Celebration Week!

This week we celebrated both Neal's and Andrey's birthdays. Happy birthday boys!

Stacey and Dave came up to take Neal and another one of our friends, Len, out for their birthday dinner at PF Chang. It was so sweet of them and we had a really fun afternoon.

Neal's birthday fell mid-week so we had a nice evening at home, starting with wine and cheese at sunset on the balcony.

Mom wanted to do something special for the birthday boy so she made a fantastic dinner - beautifully presented. Papa Bear was a happy camper and we all enjoyed mom's treat!

For dessert, we of course had a berry and cream filled cake from our favorite place - Bread Basket. M-m-good.

Over the weekend we continued the festivities with a surprise trip I had planned for Neal as his gift. First stop...dinner at Paradise Cove - a restaurant on the beach in Malibu that he's been wanting to check out for months. We had a great dinner and will definitely be back again soon.

This is the only place I've ever seen that serves Mai Tais in a pineapple. So fun!

M-m-good!

Later that night we headed south to Temecula, where the rest of Neal's birthday surprise awaited. The next day we got up at 4 a.m. to go and meet the flight crew that would be taking us out for the morning. Neal's surprise was one of his favorite things in the world - a hot air balloon ride.

We met at a winery where they divided us into three groups, ours being the largest with twelve (I never knew that many people could fit in one hot air balloon basket). From three possible launch sites, we had to drive to the furthest one due to some fog rolling in. Above was our final destination.

Waiting for the crew to set up

They laid the balloon out on the biggest tarp we've ever seen,

and then pulled out a huge fan to start blowing air into it.

Once there was enough air in the balloon, the crew started

the flame to heat the air so that the balloon could rise.

This was very cool to watch.

And she's up!

Ready for take off!

Up, up and away....

We were the first of the three groups to lift off, so we got

an aerial view of the other balloons being inflated.

Fun Fact: Hot air balloons are only flown at sunrise or

sunset because those are the two times of day when the

wind is most calm.

Good Morning Temecula

Our shadow

At the highest point, I was very nervous since I

don't like heights, but it helped that we had fun

people around us to talk to. I liked being lower to

the ground, though really the entire experience

was so gentle and beautiful.

Helloooo down there

The other balloons from our group

Other companies getting ready to launch

My favorite photo.
As our flight went on the fog that was once in the distance
started catching up with us. To one side of the balloon, we
had beautiful views of the Temecula Valley, and to the other
side, a thick white blanket of fog.

Creeping in


Shortly before we landed, Neal spotted a white owl
flying by.

Colorful Sky


The field where we landed. Amazingly, you can still see
snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Deflating the balloon

VIP tour of our basket. We had 6 people on each side of

the partition, and the pilot with the propane tanks up front.

Happy Birthday sign for Neal. :-)

Camera war

Back at the winery where we started from, we were
welcomed back with mimosas, fruit, cheese and delicious
cinnamon bread. For dessert they had a chocolate cake
to celebrate all of the birthdays and anniversaries in the group.

Fun Fact: Champagne is always served at some point during a hot air balloon ride experience because of a famous legend. Allegedly, when the french sent up the very first hot air balloon, they placed animals in the basket to make sure that it would be safe for people to travel in. The balloon flew for 15 minutes and landed some distance away. Spectators became frightened, not knowing what it was or where it came from, and so they destroyed the animals inside. The next time the frenchmen sent a balloon up, they put in the basket a bottle of champagne, which at the time could only be obtained from the Champagne region of France. The bottle had the king's seal on it so that any spectators would know it was safe and approved by the king. As a result, champagne is now a traditional part of hot air ballooning.

After our morning adventure we stopped by Old Town
Temecula for some lunch. We had delicious food at a
little Mediterranean restaurant along the strip, listening
to live music and watching the dozens of motorcyclists
that drove by. This town is definitely a biker haven.

When we got back to Thousand Oaks, we met Mom, Dad
and Andrey for some more fun at Conejo Valley Days,
a local annual carnival. It was Andrey's birthday too so we
celebrated with him.

For Mother's Day we went to brunch at Duke's. We

celebrated Mom, Cecilia and Norah, and continued

Andrey's birthday celebration as well. A great weekend!