We started our day at 4:00am. We had to be in Napa by 5:30am so I picked our babysitter up around 4:40am. Thank goodness we found a babysitter that was willing to get up that early to watch our kids. I was a little worried that we wouldn't find anyone. We got to Napa a few minutes after 5:30 so most of the food was already eaten. We had to wait around for a while until they figured out where we could launch the balloons. We were supposed to launch in Napa but it was too foggy so they were trying to figure out if they could launch from their second place in Winters. For those of you that don't know winters is only about 20 minutes from Vacaville so it would have been funny/depressing if we drove about an hour to Napa just to turn around and drive past our place to Winters. It was really windy there so they had to go with their third choice which was in Hidden Valley (1 hour north of Napa).
The crew inflating our balloon.
I didn't realize how many people it took to set up/take down a balloon.
This is one of the other balloons but ours look very similar.
Two balloons about ready to take off.
In the balloon about ready to take off.
One of the workers saw Nathan taking the last picture and offered to take one for us.I think we had about 14 people in our basket.
View from our balloon. Hidden Valley Lake
Another view from our balloon. Other balloons about ready to take off.
HandsomeWe had a little trouble landing because the balloon chasers couldn't figure out where we were so we had to float around for a while until they could find us. Most of the other balloons stayed in the same area were we took off but our pilot was adventurous. Eventually we landed in a field next to this house.
House we landed next to.The mom came outside taking pictures and all the kids ran outside to see us land. Once we got into the van we drove to their house and gave them a bottle of wine. I guess it is tradition if you land in someones yard to give them a bottle of wine.
We had to battle with a bunch of these to land. It was definitely a bumpy landing.
Getting out of the basket after we landed.The drive to and from the launch spot was very windy so I felt really sick by the time we got back to Napa. When we got back though they had a really nice breakfast for all of us. On our way home we may or may not have gotten a speeding ticket. I swear we weren't going as fast as the police officer said we were.
Random question for those willing to answer: How much do you pay babysitters per hour?
This was the second time in the last month that two of our babysitter's mom called us up saying that we paid their daughter too much money. I honestly don't think we pay too much but now I'm just curious what others pay their babysitters.
4 comments:
Ash, you're coming from the East, so you may be used to paying more, but you're in Cali so that shouldn't matter. It may be a mormon thing. I tried doing $3 the first kid and $1 for the others. It equaled $25 for a temple trip and the babysitter said it was too much and just took the $20. I guess she is 14 and $20 would seem a lot to a 14 year old! You're so brave! I am scared of heights and get sick way up high, so that would be a no-go for me!
I've heard $10-12/hour.
What a fun day, and sounds like such an adventure. What a good babysitter to come over early. Glad you guys had such fun day!
It looks like a scene from a movie, Ash! I have always wanted to take a Hot Air Balloon ride, and I have always wanted to go to Napa-it seems so beautiful. Nathan's a great gift giver...can't wait to see him top this one off!!
What do you pay babysitters? Aleese and I just exchange babysitting for now. I need to know what to pay someone for when she leaves :(
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