Flying on the big airplane

Thursday (last week now...lol)morning we went back to McChord to get on a plane headed back to Hickam. This time we actually left. Here are some pics from our trip from Hickam to McChord and from McChord to Hickam.

Cody was very excited to go on the "big airplane!"We Flew on a C17 both ways. The inside of the plane on our flight to WA was pretty much empty other than everyone's luggage. There were only 11 people on the flight so there wasn't much. This is how the luggage was secured during the flight. The seats just folded down from the walls. During the flight we spread out a blanket and took turns napping on the floor. I'm telling ya...this plane was HUGE and empty.
It was also VERY loud. We tried to keep ear plugs in the kid's ears, but it wasn't an easy task. Kaitlyn looked like she had cheetos shoved in her ears and they kept falling out. We ended up having to tape them to her head.

Cody took this one (well pushed the button for me anyway) while we were looing through one of the very few little windows while flying over the Pacific.

When we got on the bus after getting off of the plane in WA Kaitlyn gave me a big smile just as I hit the button...so I was actually able to catch one of her first smiles in action...she had already started to loose her smile when the pic actually took.

Now for the return trip pictures!

Remember how empty I said the flight was on the way to WA...well...it wasn't empty on the way back. It was full. There were about 45 people not including the crew, all of the luggage, plus 6 of those boxes. Crazy thing about those boxes...they are strapped to big metal palets that hook into the floor. The thing I didn't know though was that they are on rollers and MOVE! OK, so they don't move very much, but a couple inches from side to side. You should have seen the look on my face when I saw them all move and make a banging noise when they stopped. I thought they were all gonna call over and squish us all. Jon saw my frightened look and yelled to me that they are supposed to do that.

Since we knew the flight was going to be super loud and knew earplugs weren't much of an option this time, Mom and Dad let us borrow some hearing protection for the kidlets. Kaitlyn looked so cute with her little squished cheeks, and Cody liked his because he could put headphones on underneat them and watch a movie...and actually be able to hear it :)

So this picture totally sucks, but you get the idea of what the plane does. The back of the C17s open up. As soon as we landed back at Hickam they opened the back to prepare to unload everything. It was kinda neat because as we drove all over the airfield we got to see out of the back of the plan. It was a beautiful day to come back on as well. Aloha!