Our 5th Anniversary

This Friday marks our 5 year anniversary.  We decided to celebrate a week early this year, since I'll be leaving for Montana that day.  We kicked off our celebration last weekend with a date night to our favorite (albeit SUPER expensive) steakhouse.  But before leaving, we had to partake in our yearly ritual of toasting with our gifted champagne flutes.  In years past, we've split a bottle of champagne.  This year and last, Pat filled his glass with beer, and mine with flavored seltzer water.  We toasted to another year past, a year that's been by far the hardest on our marriage, but also the year we're proudest to have survived, intact and still in love.  It feels good to be able to say that.

Pat's mom and sister got us a gift certificate for a hot air balloon ride in Napa for Pat's 30th birthday in the fall.  We never used it over the winter because we didn't want to risk bad weather.  Then we got to thinking about when/if we'd be able to get away for the day (or weekend) with a baby, and quickly realized that it would likely be awhile before we'd be ready to leave the baby.  So I did my homework, calling the hot air balloon company and my doctor to get the appropriate approvals.  And doctor's note in hand, we left on 4:30 Sunday morning to make it to Napa by the 6:30 launch time.

Warning: This post is going to be picture-heavy, since I'm my mother's daughter and took over 130 images of our ballooning adventure.

I think several people who thought I was crazy for wanting to do this pregnant.  The employees of the hot air balloon company kept asking me if I was sure I wanted to participate.  My doctor didn't recommend against it, but did caution me to be VERY careful and not take any chances if the weather wasn't favorable.  One of my girlfriends even called me the "pregnant little daredevil".  But our pilot assured us that he's had his license for 25 years and that conditions were perfect for low wind and a smooth landing.  And luckily, we had no issues at all.  However, we did watch a few other balloons who had pretty rough landings (one landed on a hillside and had the basket drug about 50 ft before they reached a landing spot where all the passengers could safely disembark).  But this was an incredible experience, and I'm really happy we got to do it together.

Maybe I am a little crazy for taking the risk.  But life is short.  Hot air ballooning has always been on my bucket list, and if there's anything Virginia has taught me, it's to live life to the fullest, because there's no way of knowing when our time is up.  And while I was up there, I thought a lot about Virginia and how I don't know if I would have done something like this that scared the bajeezus out of me, if it hadn't been for her.  It was so peaceful up there.  Nothing but us and nature (and our 14 closest friends crammed into a little basket, haha).  Kind of what I imagine heaven to be like.  I felt like I caught a glimpse, even if only for a few minutes, of that perfect serenity and happiness.  It was a truly beautiful experience.

And the good news is that we can show Baby Dos this picture someday (God willing) and tell her all about how she got to go on a hot air balloon when she was in Mommy's belly.  And I think that's pretty badass.