Smokey Update #3

We are home from vacation but I still need to share our last day of vacation. I planned a grand finale for Thursday, our last full day at the Smokey Mountains. A full day of things I thought the kids would just absolutely love and would wrap up our vacation with a bang. I thought the last day would be best since if I did the super-cool fun stuff at the beginning of the week then every thing after that might seem lame. Two items on the days agenda will go down in history as the best idea I have ever had and the worst idea.

We started the day with my best idea...



I took the kids on a helicopter tour of the area and the National Park. It was so awesome. It was the kids and my first flight on a helicopter. It was DD and Bugs' first flight period. Punx's last flight was when he was a lap baby so it was pretty much his first flight, too.

We get to the place to start our trip and the boys are totally stoked and DD is already looking nervous and within the minute she is crying. I am trying to placate her with promises of safety for the aircraft and with the whole, would I take you on something dangerous? (remember that question for later) She stopped crying but was still not sure about the whole thing...



I was trying to get the kids to smile for this picture but realized that snapping DD "as is" was so much better for posterity. I figured let's keep it real. I am pleased with the result, it's a good face.



This is a face that needed no coercion. That was the facial expression he wore from the second he understood we were really going on a helicopter till we were driving away saying goodbye.

Alright, so it is time to get on the helicopter and begin the tour. There is girl who works there who has given us a quick safety breifing and is helping us onboard. The instructions were simple. Punx was going to sit up front with the pilot. I was going to sit in the back with the other two. I am to get in first, then Bug, followed by DD. The helicopter takes off from the hanger and flies to us where we are waiting near the landing pad. It lands and we begin a quick walk to it, DD is now crying, Punx gets in and I get in. I turn to help Bug get in. This is when DD turns it up a notch. The girl helps Bug up and then starts to help DD to get up. She is now screaming. Keep in mind, the helicopter did not turn off, the blades are spinning, the thump, thump filling the air, and we have our headsets on, I can hear her screams and every word she is yelling. I don't want to go. I want to go home. Mom, can we go home? I am leaning over Bug to grab her hand and pull her up and the girl is trying to push her in, we are saying, step up, step up, she will not budge. Finally the girl picks her up to just put her in the seat. The screams are now at fever pitch. As the girl tries to put her in her seat she becomes that cartoon dog that is being forced into the tub for a bath. You know the one am I thinking of, when the dog is being forced into the tub he uses all four legs spread out to stop himself from being pushed into the basin. She wrapped one foot around the open door of the helicopter and one arm on the other side of the open door-way.

We eventually forced her into her seat, but now she is trying to escape as I am trying to put on her seatbelt. She is stopping me and taking it off as I am buckling it up. I grab her face, DD, stop, look at me, what you are doing must stop, this is not safe. One look into her face convinces me that she is not there, she has already gone to the bad place. She has crazed darty eyes and she won't even make eye contact. She has now involved the pilot in her manic rants. Are you going to go high? Please don't go high. I wanna go home. We have her belted up but she won't stop screaming, so the girl asked her if she would rather sit by me than by the door. She won't answer, I am not sure she is registering that she is being asked a question. I hold her face again and ask her if she wants to sit by me. She still is past all reason and I finally say, let's go. She screams louder that she wants to sit by me so we switch her seats so she will sit by me. Finally she buries her head in my lap and the screaming is at least muffled. The pilot looks back at me with a baffled expression, what do you want to do? Let's roll. Man, I paid bank for this and we are doing this even if she screeches the whole time.

The pilot takes off with DD's face still buried in my lap. As we are just a little airborne she looks up and around, promptly put her face back on my lap. A little higher up she looks again and says, "This is fun." The tears are gone, the screaming is done. She is now laughing and talking with Bug about the small houses and cars. Seriously. Faster than a light switch. She never even had one of those residual intakes of breath that little kids do when they've been crying too long. I am dumbfounded, but then I remember which child I am dealing with here and the shock dissipates. I speak into my microphone to the pilot, "I bet you can't tell which is my drama child."

The rest of the flight was lovely. Punx didn't talk for the majority of the flight, just soaking it all in. I asked him a couple time if he was alright and he would just turn around and grin. The flight was almost over before we realized that his microphone didn't even work. Man, I wish DD could've had that headset.

It was such a great morning.



Too bad it couldn't have lasted all day. But it was time to move on. We did some hiking in the mountains and then moved on to the worst idea I have ever had.

Come back tomorrow for that one.