leavin' on a jet plane

Backing up to toss up some summer vacation photos.

It wasn't actually a jet plane, but it was the corporate shuttle at Daddy's work.  Not bad if your very first flight ever is on a corporate plane, eh?  Lew came to the private airport (no security, no checking in 2 hours early... you just show up about 15 minutes before the flight and board the plane) and walked us out to the plane.  There were only 3 business travelers that day.  Later, they reported to Lew how wonderful his children were on the plane.

We had to dress up.  Well, Business Casual - which for us, is dressing up.

 Definitely, look both ways before crossing the runway.

So, we boarded and took off.  They loved that part!  Once the 'fasten seat belts' light was off, the pilots invited us up front.  We had a view of the front as it was, but how cool to get to see their view and check out all the gazillion buttons?  They also allowed us to wander to the back of the plane and get our own snacks, water, juice and coffee.  A couple times, I glanced over to find Carl missing from his seat - back getting another drink of water like he owned the place.

Carl at take off!

The seats were 2 on one side, 1 on the other side of the aisle, but they were off-set.  So, Carl wanted to sit alone.  He was behind us a little.  He was so good through the whole flight.  He enjoyed all his activities... mp3 player, reading, snacking.

Gretchen and I got to enjoy all the leg room that having every other row of seats removed.  We had fun going through her bag of stuff, too.  She and I were a little more tuned into the few bumps we felt as we started to approach the NY airport.  Less than 2 hours in the air!   There were quite a few bumps as we descended.  The girls didn't like how it made our stomachs feel.  I just kept hoping no one would throw up... self included.  Meanwhile, if you are unaware of the fact that turbulence might mean a dangerous landing - then, a rocky landing is a blast!  Carl literally sat over there cheering!  Woooooo!!!!!

Once we landed, we had a hiccup getting our rental car, but luckily one of the other travelers loaded us into his rental car and took us to the real airport to straighten things out.  That would have been a crazy walk with 2 kids, 2 car seats, backpacks, camera, my satchel and our huge suitcase.  Then, we hopped into our Crown Vic (Carl approved) and headed over to the Museum of Glass to make our annual glass Christmas ornaments.  We also grabbed lunch at Wegmans!!!  Yay!!

Notice the Little Joe tower in the background?  That same gaffer is depicted on the Wegmans sign.

 another guest offered to take our picture for us

 I actually really enjoyed this car.  Much nicer than that Chevy Aveo I had to rent when our van was getting fixed.  And, every single car I came up upon slowed down to the speed limit.  It was kind of funny.  Guess an unmarked white Crown Vic will do that to ya.

From there, we headed to Grammie's house to begin our summer vacation!  I'll get a few more photos and stories from that up here soon.