The Flight to WA

This is one of those flights that John and I will always remember. Especially the Denver to WA leg of the trip.

Our trip did not get off to a great start. Apparently, baby food ground meat is a liquid. It did not occur to me that it was, so I did not have it separated out in a little bag. Yes, it was our error, but security guy, you did not have to be such a jerk about it. You did not have to be that rough with a suitcase of baby items. Was it really necessary to inspect every single one of Baby Boy’s toys, stuffed animals, books, diapers, wipes, and clothes and toss them in a pile? Yes, I understand airport security, rules, and protocol, but this guy’s attitude and condescending lecture were completely unnecessary. A common sense approach would have been to inform me that the two jars of tender beef and spinach were considered a liquid, look in the suitcase a bit, do the swabs and testing, and send me on my way. Perhaps Baby Boy and I look threatening standing there together with our shoes off, struggling to get all our things back in order. During all of this, John was being hassled over our stroller.

On a side note, he found the 2 jars of tender beef and spinach in the suitcase, but missed 3 jars of creamy chicken and apples in the diaper bag. Anyone wonder what else he missed over 2 jars of tender beef and spinach?

We made it to our gate in plenty of time, were able to grab lunch for ourselves, and feed Baby Boy a jar of creamy chicken and apples. When they started calling for passengers to board our plane, we gathered our stuff up to board a little early since we were traveling with our 10 month old. The airline employee rudely informed us we had to wait until our group was called. Pre-boarding is no longer available for young children. They still let elderly, active military, et cetera pre-board, but not the babies. Let me tell you, we were in a great mood by this point.

We reach our seats and there is a guy about our age in the in the window seat. He has an iPad, earbuds, shiny sunglasses, and a bright blue baseball cap. All things we know Baby Boy finds irresistible. On the whole though, that flight went really well. Baby Boy played with his toys, ate some puffs, and worked over John’s iPad.

During our 3 hour layover in Denver, we grabbed some food, and Baby Boy finally took a little less than an hour nap. We were a little less than thrilled about the next flight, but here’s where it get’s awesome.

We had originally been scheduled to depart from Gate 58, but were switched to Gate 85. Great way for the airline to keep messing with us, right? We reached our gate about 5 minutes before boarding. The guy called for all those eligible for pre-boarding. Then he said, “Anyone who feels they need extra time to get on the plane, now’s your time to get on the plane!”

While we were getting our things settled on the plane, the elderly lady sitting across the aisle from us asked if she could hold Baby Boy for us while we got settled. She had a sparkly shirt on so of course Baby Boy made a new friend. (If anyone had asked to hold Baby Boy under almost any other circumstance, they would have gotten a big fat no, but this lady was in her 70s and stuck on a small airplane.) Later the flight attendant came by, and she and Baby Boy became great friends. We later found out she has a 4 year old grandson, and the other flight attendant had 5 kids.

A man in his 20s and his mother sat behind us. They played some fun games of peekaboo, and the guy would give Baby Boy “high 5s” over the seat while John held him. I’m not sure of all games they played, but Baby Boy had a lot of fun.

One lady helped her very elderly mother to the restroom and stopped to talk to us on her way there. After she helped her mother back to her seat, she came back to show us pictures of her 10.5 month old granddaughter she was traveling to see. Then she asked if she could take Baby Boy’s picture to show her granddaughter that she met him on the plane.

After the flight attendants finished serving beverages, (they gave Baby Boy a cup to play with which he loved) they came back to talk to him some more. Then one of the flight attendants asked if she could walk with him. We said sure. She took him up to the front of the plane and let him “push buttons” in the galley. After that, she walked him down the aisle introducing him to the other passengers. Baby Boy had a great time waving and smiling at everyone. He even shook a few passenger’s hands. Oh to see him perched in her arms waving and grinning! It was adorable and hilarious.

The flight attendants brought him back to us just before landing along with some hot towels to clean his little hands with. Our little prince got the royal treatment on that flight. We half expected to hear he was getting to fly the plane!

After landing, we let all the other passengers off the plane first. Baby Boy enjoyed waving “bye” to all his new friends. Many of them stopped and told us what a good boy he was, how much they enjoyed having him on the flight, and how entertaining he was. There was a man sitting a few rows behind us with multiple facial piercings who must have enjoyed interacting with Baby Boy because even he stopped to compliment Baby Boy. I’m sure Baby Boy was fascinated by all the “shiny” on his face and would have loved to get his little fingers on all the piercings.

It was a surreal flight. We have never seen anything like that before. It definitely will be a flight we always remember!