The BIG surprise that Mark pulled off!!

Mark and I recentely celebrated our 10th anniversary and he had a big surprise. He played it like he couldn't think of anything to do, and as time kept getting closer and closer to our anniverary weekend, he finally asked for my help in figuring out what to do. Mark has never liked planning our dates, so this really didn't surprise me much. I looked around and found something I would have been happy with just incase he wasn't pulling me leg. But he was. He had a hot air balloon adventure and breakfast planned since February with a trip out to the coast to follow.

On Friday, he said I should pack my bag because he'd found a last minute spot available at the coast...we'd leave Saturday morning. I was packed, ready as I could be until my last minute stuff went in. Good thing. We woke me up at 4am! He was totally dressed, had the car packed, the cooler packed with a picnic, and had already watered the yard to get it ready for the hot days ahead.

I stumbled into the bathroom with tired eyes, hopped in the shower and began to get excited for whatever was in store. Before I knew it, Evan was walking through the bathroom with tired eyes also, and we were gettingready as fast as we could.

As we were driving and the sun was coming up, certainly a hot air balloon ride had occurred to me, but I knew Mark would never do it with his fear of heights, so I let that idea quickly pass. But, in the end, we pulled into Vista Balloons. Evan had a few tears in the car when he realized what he was in for, but after he got his head around it, and I reminded him that he could be scared and brave all at the same time, he did great!

I LOVED the view as we passed over the tops of the trees. I love trees and often call myself a 'tree-freak,' so this was a real bonus for me. I don't think I even noticed the moment when we left the ground. Everything was just so smooth and light. I felt like I was floating in a bubble.

The very coolest thing we expereinced on the ride was the 'splash and dash' on the Willamette River. What a perfect morning we had...lift off was around 6am. The water was perfectly calm and made for beautiful pcitures with perfect reflections. It was so neat to watch the images change as we got closer to the water, so did all the reflections. All 5 balloons landed on the water and stayed for a few minutes to take it all in. Our captain said this had never happened before when he'd been flying - for all 5 to time it perfectly, for the wind and water to be so right - it had never happened for all 5. This was really something to see.

Evan had been so scared in the beginning I had wondered if we'd be sitting in the car instead of floating in the sky. The idea of it IS scary and makes no sense, especially to a kid. Combine that with the noise that the HUGE blow torch makes when eating the air, and it's enough to concern anyone. He started off sitting on the floor of the basket, but quickly got to his feet when he heard everyone saying, "Wow, look at that,..." I think it's great to have expierces that scare you, only to find that you can do it, and it was actually the neatest thing ever! I'm so proud of this terrific little boy!Steve and Eileen were also in on the surprise. I was so surprised to see them walk across the parking lot after we had arrived. Our balloon held 10 people in all.

After an hour, it was time to touch down on the ground again. I could have floated on for a few more hours. It was lovely up there.Evan was excited to help push the air out of the balloon. This was a great experience for him too. After we packed up 450 pounds of nylon and rope, we were shuttled back to the spot we'd started from where they had now prepared the most amazing breakfast! This was such a great and memorable and a surprise I never would have guessed Mark would have planned. Way to go Mark.