Miles and miles and miles

Q: What has two arms, an adorable smile, and soars through the air?
A: Ms. Abigail Elizabeth!

Our little darling has flown a lot. A lot lot. Her first flight was undertaken at the tender age of 4.5 weeks. (That's not counting the many many flights she took in utero, of course.) I keep saying that I'll add up all the miles she's flown in her first year. Well - I'm off sick today so that seems like a great way to pass the time while this cold has its way with me.

Date: September 18, 2013
Age: 4.5 weeks
Route: San Diego to Chicago to Rochester
Flights: 2
Cumulative Flights: 2
Mileage: 2240
Cumulative Mileage: 2,240
Notes: We (Abigail, Abigail's grandma, and I) were supposed to leave the previous day. After boarding that flight and taxiing to the end of the runway, however, we were told that we had only one operable engine. Oy. Then, when we got on a plane the next day with two operable engines, there were CRAZY storms in the midwest, delaying our flight by a long long time. We made it to Rochester, though. It was probably the easiest we had it with Abigail - she slept most of the time. I was obsessed with making sure she was nursing on takeoff and landing so her ears wouldn't be bothered. It didn't take us long to figure out that she isn't really bothered by pressure changes, though. Little Abigail Toughy Tough.

Date: October 6, 2013
Age: 7.5 weeks
Route: Rochester to Baltimore
Flights: 1
Cumulative Flights: 3
Mileage: 280
Cumulative Mileage: 2,520 Notes: After my sister's wedding, which Jesse had joined us for, we flew to Baltimore so I could present some work at a conference. It was a quick trip - and Abigail's second stay in a hotel.
 
Date: October 7, 2013
Age: 7.5 weeks
Route: Baltimore to San Diego
Flights: 1
Cumulative Flights: 4
Mileage: 2290
Cumulative Mileage: 4,810 Notes: Headed home to what was supposed to be a finished house (after the ceiling cave-in). Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way but we made do.

Date: November 23, 2013
Age: 3 months
Route: San Diego to Sacramento to Seattle
Flights: 2
Cumulative Flights: 6
Mileage: 1090
Cumulative Mileage: 5,900 Notes: Thanksgiving with the family! Again, Abigail was a model flyer.

Date:November 30, 2013
Age: 3.5 months
Route: Seattle to Oakland to San Diego
Flights: 2
Cumulative Flights: 8
Mileage: 1120
Cumulative Mileage: 7,020 Notes: This was a tough one. Abigail got her first cold while we were in Washington so she was a bit fussy on the plane.


Date: December 4, 2013
Age: 3.5 months
Route: San Diego to Sacramento
Flights: 1
Cumulative Flights: 9
Mileage: 480
Cumulative Mileage: 7,500 Notes: I had to travel to Sacramento for business so Jesse took a few days off so Abigail could come. I wasn't ready to be without her for two nights and the pumping/bottle feeding would have been a logistical nightmare. Also, she hadn't yet been left with anyone other than Jesse or I.

Date: December 6, 2013
Age: 3.5 months
Route: Sacramento to San Diego
Flights: 1
Cumulative Flights: 10
Mileage: 480
Cumulative Mileage: 7,980 Notes: Lots of delays after a busy work trip. Abigail was a champion, though!

Date: December 21, 2013
Age: 4 months
Route: San Diego to Baltimore (was supposed to continue to Rochester)
Flights: 1
Cumulative Flights: 11
Mileage: 2290
Cumulative Mileage: 10,270 Notes: HA! We were on our way to New York for Christmas. We were going to make it in the nick of time for our annual extended family celebration the following day. Then. Then. Then. Fate slapped us in the face. We got to Baltimore only to find out the remainder of our trip had been cancelled. CANCELLED. Not rescheduled. Cancelled. I asked when we might be able to catch a flight to Rochester and was told in three days if we were lucky. Oh goodness.
We ended up teaming up with a retired couple from Rochester, renting a minivan, and driving home through the night. We hopped out at my parents' house and they continued on and returned the rental the following day. Tired though we were, we made it to our Christmas celebration.

Date: December 31, 2013
Age: 4.5 months
Route: Rochester to Chicago to Phoenix (was supposed to land in San Diego)
Flights: 2
Cumulative Flights: 13
Mileage: 1960
Cumulative Mileage: 12,230 Notes: HA! We thought we had our share of travel troubles and that we wouldn't be bothered by them anymore. HA! There we were, we made it to Chicago. It was snowing...heavily. We actually had an aborted landing on our way into Chicago due to plows on the runway that were unable to get off in time. They did what they call a last-minute "go-around" that I call a "near heart attack". There were significant delays due to the snow but we got on our plane. Once we were airborne Jesse mentioned that our travel troubles were over as, surely, we would now land in San Diego. We got pretty close to San Diego when we were told that fog had set in and that we didn't have enough fuel to attempt a landing, and, if it didn't work, get to another airport. So they re-routed us to Phoenix. Happy New Years! Once again the remainder of the flight was cancelled and we had to book a flight back to San Diego. We spent the night in an interesting Econo Lodge in an interesting part of Phoenix. Though when I say night I mean about four hours. It was better than the airport, though.

Date: January 1, 2014
Age: 4.5 months
Route: Phoenix to San Diego
Flights: 1
Cumulative Flights: 14
Mileage: 300
Cumulative Mileage: 12,530 Notes: Hurray! We made it back. So tired.


Date: January 31, 2014
Age: 5.5 months
Route: San Diego to Houston to Tampa
Flights: 2
Cumulative Flights: 16
Mileage: 2090
Cumulative Mileage: 14,620 Notes: This was my first time flying on my own with Abigail. We went to Florida to surprise my Aunt Connie and to celebrate her upcoming wedding with her. It was magical to be around family and to pull off the surprise with the help of my cousin, Jenn.

Date: February 3, 2014
Age: 5.5 months
Route: Tampa to Phoenix to San Diego
Flights: 2
Cumulative Flights: 18
Mileage: 2080
Cumulative Mileage: 16,700 Notes: We made it back with little incident, thank goodness! However, Abigail isn't as easily wrangled while flying.

March was the first month, since her birth in August, that Abigail stayed grounded.

Date: April 9, 2014
Age: 8 months
Route: San Diego to Sacramento to Seattle
Flights: 2
Cumulative Flights: 20
Mileage: 1090
Cumulative Mileage: 17,790 Notes: An uneventful flight, hurray!


Date: April 13, 2014
Age: 8 months
Route: Seattle to San Jose to Seattle
Flights: 2
Cumulative Flights: 22
Mileage: 1110
Cumulative Mileage: 18,900 Notes: A slight delay, but again, an uneventful flight.

Coming up before Abigail's first birthday, if everything goes according to plan:
April: San Diego to Chicago to Rochester (+2=24), Rochester to Chicago to San Diego (+2=26) [+4480 miles]
June: San Diego to Chicago to Rochester (+2=28), Rochester to Chicago to San Diego (+2=30) [+4480 miles]
August: San Diego to Chicago to Rochester (+2=32), Rochester to Chicago to San Diego (+2=34) [+4480 miles]

34 flights  or 32,340 flight miles in one year! Oh my.
That is the equivalent of 1.3 trips around the earth.


If you've bothered to read all of this you deserve an adorable picture of Abigail: