5 Years, Mother's Day & Animals

Today we spent the morning at the Hugo Animal Farm with some friends from church. It was a great place to visit. Very personal and interactive for kids of all ages. We were able to see rams, ewes & lambs; roosters, hens, chicks and eggs. We even got to hold the chicks in our hands. We were able to feed the cows. We held kittens and puppies, pet bunnies, a lamb, two kids (baby goats), and a piglet. We also went on a fun hayride! What a great day.





On Mother's Day we went to Wisconsin to visit with Jeremy's Grandmother, Eileen. Jack got to see his great grandmother for the second time. He gave her lots of kisses. He loved to run up and down the halls and visit with everyone. His favorite part of the day was petting the dog statue in the entry.



Five Whole Years! On May 10th Jeremy and I celebrated our five year anniversary! To mark the occasion we decided to go on a hot air balloon ride. What fun. We had scheduled to go on our actual anniversary, but Aamodt's Ballooning called us and got us on a private flight the day before. It was such a treat. It was just us and the pilot in the balloon.

Hot air ballooning is such an adventure, much more than just the time spent in the actual balloon. We went to the orchard to meet our crew (Scott, the owner and our pilot & Megan and Tim, our chase crew). We loaded up in a big truck and headed to Wisconsin to take off, since we had an east wind. Balloon pilots are the closest thing you can get to meteorologists. They are constantly checking the weather, currents and any other conditions that can affect our ride. When we arrived at our departure spot, we helped to get the balloon and basket unloaded. They use fans to fill the 6 story balloon with air so that it can hold the heat to get us into the air. We had to wait until the conditions were just right and then they filled the balloon with hot air. All the crew members had to hold the balloon down until it was filled with enough hot air to lift us up quickly so we could avoid a nearby treeline. We had to jump into the basket quickly and off we went.

Our views were so beautiful. We went over western Wisconsin, the St. Croix River, Stillwater, both of the prisons (Stillwater Minimum & Oak Park Heights Maximum) which had inmates out in the yards, and finally landed in someone's yard in Bayport. During our time in the air we noticed that we were going up really really high. We actually hit 3600 feet. Jeremy mentioned this to our pilot. Then I mentioned how we were staying in one spot and it seemed like we weren't moving. It turned out we were in a "thermal," which is like a mini vertical wind tunnel. It sucks you up really high really fast and then shoots out out the top.

After our flight, the pilot said that he realized we were in it right away, but didn't want to freak us out. It was great that we had such an experienced pilot because he kept heat in the balloon (which makes the balloon continue to go up). Apparently, if you don't keep the balloon hot while you are in one of these, if you get to the top and have no heat, you can drop really quickly. We had no idea. Scott did a great job! We highly recommend hot air ballooning, and if you live by us, we highly recommend Aamodt's Hot Air Ballooning. :)

Since we went hot air ballooning on the 9th and we still had a babysitter lined up for the 10th, we decided to take advantage of TWO date nights!!! We celebrated with dinner at the Lake Elmo Inn and talked a lot about where God has taken us in these five years of marriage. We are so amazed at the inner workings of our great God in our marriage. He works in all the little details. We have been challenged by each other and so supported by our church. We are thankful for five blessed years and we so look forward to many many many more!