The kids first flight to Florida

They were warned, they would have to fly one day. The holiday season is here, and Nathan, Celina and Joseph are ready for their first flying experience. And to make it a little more complicated, and challenging, they will have to fly by themselves.
Everything started way before the 23rd. We had to go to the store and get them loaded with candies, snacks, small games, books and stuff just to make the trip shorter. There is also this scary moment where we didn't know if they would be able to go since Denver International was closed because of a snow storm..... and they were supposed to stop in Denver.... The airline told us that if Denver is closed they will not go there and fly directly to Florida. So we are cool with that.
The flight is at 1h30, but we decide to leave the house at 8h to be sure that we will be there early enough even in case of bad conditions on the road (Logan Salt Lake City is a small 1h30 drive, so we would have plenty of time, even if we have to put some chains in the canyon).....
The road was very good, so we finally arrive at the airport more than 3h in advance.....

And Now we have to wait..... so we try to keep the kids occupied to avoid the complaints, as we know that a long day is waiting for them.... Starts on the parking lot of the airport were we discover the tower, the terminals, the planes taking off.... everybody is excited.

They lose the excitement when we have our first waiting line to get the boarding passes, but the trip become interesting again during the security checks as we chose the line that goes through the air pulser (yeah they liked it).... Then it is direction to the gate B14 were we still have a good 2 hours before boarding the kids....
Obviously after eating a small sandwich (no mayo, no jam, no peanut butter.... airport security) we get some coffee and croissants at the nearest Starbucks and we try to wait patiently.


The time of boarding approaches so we start looking outside see if our plane is there.... andslightly late, comes the Southwest plane..... The kids will board first because they are unaccompanied minors, but we were told that we cannot go inside the plane.... this is little disappointing, so we just look at them getting through the tunnel inside the plane with the only promise of the boarding agent that they will be taken care of..... When all the other passengers are in, the boarding agent, explain us that the plane will be still slightly late, so we ask him if he wouldn't mind take some pictures of the kids and he was such a great guy that he told us to go there and take the pictures. I ask him if the kids will be able to see the cockpit, and he said that he would ask the pilot....Karen rushes into the plane and I see her coming back a few minutes after with a huge smile....


The Pilot let the kids go inside the cockpit..... Great new experience for the kids....


.Well finally the plane is getting ready to leave, we are in the waiting room with Karen, trying to see if we can see the plane take off..... Done, picture taken, we are going back to Logan thinking everything is OK.... would be too easy if everything was OK....

First, the kids were not supposed to stop in Denver, but in St Louis.... well that is a relief for us.
Second, we get a phone call from SWA.... the plane IS stuck in St Louis. The kids are off the plane, in the pilot lounge driving them crazy as they are loaded with peanuts and sodas.... They were supposed to change Pilot in St Louis, but the pilot got stuck somewhere else and will be 3 hours late.... The kids seems to be OK, we talk to them on the phone (they gave us a direct phone to call them whenever we wanted...), they are too busy chasing each other to eliminate parts of this energy.
They finally get on the plane and will be arriving in Orlando after 11pm..... A long day, but they made it safe and everybody is happy....