Flying With Children

Logistics, one little word that can encompass so much.

Mix logistics with two healthy helpings of toddler energy, one serving of pregnant wife a pinch of weather and a dash of the normal maintenance issues and you've got yourself an adventure!

We made the decision this summer that due to the aforementioned pregnant wife, traveling back over Thanksgiving or Christmas was not a very feasible proposition. So, we thought we'd make a preemptive strike on the holiday travels and visit family for sort of a Thanksgiving/Christmas in September...before Caroline got to uncomfortable.

Enter logistics.

We are blessed to have a coworker with access to a fairly quick airplane that we were able to use for the sake of cutting down travel time. This effectively cut the traveling down from days into hours. We knew that this is really the last chance to go on a trip to the midwest until after Fisher #3 decides to come, since Caroline is almost half way along already and the airplane only has four seats anyway, so we decided that this would be the only way to get the trip done.

Passing the time in the airplane.

Soon we were making plans and figuring out that "L word"...logistics. As the date got closer to leave, we started to hear news of a hurricane named Issac. This doesn't usually affect me in Ohio but I soon realized that the projected path for the storm was to come up from Louisiana and then turn and move along the same path that we wanted to fly. 

Before I go on, I want to point out that we have been almost as dry as the rest of the country this entire summer. 

 Rain good, timing bad.

The typical view, thankfully.

We finally made the decision that if we didn't leave two days early, we weren't going to leave at all most likely. So after talking to all the people we needed to to change those logistics we had a new plan. 

Anybody who has traveled with kids knows that there is always more stuff than kids required to keep them entertained and below a dull roar. Flying with kids makes one think things like... Will all this stuff fit? Where did the floor go? Do we really need two blankies? Who invented this car seat? They must have never had children. That playpen could be 3 more gallons of fuel! 

There was the occasional child paraphernalia to the back of the head but all in all the kids did great in the plane aside from one little glitch. 

When you drive and a 3.5 year old starts talking about the potty, you can pull over and take care of it in a civilized manner. Worst case scenario, you water/fertilize the grass alongside the road.

In an airplane when a 3.5 year old starts talking about the potty...lets just say Jonas will not under any circumstance go potty in a diaper or cup. Thankfully, he can wait a loooong time evidently. There was that time on descent though that I heard loud a clear through the headset, I NEED TO GO POOPOO! Listening to that for the last ten minutes of the flight is almost enough to make one kiss the ground when one gets out.

Part of flight training is learning to deal with distractions without crashing. I used to tell my students to pick up a pencil off the floor or deal with a door that opens in flight. I think next time, I'll have the student change a diaper while I scream something about bowel movements.

Jonas took this picture.

But not this one.

While at Caroline's folks' in Oklahoma, we got to go see a fly in that happened to be going on the same weekend we were there. Jonas and Lucy did good eating their breakfast despite the distractions of a lot of people and planes coming and going.

Lucy learned how to swing like a big kid...

and quickly found a better way.

We got to try out a new playground at the elementary school in Ponca City, OK and Lucy graduated to the big kids swing. She wanted to reenact superman instead of sitting though. 

This must be the 50th time down.

Lucy was going for speed.

We got to go to a waterpark in a town nearby, which is kind of like finding an oasis in the Sahara given the drought this year. Jonas and Lucy quickly found their favorite slide and evidently wore the lifeguard out because she got up and left! As you can see in the pictures above, she was working very hard.

Right before Lucy showed us what a beachball sized baby would look like.

That's about right.

After a few days in Oklahoma, we traveled to my folks' place in Branson West, MO. Lucy had a fun time talking about the baby in Caroline's tummy and decided to emulate her by forcing a beachball in her shirt. I guess she may have had some help.

Feeding trout at the fish hatchery.

Look at the size of that thing!

Classic... empty stroller, walking child.

We had a great time feeding the trout at the Shepherd of Hills Fish Hatchery in Branson and wore the kids plum out watching fish jump over each other for the tasty morsels. Later that night when Jonas and Lucy's hands still smelled of fish food, we couldn't agree with the fish about the tastiness of it.

New toys from my Aunt.

Fun with second cousins!

We all had a fun time seeing extended family as well. Jonas and Lucy got to remeet some of their second cousins and Aunts and Uncle and had fun blowing bubbles, teeter tottering, and all around being kids. Caroline and I got to talk with Aunts and Uncles and Cousins as well.

Tucked away safe at home again!

Barring a cantankerous oil temperature indication system that delayed our return a day and a half, flying with kids turned out to be a lot of fun. Jonas liked it when he could fly the plane. Unfortunately, Jonas' idea of flying includes manuevers that this plane or our stomachs aren't approved for. So I spent most of the time countering his control movements. Lucy did a great job of sleeping most of the time and the rest of the time, she did pretty good entertaining herself with the assortment of time killers that Caroline so wisely packed.

The time saved by flying instead of driving even here in the United States is a great example of what the airplane can do in a country where roads are non-existent or in constant disrepair. What would have taken us about 40 hours of driving over about 5 or 6 days, instead took a total of 11 hours of flying.

Restless kids, pregnant wife, mechanical malfunctions, weather, time.

Logistics...that one little word.
 I might as well learn to embrace it, because I don't think it's leaving anytime soon.

Thank goodness God knows what "unexpected surprises" are in store for us before they happen...so I guess they aren't really unexpected after all.

Gladly working through the logistics for Him,

Ben