This is your captain speaking

Connor and I flew to DC this past Wednesday to join Jimmy for his graduation the following day. I was a little nervous about traveling in business class with a ten month old (and for good reasons I would soon find out). Despite my reservations, we boarded the plane at about 10 am, with a scheduled landing at Reagan National Airport at about 3:30 that afternoon.

I had to drop Connor's stroller at the entrance to the plane and carry him, his diaper bag and one piece of luggage to our seat. After managing to get all items into my arms, the flight attendant looked at me and said, "Uh, you have to collapse your stroller before you get on the plane." I was a little shocked because the last time we flew they collapsed the stroller for us. So, reluctantly, I prepared to place everything (including Connor) on the floor and collapse the stroller, but before I could, the pilot stepped out from the front of the plane and said, "you can't expect her to collapse the stroller herself. I'll do it." It was like I had seen an angel. He collapsed the stroller and assisted me with loading my luggage onto the plane. Afterwards, he introduced himself and gave Connor "wings." Then, I settled in for an hour flight to Atlanta and started gearing Connor up for the take off. I placed numbing drops in his ears and poured him about 8 oz. of apple juice. I placed him in my lap and we were off. The flight went well (for the most part). Connor appeared to be occupied by continuously opening and closing the windows. He fell asleep about 10 minutes before the landing. He slept during the entire landing--I was amazed.

I waited for everyone to leave the plane before attempting to grab my luggage without waking Connor, but before I could get up from my seat, their was the captain again. He had already grabbed Connor's stroller and was pulling my luggage down from storage. I thanked him and headed to the next terminal. On my way, I noticed the captain a few steps ahead. He stopped and laughed. He promised he was not stalking me and asked where I was headed next. I told him DC and then he said he was flying to DC too. It happened that he would be the pilot on my next flight, so he offered to help Connor and I navigate to terminal C10. By the time I had made it to the next plane, Captain Dale, Connor and myself had become great friends.

Connor slept the entire flight from Atlanta to DC and I was glad because we were sitting directly across the aisle from a radio personality who doesn't believe that children should fly business class. Captain Dale was also a great friend of his and was very happy to see that Connor had been on such good behavior. He met us after the flight and once again grabbed Connor's stroller and our luggage and helped us exit the plane. As we said our goodbyes and I expressed my gratitude, Captain Dale offered his business card and said that I should let the flight attendants know that we are good friends of his and they would be sure to take good care of us.

I had expected to have a rough flight with Connor but was pleasantly surprised about how rested I was when I arrived in DC. Connor has been wonderful! Jimmy and I have been able to tour the city just as we would if it were just the two of us. We're driving back to Mobile tomorrow and hope that Connor will continue to surprise us.

This is a picture of Connor with Captain Dale. It was difficult to get a good picture because Connor was trying to eat his jacket.

This is a picture of Connor in downtown DC. We had just finished lunch and he was content.

This is a picture of us in front of the White House. Connor fell asleep about 10 minutes later so additional sight seeing had to be done from the car.

We asked a couple on the street to take this picture for us. We would have liked it to been a closer shot but they did not know how to work our camera.

This is a picture of the National Cathedral. The architecture is amazing. We wanted to get pictures of the inside, but we arrived during a Eucharistic Mass and pictures were not allowed.