Our Finnegan Family: A Day of Firsts!

Yesterday was our travel day to beautiful Orlando! I could not sleep the previous night because I was so nervous about how the boys would do on the plane ride. Ever since Cal found out we were going to Florida, he would adamantly say that he wasn't going to ride on the airplane. Cal has a huge fear of the unknown. Once you get him to try something, he becomes fearless, but that first step is always difficult for everyone involved.
The moment of truth had come, they announced that it was time for families with young children to board the plane. Eli and Cal were trying to race down the jet way, (unfortunately for them, Cody and I had their hands so it was a struggle of a race) but the moment Cal set a foot on the plane he melted into a Cal puddle and cried, "I don't want to go on the plane." I scooped him in my arms and tried to hold him together while Cody and Eli led us to our seats. We sat down, and Cal was still crying and panicking. I reassured him, and my mind was racing a million miles per second trying to think of way to distract him now that my DVD, fruit snacks, coloring book, cars, and other ideas had failed. Finally, the starfall app came to my rescue, and he calmed down. From then on out it was smooth ~~sailing,~~ I mean flying. The boys watched a movie and looked out their windows for the remainder of the flight. Unfortunately, they did not have anything on board for the boys' first flight (the wings pin), but told us to check again on our return flight... HOWEVER Mr. Incredible (aka: Cody) had this brilliant idea to wait to be the last people off of the plane. As we were leaving, I asked the flight attendant if they boys could peek at the cockpit. The captain was so nice. Eli went right in (Cal, not so much) and got to sit in the pilot's seat. I knew instantly what he was going to do, so I reminded him, "Eli, don't push any buttons" and the captain replied, "Push ALL the buttons, Eli." What a great guy!! Eli loved it:)
After we got of the plane, we excitedly discovered that we would have to ride on a monorail to pick up our luggage. Another first for the boys! They loved hanging on to the poles all by themselves, and yes, I did have to tell them to stop spinning around the poles. Then we picked up our MINI VAN!!!!(Which we had to ride in a bus (ANOTHER FIRST) from the airport to our rental car shop) Eli, who shares my love for all things with sliding doors, asked if we could give our Acura away to someone else so we could keep the van:) We loaded up our bags, headed to Panera, and then on to Cocoa Beach for Cal's first (Eli's second) trip to the ocean!
The boys had a blast in the ocean. Eli jumped in the waves the entire time, while Cal did the opposite. He stayed in the sand the entire time. We were at the beach for about 2 hours, then we headed back to our SUPER AMAZING van, and headed to the airport to pick up Jac and Sue. The boys were so excited to meet them! From the airport, we went out to supper, checked in to our villas, and called it a day!
So extremely thankful for a smooth trip down to Orlando. Praising God for providing safety and sanity for this Mama, her family and friends!