Let's fly in an AIRPLANE!

We just returned from a 6-day trip to visit Noah's grandparents in Key West. This involved a 5-leg trip in each direction; in there-ward order:

1. Car trip from home to where we parked the car, a couple of miles from the airport


2. Taxi ride from the car to the airport


3. First leg of airplane trip to Miami


4. Second leg of airplane trip from Miami to Key West


5. Car trip from airport to Nana's house

Reverse to come home.

I don't think we were more than 2 minutes into the taxi ride when Noah made his first announcement that he was "ready to get out of here." Uh, okay kid, but you've got a good long while to wait to be done with this trip, and it's too late to punch out now.

He handled the plane ride with aplomb, other than the struggle over putting on his seat belt. He's actually a good little traveling companion, sat in my lap and identified objects outside the window as we taxied and took off, and wasn't at all taken aback by going to 30,000 feet. He snacked and played with toys and talked to me, and really we just had a real good trip. And he got excited about landing, and was delighted to see his Nana at the airport.

And after dinner that night, he said "Okay, let's go on the airplane and go home now." It took the first 2 days for him to realize we were staying for awhile. But he loved the little sleeping bag/inflatable mattress his grandmother got for him to sleep in, and loved the beach, and LOVED riding in his stroller up and down Duvall Street and napping. He loved being with his grandparents. Really, he just had a great time, and other than a few expected and (I think) normal not-quite-3-year-old meltdowns when thwarted or when things weren't moving to his speed, he was a complete and total angel.

He enthusiastically got back on the plane to come home, and even willingly put his seat belt on and sat in his own seat during takeoff on the long leg of the return trip, and placidly handled the multi-car trip home. We came into the house just about 10pm, and he was asleep in his big-boy bed (instead of his "new liiiiittle bed") within minutes of coming in.

While we were there, he played in the surf a few times, which in Key West is blissfully low, and ran-ran-ran on the beach, and dug in the sand like a terrier, and threw rocks into the water. We had dinner one night at friends of his grandparents who have a pool, and he swam-swam-swam until he was nearly unconscious and starving. I mean really -- what's not to like about such a trip?

And in the most exciting news of all, we left the house without a single sippy cup or pacifier, and survived the whole trip. He had plastic cups with straws and did just fine, and other than when he was a little freaked out by the strange bed at first, he didn't give a second thought to his pacifier, something I couldn't have imagined leaving the house without a couple of months ago, much less the state for a week.

I can't believe what a big guy he's become, or how much fun I had traveling with him. Or how proud I am of him.