We've started our annual midwestern trip to see family and friends. On the one hand, it is useful to have all our family in one area of the country, on the other hand, it means that we inevitably miss seeing people, which is sad.
Yesterday we woke up at 4:30 or so eastern to try to leave the house by 5 and the airport by 6. We did pretty well, leaving the house at about 5:20 and getting the plane all loaded by about 6:30... but there was a problem. Because of all the wonderful rain we've had recently, there was a lot of fog. At about 6 we could have taken off. By 6:30, however, the fog had come in and there was no chance of taking off until it lifted.
So we took a walk, used the restroom, ran around in anticipation of 7 hours in a cramped airplane, and we took off at about 7:15. The problem with taking off so late is that the afternoon thunderstorms started to form by the time we got to the midwest. This meant that instead of flying for 3.5 hours in the airplane, we flew more than 5 hours (in order to avoid the storms), my longest flight with the kids ever. The second half of the flight was just over 2 hours, much more reasonable.
There are many advantages to taking a small plane on a family trip instead of a commercial one. We can change our plans and leave when we want. No one but Luke is bothered when Amanda starts pushing all our feet out of the way and screaming that she can't find Thomas' tender. On the other hand, it is a small space, and our kids are active. It basically means I am touching and trying to help children stay in equilibrium for 7 hours, which is exhausting. It also means that we are more subject to winds and weather, which is occasionally good (adding 50 miles an hour to our groundspeed) but mostly bad (taking that amount away from our speed really slows down the trip).
The kids did remarkably well for having woken up at 5 am. They stayed up a bit later than their usual bedtimes, but not the full hour that was involved in the time change. The problem came this morning when Amanda woke up at her usual 5:20 (this is when she usually wakes up if she has stayed up past her bedtime). The problem: it was 5:20 eastern time, 4:20 central time. I think she gets a nap today, whether she wants one or not.
Yesterday we woke up at 4:30 or so eastern to try to leave the house by 5 and the airport by 6. We did pretty well, leaving the house at about 5:20 and getting the plane all loaded by about 6:30... but there was a problem. Because of all the wonderful rain we've had recently, there was a lot of fog. At about 6 we could have taken off. By 6:30, however, the fog had come in and there was no chance of taking off until it lifted.
So we took a walk, used the restroom, ran around in anticipation of 7 hours in a cramped airplane, and we took off at about 7:15. The problem with taking off so late is that the afternoon thunderstorms started to form by the time we got to the midwest. This meant that instead of flying for 3.5 hours in the airplane, we flew more than 5 hours (in order to avoid the storms), my longest flight with the kids ever. The second half of the flight was just over 2 hours, much more reasonable.
There are many advantages to taking a small plane on a family trip instead of a commercial one. We can change our plans and leave when we want. No one but Luke is bothered when Amanda starts pushing all our feet out of the way and screaming that she can't find Thomas' tender. On the other hand, it is a small space, and our kids are active. It basically means I am touching and trying to help children stay in equilibrium for 7 hours, which is exhausting. It also means that we are more subject to winds and weather, which is occasionally good (adding 50 miles an hour to our groundspeed) but mostly bad (taking that amount away from our speed really slows down the trip).
The kids did remarkably well for having woken up at 5 am. They stayed up a bit later than their usual bedtimes, but not the full hour that was involved in the time change. The problem came this morning when Amanda woke up at her usual 5:20 (this is when she usually wakes up if she has stayed up past her bedtime). The problem: it was 5:20 eastern time, 4:20 central time. I think she gets a nap today, whether she wants one or not.
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