Look! Up in the sky!
Early in November I took Mia to the Scottsdale airport for an event run by Sky Kids, a charity that takes special needs kids flying. Someone had told Krys about it, and we thought Mia might like it. Krys had to take Norah to something for Girl Scouts (kids are busy, man!), so she couldn't go, so it was just Mia and me.
The event was at an office building right next to the airport which had a hanger in the back that led onto the runway, and they had a lot of things going on to keep the kids occupied while we waited. None of which, of course, Mia was interested in. She doesn't do stuff with yo-yos, she doesn't eat much, and she's not terribly interested in coloring and other crafts (not that she can do those things very well). She did like, however, the hanger, because that meant she could zip around in her wheelchair. So we did that for a good 30-40 minutes - Mia zipping around, Daddy following her to make sure she didn't bother anyone too much or crash into anything.
After an hour, we finally got to go on the plane. They were small planes, obviously - I think they were all four-seaters. The biggest fear I had was that Mia would get sick, because you never know what's going to happen when you get her in someplace new. She was very happy to be going up, and while we waited on the runway (there were lots of planes landing that day), she was getting a bit hot because the window was closed. The pilot had to close it because it was so breezy, so I felt a bit bad for Mia. Then we were off! Once we got off the ground successfully, I kept worrying because such a small plane rattles all the time, and I was hoping that wouldn't upset her stomach. We flew north from Scottsdale toward Cave Creek, making a big loop somewhat in the shape of a "P." Mia seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, although I'm not sure how much she actually looked out the window at the ground. She was sitting on the left side of the plane, and as Mia tends to orient herself to the right, she was looking at me and the center of the plane a lot. I should have put her on the right side, because she probably would have looked out the window a bit more often. I kept telling her to look out the window, and she did, but I'm not sure if she was too keen about it. Beats me - Mia doesn't share her inner thoughts very much. She was smiling a lot, and she told me she had a very good time, so that's good enough for me!
I'm not sure if we'll do it again - Mia doesn't talk about things she really wants to do, obviously, and if I ask her if she wants to fly again, I'm sure she'd say yes but I'm also sure she wouldn't care if she never did. We'll see - I assume they do these kinds of things every so often, so I'm sure we'll hear about another one now that we're on their radar!
Of course, I took pictures!
Yeah, Arizona doesn't look any better from the air, does it? Well, at least the mountains are nice.
We like doing things with Mia. She often doesn't want to do much, but once we get her out of the house, she tends to enjoy herself, at least for a while. Everything should be within about five minutes of our house so that we can get there much more quickly!
The event was at an office building right next to the airport which had a hanger in the back that led onto the runway, and they had a lot of things going on to keep the kids occupied while we waited. None of which, of course, Mia was interested in. She doesn't do stuff with yo-yos, she doesn't eat much, and she's not terribly interested in coloring and other crafts (not that she can do those things very well). She did like, however, the hanger, because that meant she could zip around in her wheelchair. So we did that for a good 30-40 minutes - Mia zipping around, Daddy following her to make sure she didn't bother anyone too much or crash into anything.
After an hour, we finally got to go on the plane. They were small planes, obviously - I think they were all four-seaters. The biggest fear I had was that Mia would get sick, because you never know what's going to happen when you get her in someplace new. She was very happy to be going up, and while we waited on the runway (there were lots of planes landing that day), she was getting a bit hot because the window was closed. The pilot had to close it because it was so breezy, so I felt a bit bad for Mia. Then we were off! Once we got off the ground successfully, I kept worrying because such a small plane rattles all the time, and I was hoping that wouldn't upset her stomach. We flew north from Scottsdale toward Cave Creek, making a big loop somewhat in the shape of a "P." Mia seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, although I'm not sure how much she actually looked out the window at the ground. She was sitting on the left side of the plane, and as Mia tends to orient herself to the right, she was looking at me and the center of the plane a lot. I should have put her on the right side, because she probably would have looked out the window a bit more often. I kept telling her to look out the window, and she did, but I'm not sure if she was too keen about it. Beats me - Mia doesn't share her inner thoughts very much. She was smiling a lot, and she told me she had a very good time, so that's good enough for me!
I'm not sure if we'll do it again - Mia doesn't talk about things she really wants to do, obviously, and if I ask her if she wants to fly again, I'm sure she'd say yes but I'm also sure she wouldn't care if she never did. We'll see - I assume they do these kinds of things every so often, so I'm sure we'll hear about another one now that we're on their radar!
Of course, I took pictures!
Yeah, Arizona doesn't look any better from the air, does it? Well, at least the mountains are nice.
We like doing things with Mia. She often doesn't want to do much, but once we get her out of the house, she tends to enjoy herself, at least for a while. Everything should be within about five minutes of our house so that we can get there much more quickly!
posted by Greg at
8:57 AM
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