We made it to the gate in DCA with them announcing they were just about to close the door. We didn't even have time to change diapers (still from the night before).
Good news is that the first flight went off with ease. Max slept in Daddy's arms and Ellie enjoyed every first movement. Once we got our seat, she could hardly wait to leave. About 5 minutes after sitting on the plan and asking about 5 times when we would leave she said, "Mommy, I can't wait anymore."
The look on her face as we took off was priceless. i didn't get any photos, because I was too busy just enjoying it. She grinned and just looked like she was feeling every bit of it. It was so cute.
She could barely see out the window - even though she was in a window seat. She was too low. A few times I left her get up to see. She liked looking down at the houses.
As we were flying into NYC, she got to see how we were flying over the ocean. On the other side, there were some clouds below us. That was really fascinating to her as well.
As we started to come down for a landing, I give her a little heads up about each thing she'd feel - the landing gear coming out, the bumps when we hit the ground, the big noises and then how we slowed down. She again loved and relished each new movement and moment. The looks on her face were precious.
The stay in NYC at JFK was about 2 hours. We used it to get breakfast and tried to have Ellie move about. The kids were very tired becuase I don't think they slept once we got them up, even though we tried to keep them asleep by keeping them in their same clothes and dressing them into their jackets and seats.
We were very lucky when we boarded the flight - second to last this time - only to be followed by another family of 4 with two kids just younger then ours. When we boarded, the flight attendant asked where we were sitting and proceeded to tell us to move up and take any seats we'd like becuase it was an empty flight. This was a great blessing!
We settled into a row of 5 seats just in the front of coach. Max was able to sleep on his own seat and Ellie had lots of room for coloring, laying, playdo and everything else one could think of.
The flight was long, as you would imagine. We were all tired. No one slept well. The food was nasty. However, I couldn't of been more proud of the kids. They both did really really well - all things considered. I hope we can get as lucky when we go back.
We arrived into London around 8:30pm. My friend Alan had agreed to pick us up and drive us to Oxford. He even rented car seats for the kids. It all went smoothly. Again, the kids were great. We were the second to last to also retrieve our luggage, but we did it without tears. This is a great accomplishment.
David and I agreed that although traveling during the daytime meant we missed a vacation day to travel, it was totally worth it so that we weren't exhausted in the end.
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