Itinerary Spectaculus.

:birthday in the sky.

I love surprises.
I am not one of those uptight, control freaks who needs to know exactly what is happening in order to maintain a healthy heart rate. i.love.surprises.

It was a wonderful birthday.
One huge surprise that lasted just about the whole month, lots of chocolate, and twice as many kisses.

I was showered with flowers, coffee, chocolate, movies, breakfast, and - a hot air balloon ride. Spectacular.

Apparently hot air ballooning requires the exact weather format, otherwise you may end up getting blown into a cloud-filled oblivion, ending the day in Canada - or something like that. So, the first few times Alex tried to make it happen it didn't work out. He'd wake up at 4:30 a.m., make a secret call and come back to bed apologetically saying, "It's not going to work out for today, but I have some fantastic back-up birthday plans all ready planned." (And they were always pretty darn fantastic).

Then, when the day finally arrived - sun shining and cloudless - Alex took me into the car, handed me a large "scroll" (made out of construction paper and sharpie) that read: Itinerary Spectaculus, and finally gave away my big surprise. I was ecstatic.

And so we went. Up into the air. For my birthday. And everyone looked their part. The captain looked like he could hold no other job other than hot air balloon captain and the others who floated with us were wonderful companions (a 1st year anniversary couple, a 25th year anniversary couple, and 3 ladies who work together at Home Depot).

Here goes:

While suspended at 3,000 feet, I asked the captain where we were going to land, knowing we had no steering capabilities. "Well," he said, "my son - who owns this company - is a farmer, and so he knows other farmers in the area who allow us to land on their property. We also know that there are some places where we are definitely not supposed to land. And sometimes we make new friends."
I am pleased to announce we made a new friend on this particular night, landing in a tree farm on the side of the road. How we managed to not crush multiple trees in the process still beats me.

After our wonderful evening in the sky, we came back to the hot air ballooning office, where we were given a fantastic meal inside the most charming lit-up gazebo you've ever seen.

All in all, a most spectacular birthday surprise.