{ Come Fly With Me }

For Christmas last year, I gave Mike a flight lesson.

We live in the Pacific Northwest.

For obvious reasons, he decided to wait 'til summertime to use the lesson.

We're still waiting for summer to show up.

In the Lord's good grace, the Sunday in June that we scheduled the flight lesson was balmy, rain-free, and...overcast? Oh well, the cloud cover was far higher than our little Cessna, so we still had a spectacular time!

Mt. Rainier, seen from the runway while we waited for our airplane

Mike could've taken two passengers along for his flight, but chose just to bring me.

I think he was a little nervous that we might both perish during this endeavor.

After all, it was only his third airplane ride.

As he told the flight instructor before we took off, "Why do I need to fly? Everything I want is right here!"

#1 - At age 22, he flew to Idaho to ask my dad for permission to marry me

#2 - Also age 22, we flew to Hawai'i for our honeymoon

#3 - Age 24, he not only flies in a Cessna--he takes the controls for part of the flight!

 Looking over the map with Bubba, the flight instructor.

No kididng....that's really what they call him.



In the back seat, waiting for takeoff

Waiting on the runway to be cleared for takeoff

Mike was a bit leery of this whole idea, from the time he opened the gift certificate 'til {I think} we were actually in the air. I'll admit, I was 50/50 on whether or not to get this for him and thought about it for several days. It's not up his alley--but that could be because he's never had a chance to explore this alley! I figured he'd enjoy it, but I was also worried that he might think it was more like something I want to do {I've flown more than him, but no way do I care to take the controls}. I'm really glad that he was so gracious about this experience, and went ahead with the flight even though it wasn't something he would have chosen for himself. Because, once we were airborne, he had a blast.

At least, that's what it looked like from the back seat, where I was voraciously snapping photos and listening to the cackle of our headsets!

Qwest Field and Safeco Field from the air--hi there, sports fans!

Downtown Seattle and Elliot Bay

The Space Needle, with Lake Union and Lake Washington in the background

Oh Mt. Baker, you are beautiful!

Over Lake Washington

We buzzed around Microsoft for a bit. These are the headquarters buildings, according to my dashing pilot-husband. {Can I tell you a secret? Once Mike abbreviated "Microsoft" as "msft" in a text message. I thought what he meant was "misfit," not Microsoft...after all, you only have to add two letters to get from msft to misfit! So now I sometimes call Microsoft "misfits" instead. As in, "Hey babe, are you still at misfits?"}

Over Lake Union, looking south to Seattle and West Seattle

Hi, Golden Gardens! You're a lovely beach!

Discovery Park, where our engagement photos were taken. I've only been there once, and the park encompasses 534 acres, so it was neat to see it from the air and get the "big picture."

Coming in for the landing!

~ All smiles ~

He couldn't wipe that grin off his face for the rest of the day. I think he enjoyed himself tremendously!

I love you, Michael....merry Christmas in June!