Discovery Flight

The birthday has come and gone and Sean is a happy 27 year old. Would you like to see his birthday present? Here it is:

I bought him a plane! No I didn't. But I did get him a flight lesson!

Okay, okay, enough of the sneak peak. I want to recap his fun birthday weekend. Saturday morning we went to the splash pad, arriving about three minutes before the rain. We giggled a little as all the other families scurried away- we're at the splash pad to get wet, right? What's the harm in rain? Well, I'll tell you- it's cold. The sun's gone and it's windy. We probably played for five minutes before the boys only wanted to cuddle. But it was a fun five minutes, gosh dang it!

After naptime, we headed out for an early dinner.

Dash liked his chocolate milk very much.

As did Liam.

Sean was enjoying his special birthday dinner, wondering why I was keeping tabs on the clock. Then, I presented him with his gift:

(Receiving his gift from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.)

Oh my gosh, he was so psyched. He was ready to get to the car and go straight to the airport. Which is good because that's exactly what we needed to do. His lesson was in 15 minutes!

Twenty minutes after he opened his present, he met his airplane. The boys thought it was so cool.

(Meeting the plane from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.)

And Sean thought it was so cool. Liam and Dash kept talking about how it was going to go "up high." Dash was a little nervous though- we had visited the place earlier in the week and a really loud plane put him on edge. He recovered quickly.

So they all checked the plane out. Lots of cool gadgets inside.

It was a two-seater. We could have upgraded to a four-seater for passengers but then I'd have to choose between one of our boys to join Sean, the instructor, and I. Can't have that can we?

It's so light-weight, about 800 lbs. I think our SUV is heavier.

Then we had to go a little bit away while they got ready to take off. Liam did not want to leave his daddy. He even started running away from me to get to him, something he hardly ever does in unfamiliar territory.

I think Dash was happy to have a little distance between him and the planes.

Once the propellers started spinning, they both settled in to watch. My belly makes a nice pillow.

(Taking off from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.)

And they're off! The instructor did the take-off and landing part but Sean had the reins for the rest of it!

Here Sean goes from our perspective- taxiing out...

And lift off!

Into the distance he flew. It was an hour flight, so he got to be up in the air a nice long time.

Here he is, our pilot in action:

(Sean the Pilot from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.)

Did you notice the double rainbow? The instructor pretty much let him go wherever he wanted to go (just asked him to avoid the rainy areas). So Sean got to feel out the controls and try out maneuvers at around 2000 feet. I tell you, this was heavenly for him. It's something he always has wanted to do.

At one point, the instructor pointed out a small landing strip and told him to take the plane down for a landing approach. Sean thinks he was about 50 feet off the ground. As he describes it, you can tell how absolutely thrilling that was- it really felt like he was about to land that plane.

We spent our time on the ground going back in the air conditioned office, drinking water, then going back out to look at more planes. We won't talk about how one of my children had three (THREE!) accidents in an hours time (I ran out of spare clothes).

We pretended to be airplanes and the boys constantly talked about how dad was up in the plane. They still do and probably will for days (or weeks!).

(Landing from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.)

The magical flight had to end sometime. It was a thrill from start to finish.

The boys were so glad to see him and tell him over and over how he had been on a plane (since he obviously hadn't realized, you see).

He looks good with those headphones on. Now he really wants to be a pilot.

Thank you, Cessna 162, for taking good care of the love of my life (it was a really idiotic think to start reading Stephanie Nielson's book this week. Really dumb).

Afterward, we went to get gelato. Naturally.

The boys got extra comfortable switching back and forth between our flavors.

Sunday, Sean's actual birthday (Sunday birthday's are the worst), we had church, talked with family, and ate lots of yummy food. And Sean told me over and over how great his present was. I can tell he still gets a little adrenaline rush whenever he remembers the experience.

Happy birthday, Pilot Sean!