Its a BIRD....Its a PLANE...

Its Grammie in a Hot Air Balloon for her 60th Birthday!

This year we wanted to do something memorable for Spencer's mom (Grammie) since she was turning 60. So we pondered and pondered until we came up with a great plan. As children Spencer's family spent a lot of time at a condo in Park City and their friend still owns a timeshare there. Also Spencer's dad for years would wake the children early in the morning to see the hot air balloons launch on the fourth of July. So we decided to combine these two memories into a high flying adventure that we will always remember.

So here is how the story begins. The family friend offers the condo to Paul and Ginnie for a few days and they are excited for a get away. But when Ginnie arrives she is so melancholy, missing her six children. They had a lot of wonderful memories at the condo and she was now feeling the emptiness of the nest. So she calls each child during the day on Friday. Little did she know we had a great plan. And to her surprise we all start showing up that night! She was very excited and a little confused. Heather tells her she would like to go hiking at 6:15am SHARP in the morning. So the next morning we all are up and dressed and now she is REALLY surprised. But the ultimate surprise and priceless moment is when we arrive to meet the hot air balloons!!! She is very scared of heights but was such a trooper and so excited! Paul went with her for her ride of a life time celebrating sixty years with all her family around her (well almost all).

Grammie and Miles nervously checking out the balloons getting ready to launch!

The early morning gang. Miles and Brighton were having a juice fest drinking the stuff non stop.

Grammie is looking a little nervous here (I think Grandfather was more nervous up in the air than her).

The take off!

Way up in the sky....

12, 500 feet up in the sky and in a basket with 12 other people.

We got to chase the balloon around (well follow the van that was chasing them) because they go where the wind takes them. Kind of like chasing a tornado. Weird thing happened, my eye started to swell up and it looked like a bubble was on my eyeball. I must have been allergic to something in the field so right before they landed my pharmacist man ran into a nearby Smiths and got me all fixed up with antihistamine.

They landed in a parking lot in-between all sorts of buildings and luckily right next to a park where we could have our breakfast picnic.

Right after the ride we had a cinnamon cake ready and lit for singing. Happy Birthday to you...

The picnic crew.

Food.

Cute picture of Grandfather and his mini me. If you are wondering where our spunky red head got the color from- it is from his Grandfather. Crazy how your clone can skip a generation.

Well after the hot air balloon ride Ginnie jumped on Christopher's motorcycle and rode back to the condo where we went for a little hike down to a great park. Then back to the condo to swim and BBQ. And finally up to the Alpine Slide. It was so fun and my kids were exhausted. They crashed when we go back to the condo. Such a fun and memorable weekend.

Happy 60th Birthday Grammie!