Typically the night before the Dreams Take Flight journey, the kids are unable to sleep. For us older folks we go to bed very early to last through the nearly 24-hour adventure. This year, I was out of the country taping radio shows and only arrived in Winnipeg at about 1 a.m. to then go back to the airport for 3 a.m. check-in for Dreams Take Flight. Needless to say, it promised to be a long day. Thankfully, the adrenaline rush from the kids carries over to me and I can last another 24 hours.

At the airport, the excited chatter echoed through the terminal that only a couple of hours earlier was largely empty (it was -- I was there!) as everyone arrived for the day.