy, did we!!!

The boys were given the royal treatment by a fellow pilot named Kyle. They were adorable and won the heart of at least one flight attendant. That forward woman kept asking my little guy for winks! :)

Then we all got to have a seat and look around. :) It's so facinating to think about how all that weight gets up in the air. Amazing.

Some more waiting. This picture cracks me up because Gavie just loves wearing his hats super low. Don't know why.

Kyle, we are almost to Chicago!!!!!! He was perfectly happy to eat his snacks and look out the window. No need for any other entertainment. 

 

GG!!!!!!!! It was so fun to be greeted at the gate, just like the old days. She can, obviously, because she is an employee. Love your job, GG!!

Sweet!