Birthday in a Hot Air Balloon

Since I was a young teenager in San Diego going to the beach in Del Mar, I have dreamed of taking a hot air balloon ride. I never looked into it, I just always dreamed and never did anything about it ... which, let's face it, is not like me at all.

So imagine my intense excitement, when Sean told me that for my birthday this year, he was taking me on a sunrise hot air balloon ride! That's right ... I have the most thoughtful husband! So on Saturday, April 17th, we woke up before the sun and drove down to Chandler to dance in the clouds with the sun!

Due to a hilarious and fabulously coincidental chain of events, we ended up with our own private balloon and Sean got to help the pilot prepare our balloon. Here is what my fabulous birthday morning looked like.
To make a great thing even better, there just happened to be a gathering of ballooners that morning, so what would normally be two or three balloons in the air turned out to be more than a dozen balloons dancing in the sunrise!

We reached a max elevation of a little over 3,000 ft. This was our view from the balloon of the Chandler and Gilbert farmland.

Our pilot was so super talented! These balloon pilots are captive to wind patterns although they can control where the wind takes them, they can't always go the exact route or direction they want. So this morning the winds took us over some huge housing developments, so the pilot set our balloon down smooth as silk in the middle of an HOA park. Ha!

As we were descending, we noticed people walking into their back yards to watch the balloon flying over head. When we landed loads of Chandler moms and their beautiful pajama clad, bright eyed children poured out of their SUVs and mini-vans to look at the balloon. So while Sean and I ate fruit and poundcake and sipped on mimosas, the neighborhood kids helped the balloon team push all the air out.

I took these pictures for one of the Moms who didn't have her camera. So I emailed them to her later that weekend, so she could have this rare and adorable Saturday morning to share with her loved ones.

One of the best birthdays ever! Well, other than the one two years ago when Sean made me the happiest woman in the world by proposing!

I like this whole let's see who can spoil the other one more thing Sean and I have going on. It's good ... we are great ... life is amazing!

WASP Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony

This March, my Mom and I took a trip to Washington, D.C. to take part in the trip of a lifetime. We were going to D.C. in honor of my grandmother who was part of a historic group of women to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.

For those of you who don't know this about me, my grandmother was a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of World War II. She was an American hero. These women flew military aircraft stateside during the war to free the military men to fly oversees.

My grandmother and her pilot sisters were considered civilian pilots and did not receive veteran benefits until 1978. The records related to their work were sealed in the National Archives for 33 years and thus the story of these women was largely left out of the history books. That was until 2009, when President Obama signed a bill that awarded these women the highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal.

Once the National Mint had produced the Medal, the Senate organized the award ceremony and invites each of the remaining women and family members of the deceased. Since my grandmother passed 12 years ago, my mother and I took the trip to D.C. to receive my grandmother's medal posthumously.

So Mom met me in Phoenix and we headed off to our Nation's capitol. This trip was immensely exciting to me not only because of the festivities, but because this was also my first opportunity to really experience D.C.

Our first day, we spent walking all over the city ...literally walking all over the city

Day 2 marked the beginning of the festivities. First off to the U.S. Airforce Memorial in Arlington for the Remembrance Ceremony for the 38 women who lost their lives in service.

Since the majority of the existing WASP are in their late 90s, dozens of young military volunteered as personal escorts to each woman that requested such.

At this ceremony, the USAF Thunderbirds performed a fly by in Missing Man formation to honor those fallen women. The aerial tribute was never afforded to any of the deceased WASP before this day. To complete the military burial honors, a wreath was laid at the memorial and Taps was performed. The ceremony moved me to tears with the majority of the WASP now deceased, it felt as though I was standing at hundreds of funerals all at once experiencing the sadness of the substantial loss, but the pride of a fallen hero receiving deserved final respects.

After the Remembrance Ceremony, there was a Tribute Tea at the Women in Service Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery where the Fly Girls exhibit was temporarily displayed before beginning it's national tour.

There was a collage of all the women's photos, we found Grandma is mere seconds.

Day 3 was the day of the ceremony at the U.S. Capitol's Emancipation Hall. This was the largest gathering within the Capitol in the nation's history.

Each living WASP and/or one family representative of the deceased receive a bronze replica medal, this is my grandmother's medal. Isn't is impressive?

It was the trip of a lifetime. The day of the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony was the twelfth anniversary of my grandmother's death ... what a glorious way to mark such a usually sorrowful day for my family.