the birthday adventure

SO ...
not that flying to hawaii in and of itself isn't MORE than cool ...
BUT ...
i knew that we were going to be spending most of drew's birthday in an airport or airplane
AND ...
sometimes it's the little things that matter and are most memorable.
SO ...
i decided to just mention that it was his birthday to the people at the gates where we were.

in minneapolis,
there were 2 guys working,
when i told them - they got VERY excited
and for a while actually had me nervous that they were going to embarass me too!
thankfully i was spared.
as we waited the one came on the PA and asked for
'a mr. andrew barnett to please come up to the desk.'
once standing there,
the agent announced that he had a special 9 year old birthday boy
that would be flying today.
at that point everyone in the gate area cheered and clapped for drew.
the agent then told him that he would like to grant him special early boarding.
he told drew to walk through a 'special' door and let he and i board early.



THEN ...
on our second stop came the REAL fun.
as we boarded our 2nd plane the pilot pulled drew aside.
he asked him to step into the cockpit and take a seat.



he let me take a few pictures

and then told me to return to my seat and that he would send drew back.
once i was gone he told drew about the different controls.
he told him it is basically a big video game :)
oh i feel SO much safer
he let him push buttons to trick the flight attendants
by cutting power to their heating equipment (coffee, etc)
he let drew print out the weather reports
and he showed him the radar.
he ALSO let him be the one to turn on the fasten seat belt sign.
i am pretty sure that in drew's eyes
this was pretty close to what heaven will look like.



once finished ...
the pilot sent drew back to his seat
and
announced to the full plane that it was drew's 9th birthday
and that he would be walking down the aisle.
drew got high 5's and happy birthdays all the way back to his seat
which is a lot of people considering we were in row 24 ;)

to top things off ...
on the way off the plane ...
the pilot gave ben and alex the option to climb in and get a picture as well.
(alex was NOT at ALL interested)

i was SO happy with the way these crews treated drew.
obviously they didn't have to do anything.
but, they went above and beyond to make one 9 yr old feel very special.
and they MORE than succeeded.
he tells every person he talks to that he felt like a celebrity all day.
it didn't take much-
just a little recognition, a few high 5's, and a whole lot of facts about 757 controls.

happy birthday again, drew.
i'm glad that you had a fun day.
you deserved it.