First Airplane Trip

We spent the weekend in DC.

It was Beanie's first time on a plane and she had a blast!! I picked a short flight on purpose to see how it goes and am happy to report it was a huge success.

She was super excited about the trip the closer we got to the date.

I kept her home from school on Thur and Fri since many kids were coming down with sickness and I wanted her to stay well. That threw a wrench in my preparation, so Thurs and Fri were very stressful having to work, pack and have her home all day (given I can accomplish nothing with a 3 year old around). Luckily my parents pitched in. They had her over both evenings which allowed me to run errands and get stuff together.

Also, its amazing that almost always when I need to go on a trip I find I need new things, in this case new pair of running shoes, a new pair of jeans (ugh, putting on weight!), and I realized on Wed that Beani's shoes were getting ratty hence she needed a new pair, too. Not to mention I wanted to use Ub.er and needed a new phone (!) to be  able to download the app.....eek! My old phone did not have enough space to download anything despite it having no pics etc - those are on the SD card.

Anyway, it all got done and we left on Sat.

My parents came along since the purpose of the trip was for Beanie to meet my elderly aunt - my Dad's sister.  Beanie was thrilled to sit in the bus from the car park, and get the bags checked and enter the terminal. My Dad called for a wheelchair since he cannot walk to far and we all went though the quick security (forget what its called) since I had it on my ticket.  I let her hand her boarding pass and her new passport to the security check agent. She felt very proud and grown up. The TSA folks were very nice and one guy put a smiley face on her boarding pass. My sis had bought Beanie a fun suitcase for Christmas that a child can sit on while the parent pulls it -- we breezed through the airport terminal getting lots of smiles and looks from passengers. Very cool!!

We got at the gate very early and then had a delay of 40 min. We had lunch and I went up and down the terminal taking Beanie fr rides on her Trun.ki. We finally boarded after being asked 100 times when the place will come and when we can get on.

So excited!!

She was very animated with a million questions. It was such fun to experience this with her!

She sat on her seat and asked lots of questions which I was happy to answer. Then she says -- "I have never been on a  plane before, thank you for bringing me".....awwwww, my heart melted. Even the young guy in the seat in front turned around at that point to look at her her and said that was so adorable.

We took off and she waited patiently for the flight attendant to begin service and ordered apple juice with ice. Funny thing is I don't keep juice in the house (we eat fruit instead) but she has had it at birthday parties, so it was a treat for her.  She happily had her drink and snack and we took out our fun stuff - a new coloring book and crayons. We did some coloring and I had got some window stickers (removable) that we stuck on the window. And then she asked to use the bathroom. I had purchased noise reducing kiddie earphones for her since she does not like noise, but surprisingly she did not need to use it. The bathroom were noisy but she was okay.

When we were landing we had a beautiful view from our seat. She was surprised to feel the sensation of her ear popping, but I made it seem silly and fun so she was okay. I had carried organic lollipops for take off and landing, but she preferred to just take sips of water.

I told the flight attended that it was Beanie's very first flight. They got her a set of wings and said she could take a photo with the pilot. However, by the time we got off (we were last due to my Dad needing a  wheelchair), our actual flight crew had left. The new cockpit crew were at the door. I went up to the first officer and asked him if we could take a pic. He took Beanie into the cockpit, had her sit on the captain's seat so I could take a picture of her and then one of her and him. So cool!

Sitting in the pilot's seat

Waiting for bags with Baby

The hotel was a bit of a disappointment in some respects. It was a good name-brand hotel, across the street from my aunt's apartment, had very good reviews on the travel websites and cost a fair penny (DC is so expensive!). The first room we got smelled like mold so we walked right back to the lobby and asked for another room.  The second room was better but still had an odd smell (like smoke).  And it was incredibly hot and stuffy.  Apparently the hotel AC system and conked out and just got  back up that day. We set the thermostat at 65 and got a fan. It did cool down in a bit. Staff was very nice, and breakfast and location were awesome, but I would not go back.

We had a lovely visit with my aunt that evening. I had not seen her in about 4 years. She was very supportive of my decision to become an SMC and remembers Beanie's birthday etc even though she had 5 kids and many grand and great grand kids of her own.

On Sunday morning after breakfast, we went back to her place to meet my cousin and her husband who live close by, and then Beanie, my Mom and I headed out to the museums. I had not planned any outdoor activity since I knew it would be too hot. Also Beanie is too small to do any trolley or bus tours.

We went to the Museum of Am. History to a the kiddie place there. She played for a bit and had a blast. We walked around a bit and had lunch in the cafe. Later we went outside and walked to the Natural History museum. It started pouring rain. I had see the forecast before we left and had brought an umbrella for me and Beani'e too.  We wandered around the next museum saw some nice exhibits on Mammals and headed back to the hotel.

I have to say I found the Smith.sonians a tad disappointing. The exhibits are nice, but the signage is so poor. Even with maps it was not clear where things are. For example they say 2nd Floor EAST has x, y, z exhibits. So you go there and then nothing -  no arrows to say okay this exhibit is on the right, or left or around the corner. And its huge, therefore, not easy to keep wandering around until you find that right spot. Most people were looking confused and there were no docents to ask for assistance. But regardless we saw some interesting things. We were walking around following Beanie, but I could see there were exhibits that  would have enjoyed spending some time on. But this trip was about Beanie, as such, we just went where she saw something of interest in the short time we spent there.  I bough Beanie a snow globe and a T-shirt as a souvenir.

That evening Beanie and I went for a walk around the hotel which was very enjoyable. I absolutely love hanging out with her. We talked, took pictures and ended up at a Whole Foods so we wandered around there. Later we went back to my aunt's place for a yummy dinner. By day 2, Beanie was feeling more comfortable around my aunt and she was talking and playing with her. She was also really good with my cousin. They were complete strangers to her, but she talked a bit and allowed herself to be given a hug. I was so proud of her!

Both days Beanie did not nap. Gosh, the kid has energy!  I was racking up about 13K steps on my FitBit, so she was pretty close to doing that too. She was out like a light by 9:30pm both nights!

Today Beanie and I ate breakfast by ourselves. My parents came down right when we were finishing up. After breakfast Beanie and I took another stroll outside the hotel. She got many compliments from guests, saying she was cute and animated and bubbly. That's my girl!

We had another good flight back home, and she is now fast asleep. I am feeling satisfied.  I have been wanting to do this trip for a long time and am so happy we were able to meet my aunt.

Also, it was just so enjoyable to do this trip and see it through Beanie's eyes. The glee in her face when we got on the Park n Ride bus or when she saw the plane come to the gate or when we took off -- priceless!!

Tomorrow its back to school for her and work for me.