One of the Best Days of My Life

I did love my wedding day and all of the events leading up to that. And I loved both days my babies were born. And I know there are many more days I have loved. But this past Thursday was an experience I will never forget.

Jason text me early in the week saying there was a possibility the kids and I could fly Space-A (available space only) on a C-130 to Wright Patterson Air Force Base and then to the Air Force Museum. I was ecstatic about the idea, thinking I wouldn't get a chance at this for 10 more years. We kept the plan to ourselves and waited till Wednesday night to tell Jaxon. He said (yelling), "I get to be a pilot! This is going to be awesome!" Then he let me know that he would need to wear his flight suit, since he would be a pilot, of course.

This was one of the most amazing opportunities I have ever been given. There is an AF rule that does not allow Jason to be on the same (military) flight as any family member. So, Jason flew our pilot's family on a different plane. Our pilots that day were wonderful and even let us sit up in the cockpit for the entire flight. This was very good news for this motion-sick prone gal. There's just so much to say about our day, I don't even know where to start...


Daddy and his kids in front of the Herk.






Jax and Daddy in their flight suits, ready for the big flight. As people in the squadron saw Jaxon, they noticed he didn't have ALL the patches his Daddy did, so he eventually got hooked up with the right patches. He was a little stressed about not having boots like Daddy. He even asked me the night before to go to the store and buy him some.





After the flight to Dayton, Ohio (WPAFB), we boarded some buses and headed to the Air Force Museum. We had to get up that morning in time to leave the house by 6:00 AM. The kids were exhausted, but neither of them slept on the flight. I guess they were too excited.


Within minutes of being in the museum, Jaxon passed out.



Jaxon "flying" an F-16 at the museum.



Jax and I checking out the Holocaust display.



Consolidated B-24 Liberator - My grandfather, Bob Payne, was a nose gunner on this airplane during WWII. Dakota and I are standing outside the window where my grandpa rode. (Sorry about the name of the plane).



Jason and Jaxon in front of an A-10. Jax has a toy A-10 that he plays with. It's one of his favorite airplanes. After Jason lifted him up to look in to the A-10's cockpit, Jaxon said, "Yep, I'm sure I wanna fly this airplane when I'm bigger." That just made his daddy's day!



Cute kiddo peeking out the back of a Herk.



Close-up



After the flight home, Jaxon insisted on sticking around and helping the Load Masters complete their duties, which included putting all the seats back up against the wall.




On the flight back to Peoria, Jaxon really wanted to ride in the back. I did not. He was insisting on it and after I explained to him that Dakota and I would not be riding in the back with him, he said, "Bye Mom. Have a good flight and I'll see you later." Ok. The Load Master's promised me they would take good care of him, and boy did they ever. They lifted him to look out the windows several times. They even put a headset on him for quite awhile where he carried on a conversation with our pilots for several minutes.



Jax and Load Master, Matt, hanging out in the back of the Herk.



Once we were back in Peoria, Jason took Jax back up to the flight deck to "fly" for awhile.