Hot Air Balloon Ride

Last September I turned 40 and among other wonderful gifts, I got a gift certificate for a hot air balloon ride from my family in South Africa. After over 8 attempts to schedule the flight (cancellations due to babysitting issues or weather), we finally pulled it off today and it was the perfect morning for a hot air balloon ride.

Last night I had a few dreams about the flight - I dreamt about oversleeping and missing it, I dreamt about being late to get Taylor who came to babysit for us (at 6:50 am - she's a great babysitter!!), I dreamt about bad weather and I dreamt about having a horrible flight. Taylor woke me up at 6:15 am with a text message to ask if the flight was still on and I confirmed it was. In the past if the weather was bad, I received a call from the pilot at 6 am to cancel the flight.

So I fetched Taylor and dropped her at home with the boys and then Warren and I went to Chatsfield State Park where we met Ken from Rocky Mountain Hot Air Balloon Rides. After signing a disclaimer and reading the safety regulations, we watched Ken and his crew set the basket and balloon up.

Me in front of "Bandit" the balloon.

Then it was time to fly and 6 of us squished into the basket. Ken slowly let the balloon rise and played around a little by pretending we weren't going to make it over the treetops but of course we did. Besides the loud burst of the burners, it was so quiet and gentle. We floated around the area and 2 other hot air balloons joined us in the sky. The flight was for an hour and at the end we came to a very gentle and quiet stop.

We all helped get the balloon back into its container and left with a bottle of champagne from Ken which we will consume next Saturday (Valentine's Day).

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

my dear family for a wonderful birthday gift and experience!