blondes, fire, and airplanes... oh my!

Against my better judgement, I've decided to share our story when flying to Washington a couple weeks ago. You all are about to find out just how big of an idiot I am :) But the second half of the story is just plain crazy and a little terrifying.

So this was Mia's first time flying and I was super nervous to be doing it without Eric, mainly because Mia is always on the go and I just knew she would hate sitting on my lap the whole time (hello lap child! I had to get in one free flight before she turns 2!) Also, I've only flown 2 other times in the last 6 years so I am definitely not a pro. Let me just tell you now, Mia was such a pro! She did really well in the airport (except for the time she threw herself face first on the ground and mid-tantrum discovered chewed up gum smashed in the carpet and decided to try and pick it off with her tongue. Yeah.) and loved wearing her leash backpack :) And on the flights she settled right down and fell asleep quickly both times, but I had downloaded Frozen onto my phone as back up ;)
Anyway, after Mia and I got our luggage checked and found our gate, we went to go buy a snack because we'd been up since 5:30am. After waiting far too long for one pastry, we found a bathroom. While I was changing Mia's diaper I heard them call my name to board. I heard that they encouraged all passengers with kids to board first, but I knew I wanted to board last so I didn't think anything of it, besides the fact that it seemed kind of late to start the boarding process. After our bathroom break we made our way over to the very empty gate. I let them know that I wanted to be one of the last to board. The employees gave me a weird look but said "okay?" Mia and I went over to the window where she was in heaven looking at the airplane. I noticed a few girls running to our gate which I thought was weird, but again, didn't think anything of it. Finally, the guy checking every one's tickets asked me, "Courtney, are you ready to board?" While I'm busy taking pictures of Mia I said, "Oh that's okay! I want to be one of the last ones to board!" "You ARE the last one to board...."

There are no words for my stupidity.

As soon as Mia and I took our seat, the nicest flight attendant asked if we wanted to move to the back and have a row all to ourselves. Well heck yes we did! Mia tried out all 3 seats until she settled back on my lap next to the window. I could hardly believe our luck! A row to ourselves plus Mia was being an angel?! Heck yes! I pulled out Mia's snacks and bink for take off (I was worried about her ears) and she snuggled into me snacking away. Just when the wheels left the ground I felt the worst turbulence I'd ever experienced, which I thought was weird, but Mia didn't even react! The plane instantly turned and we took a detour over Lake Mead then landed again. Turns out that turbulence was actually the left engine bursting into flames! The engine was on fire the whole time we were in the air! The captain handled it so calmly that I didn't even realize how serious things were until we were off the plane! Thank heavens everything turned out okay!

We ended up being delayed for a couple of hours which was a little rough with a tired toddler and no stroller, but we survived! We were downgraded to a smaller plane so we weren't able to have extra seats, but that's okay! I was so proud of my girl for sleeping on me the whole flight and putting up with the confusion of the day! I'd fly with Mia any day!

It was definitely a necessity to take these crappy selfies... Mia never sleeps on me anymore!