Take Your Baby to Work Day

We did it. We finally made it on a flight that Mark was flying. And we have pics to prove it.
I miss the obscure places that Mark used to fly to out of Denver (Casper, Wyoming, anyone?) but am happy that there are still some unique destinations in his new(ish) gig out of Chicago. So where did we go last night? I'll give you the city, you guess the state. City: Moline. State? Illinois! good job.
Jude and I flew to Moline yesterday evening and Mark met us there. We stayed overnight to fly with him on his early flight to Denver this morning.
We stayed at a "haunted" hotel, The Lodge at Bettendorf. It's a European style castle plopped in the middle of the Heartland, complete with bridge and moat. I thought the "haunted" thing was funny at check-in. By Jude's umpteenth wake-up however, I didn't appreciate it anymore. Flickering lights and wind that sounded like knocking began to creep me out. The power of suggestion was not lost on me.
(by the way, just in case anyone is wondering, there is no "Take Your Baby to Work Day" sponsored by Mesa Airlines :) Though from what I've seen of Mark's colleagues, they typically have their babies on a flight with them within a few weeks of birth. We took our sweet time. And since I've recently updated my motto from "A day late and a buck short" to "Slowly but surely," we're right on track!)

Jude sitting solo (!) in Denver waiting for the Moline flight



Jude standing solo (!) in Moline on the lookout for the hotel shuttle















Arriving at the hotel. "Promise me you'll leave the lights on tonight, k?"












Breakfast. early. very early.

















Mark flies big planes now! (that's him walking up to the flight deck)
















Matching bomber jackets. Thanks, Grandma Glynda!


















Checking out the Flight deck.












"I could get used to this!"