up, up & away

Every few months, my big boy goes down to LA with Mr. Bloom to see his grandmother, but our little one hasn't been down to visit in well over 2 years.  We planned to go this past weekend. Tickets were purchased, bags were packed and all arrangements were made.  Then Mr. Bloom fell ill, so I mustered my courage and hopped on the plane -- just me and the 2 boys.  All went well.  The boys were stellar and Mr. Bloom had lots of time alone at home to rest.

The hardest part of the entire weekend was during the flight to LA (and home again), decoding pictographs on the aircraft safety card for my little one.  He was fascinated.  I was terrified.  I don't like flying in airplanes to begin with, so reviewing every possible disaster, over and over and over again was... ugh.  He was very insistent and enjoyed asking lots of questions about every picture.  At least this kept him quiet and amused for the duration of the journey.

The clouds were beautiful though.  Whenever I've flown above the clouds, I think about my favorite part of James & the Giant Peach. Approximately 2/3 of the way through the book, the peach is floating across the sky tied to a flock of seagulls, and Roald Dahl describes it as follows:

Clouds like mountains towered high above their heads on all sides, mysterious, menacing, overwhelming. Gradually it grew darker and darker, and then a pale three-quarter moon came up over the tops of the clouds and cast an eerie light over the whole scene.  The giant peach swayed gently from side to side as it floated along...

Then the Cloud-Men are spotted and things get a little scary.  But I have to admit that I still love searching the clouds for Cloud-Men (and if I'm lucky, maybe I'll catch them painting a rainbow).

When we got to grandmother's house, oh, such hugging and kissing and happiness.  Definitely worth the journey.