Happy Anniversary Ben

About 4 months ago I found the best present ever for Ben for our second anniversary. Ben has always told me he wants to get his pilots license one day, so I found a place where he could actually fly a plane. I even bought him a "cotton" blindfold so I could drive him to the airport w/o him knowing where we were going and also covering the 2nd year's anniversary present of cotton. (First was paper). Well... it rained and poured the morning of his surprise, so I cried and was so disappointed and had to tell him what his surprise was. He was surprised and a little anxious about it, but it still did not live up to the 3 month hype of it being the best surprise yet.

So... this past weekend we finally were able to go to the airport (pell city) and complete his 1st flying lesson. I think I was more scared than he was! Ben asked the pilot, "Well you will be taking off and landing right?" The pilot's response, "Hell no... I want you to do it all, I'll be here in case you screw it up." Seriously... after a brief lesson, he let Ben taxi, take off, do like 10 turns (scariest thing ever) and practically land the plane (not sure who was doing most the effort since Ben told me later he REALLY wished the pilot would have officially taken over to land it).

Here he is finishing up his short on the ground lesson and finishing inspecting the plane.
My spot was in the back, where surprise! they gave me my own headset. This was right after I told Ben I was pretty sure I wanted to stay on the ground. (Yikes!)
Here we go.....!
View to the front.... going up!
As the trees got smaller and smaller and I hyperventilated a little more...
This was when I began to think about how small the plane really was and that there was only ONE engine... no backup.... no parachute... no way to get out the window and 2500 feet to the ground....
Ben succeeding to turn 90 degrees to the left and also making my stomach do a complete flip. Look out the window and the wing is pointed straight to the ground to do the turn! Blech.
Trying to take a picture of how sideways we were.
I calmed down for a sec, to take a picture of the Talladega Speedway.
And..... we made it!!!!! WHEW!
I did not take an after picture because my face was a little pale. Ben had a blast though, I think still a great anniversary present and probably a blessing it wasn't a surprise. I think Ben needed mental preparation that he was going to actually fly a plane before doing so.