Balloon Ride in the Napa Valley....

Hi everyone... Caroline reporting for first time! Its 11 a.m and we have just come in from our hot air balloon experience which was truly awesome! Sam and Will didn't know anything about it. Last night at dinner we told them we would be getting up at 4 am for an adventure. This morning in the car we played 20 questions that we could only answer yes or no to. Eventually Will guessed correctly and they were a bit dumb founded!

We arrived at our designated location at 5.15a.m and helped ourselves to coffee and pastries. Because it was a bit foggy over Napa Valley, we had to drive to another launch site 45 mins away. When we got there, three balloons were ready for the off. There were 9 people in our basket. The Boys had to get into the basket while it was still lying down... They looked so funny! Then the rest of us climbed in and sailed up, up and away!

Our pilot was called Bob who had been flying balloons for 30 years! It was very majestical floating silently above fields of walnut trees, almonds, sunflower fields, tomato fields etc. In total we flew 16 miles in 1.25 hours (click here for exact details) and at some points flying as high as 2000 feet! Near the end of the flight, the guy in front of us proposed to his girlfriend who accepted!

We landed in the middle of nowhere and were driven back to base where we were welcomed with a glass of champagne and a cooked breakfast including our first humongous pancakes with maple syrup...the boys went up several times for re-fills!

Will said of the adventure..."that was the best surprise ever! Can we do it again this afternoon?!!!" Even Jack gave it 11 out of 10, so it must've been good!

We are now "back at the ranch" chilling out for the rest of the day, sunbathing and catching up on sleep! Tomorrow its off to Yosemite!

This is Caroline Morgan reporting live from Sonoma!! More pics available here or on the right hand side of the blog....