from Florida, with love (and no snow!)

in the bleak mid-winter of northeastern PA, we planned a trip to sunny Florida with the little girls, so they could see their beloved Nanny and Papa. i booked the flight on the first of February, and the departure date was the 9th.

9 days is a long time to wait! every day, numerous times, each of the girls would stop what they were doing and say: "I'm ready to go to nanny and papa's now!"

to help the girls understand when we would be leaving, i showed them the number nine on the calendar hanging on the pantry door. then we made numbers on index cards, 1-9, and displayed them in the kitchen. every night after they went to bed, i took one number down.

very slowly, the days passed. finally, it was #9! the girls were so excited, and Dave took us to the airport.

here we are in the Elmira, NY airport. maybe you can see our plane in the background. we went through security just fine, but A was very insistent that i tell her why she had to take off her shoes!





A had the window seat, and enjoyed looking out the window as we were flying. this is A's third time flying to Florida, so she can be considered a seasoned flyer, i suppose.




sometimes B was by the window, and she enjoyed looking out as well. although B has flown before, this would be the first flight that she remembers.

both girls behaved quite nicely, and i was very proud of them! even with our 2.5 hour layover in philly, they were content and patient all afternoon. B looked out the window of the airplane, and told me about the helicopter that was flying right by us. (it was really the wing of our plane!)

the girls spent quite a bit of time contenting themselves with the reading material in the pocket of the seats in front of us.

apparently, some of that reading material is meant for an older audience, and I'll have to keep that in mind for our return flight. A and B spent some time reviewing the emergency procedures pamphlet. even though they can't read, they located and pointed out the letters A, B and C.

it went downhill from there. next, they wanted to know why is the airplane in the water? then~ why is that lady swimming, mama? finally~ why are the mama and her boy wearing those masks?

other than those disconcerting questions, we had an uneventful flight. we managed to scoot out of the northeastern seaboard just ahead of the second blizzard in a week.

now we're in *sunny* Florida, enjoying the time with nanny and papa. more posts to come!