BEST TRAVELER AWARD!!

Brady and I are in Florida visiting my parents and friends for a few days while Alan is in Switzerland. We always fly Southwest because we can get incredibly cheap direct fares and until this past Tuesday we've never experienced any real delays. Anyhow, our flight was scheduled to leave Dulles at 6:40pm so we arrived at the airport at about 4:30, which is a bit early, but you never know what traffic is going to be like and it's not uncommon for the security lines to be a mess, so I'd rather be on the early side, especially since it was just me and Brady. When we checked in at the counter to check our bags we were told the flight had been delayed until 6:55pm, which was no big deal. So we sailed right through security (of course, because we had extra time)and went to our terminal. We hung out for awhile at an uncrowded gate area near ours so that Brady could "run around" before being forced to sit for the 2 hour flight. Just after 6 we went over to our gate to see what was happening(after a bathroom break/diaper change)....the board still said that we were still leaving at 6:55pm, good news!!! Well, at 6:40pm we still had not been told to line up for boarding, so I knew there was no way we were leaving at 6:55. At 7pm we were still in the gate area....7:15pm still in the gate area...7:30pm still in the gate area, only now we are in the line at the counter so I can try and find out what is happening with our flight, and by now Brady had fallen asleep in his stroller( I was SERIOUSLY considering not going at this point because I had overheard that we might be waiting for up to 2 hours!!!) Also at this time I received a text from my friend Vivianne, who dropped us off at the airport and had our car and had driven out to Purceville, to tell me that she had just gotten caught in a hail storm!! She wanted to know if Alan liked "dimples"!!!....7:45pm I was about 3 people from the front of the line at the counter and we were told to line up so we could begin boarding, so we line up. Of course I had to wake Brady up at the end of the jetway to get him out of the stroller so we could find a seat on the plane....8pm the plane is just about fully boarded (we had an empty seat next to us) and the pilot comes on to tell us he has bad news.....there are thunderstorms in the area and the FAA has grounded all fights but they wanted us boarded so that we could leave at a moments notice!!!.... 8:30pm the flight attendants start playing games to keep the passengers occupied i.e. ladies, who has the most lipsticks in their purse? (someone had 6!!!) Men, who has the most business cards other than his own? (some had over 20)Left side verses right side in a toilet paper race;which side could get it furthest from front to back without it breaking? (left side won) All of this would have been amusing if it wasn't 8:30pm and if there weren't A TON of little ones on the plane who SHOULD be sleeping at this point!!! Brady was clapping for the winners so I guess he wasn't bothered by it! We were spending most of our time looking out the window, reading books and trying to get him to fall asleep....9pm our plane needed to back away from the jetway because another plane needed it to unload passengers; pilot felt pretty confident that we would be able to takeoff within the hour; all passengers with connecting flights to New Orleans and West Palm would officially miss their connections, they were free to get off the plane before we moved back from the jetway to rebook for the morning; Again I SERIOUSLY considered bailing at this point, so I call my mom to see what she thinks...she was no help!! :) I call Viv to see if she's eaten dinner/can she come get me? She says it's up to me. I decide to wait it out til next available bail point because Brady is still being remarkably good and is still in great spirits despite being tired; All the N.O. and W.P. passengers come back on board which caused a near riot because people had taken their now empty seats and then the N.O. and W.P. people wanted their original seats back!!!;Brady and I read Baby Einstein 'Neighborhood Animals' and 'Baby Noah World Animals' for the 3rd time each!...9:30pm we finally moved back from the jetway and waited on the "roadway" at the gate area; Brady's still happy and being amused by the nice lady sitting behind us....10pm pilot says FAA still has everyone grounded but thinks we will depart within the hour (DUDE, you said that LAST HOUR!!!!);Brady's STILL awake and happy and we're reading the Baby Einstein books AGAIN!!.....10:30pm "Flight attendants please take your seats we've been cleared for takeoff";clapping ensues; someone yells "we haven't taken off YET"; Brady's STILL awake but fading fast....10:45 LIFTOFF!!!! Brady falls asleep IMMEDIATELY!!!!SHHHEWW....12:35am we land in Tampa; Brady wakes up with a smile!!!....1:30am we finally get to my parents house after getting our luggage which took forever, probably because no one was working!!....1:45am put Brady to bed!!! Holy Cow, what a long night that was but I couldn't be more proud of my son for lasting 2 hours and 45 minutes sitting on the plane and then another 2+hours of actual flying time and being happy the whole time!! I also have to give a "shout out" to all the other little ones on the plane because it could've been a disaster but they ALL were troopers. Also a BIG THANKS to nice lady sitting behind us who knew just when to get Brady's attention!!!

I have to say that Brady has flown quite a bit since we brought him home 8 months ago and he's been an AWESOME flyer for every flight except one, when we were "that family" that no one wants to be. We are very blessed to have such a great little boy who is literally smiling 90% of the time!!! WE LOVE YOU PUMPKIN!!!!

7:30pm... Brady fast asleep while I'm in the line at the counter trying to find out what is going on. How sweet is he?? Notice that Mr. Bear is keeping him company!!