Engagement February 19, 2006 - Andy Chou and Emily Hsueh

0219 - Napa Hot Air Balloon - Got Engaged Here!

Early Saturday morning, we drove up to Napa. If you ever want to go up to Napa and want to beat the traffic on weekends, go EARLY. We left Emeryville at 5:30AM and it was almost no cars the entire way. Much better than my last experience with Napa traffic. It's been quite a while since I've gotten up at 5AM...I think Emily can't remember the last time she did that. :-P

Breakfast at Vintner's Golf Club...what were we going to do there??? Hmm?

Something videotape worthy...

Hot Air Ballooning!!! Emily actually guessed what we had gotten up so early for by using her powers of intuition but I was able to convince her otherwise. So hard to surprise her!!!

Isn't the balloon getting awfully close to the trees?

We went with Napa Valley Balloons and I can heartedly recommend them.

Watching them fill up the balloon with hot air was very cool. Loud and the flames were awesome to look at. I'm no pyro but the jets of flame were really cool.

Higher...

...and higher...

"We need more hot air!!!"

This guy almost got lifted off of his feet.

I love colorful hot air balloons. The small ones do not interest me anymore.

The second balloon was a really ugly balloon (operated by a rival balloon company). It was a much larger one (they packed many more people in) so they really opened up the tanks here.

Up up and away!

The balloon looks like some hobo's underpants. Seriously.

Or at least a grandma's unwashed blanket.

This was taken underneath our filled out balloon. The heat from the flame did make the top of head warm. This is why they recommend that tall people wear hats to protect their heads.

Napa, we have liftoff!!! Actually we took off at Yountville but you get the idea. Yountville is only a few miles north of Napa.

Wineries below...

A look back...Yountville is the cluster of buildings at the right. There was a slight chance of the whole shebang being cancelled due to weather but we lucked out and it turned out to be a great day for ballooning.

The Napa Valley can be so pretty after a storm.

Emily enjoys the view. Now, previously Emily had said that she wanted me to make sure that she had her contacts on when I proposed, making surprising her hard esp if I say..."Please put on your contacts".

Emily always looks cute anyways.

This was above the Domaine Chandon winery.

Right above the Vintner Golf Course

That's not dust on the lens...

...those are birds! You can see Dick Cheney somewhere in the shadows waiting for a lawyer to pass by.

Getting brighter and brighter...

The view was just incredible...the pilot kept busy making adjustments and flaring the hot air every now and again. They can judge wind speed and direction by looking at the ripples in water.

I was getting more and more nervous at this point...here I am supposed to be looking at the scenery and all I can think about is something else...:-P

This picture does NOT show how nervous I am. Nope, not AT ALL.

Cows...its what's for dinner!

The balloon before us went on a different path...took some neat pics from our balloon. Somewhere between this picture and the next picture, I got up the courage and proposed to Emily. I actually had 2 ring boxes on me that day. 1 was empty and the other contained the ring. My jacket pockets were practically bulging so I was really nervous when Emily insisted on buttoning me up beforehand. At first, I told Emily..."Look what I have here!" and brought out the empty ring box. Emily was shocked and when I opened it up, she immediately said "I knew you wouldn't bring the ring up here!!!" and then she turned away. THEN, I said "Hmm...well what's this?!" and brought out the second ring box. I then opened it, revealing the ring inside. She gaped and I went down in one knee. I asked her to marry me and she said "Yes, of course!" We then had to brace for impact because at this point, the pilot was telling us that we would be having a rough landing!

Apparently the winds were very fast which meant that landing would not be a smooth affair. As you can see we were getting pretty close to the ground.

Straight ahead is the hill we crashed on.

We bounced along a couple of times and ended up tipping over on the side. The way we braced ourselves though allowed us to not fall all over each other and we managed to stay inside the basket until it stopped.

What do we do now?

Everyone ok? We didn't land on a witch did we?

Emily is either happy because we survived a crash landing or because I swept her off her feet...literally! :-P

A toast to our engagment at a Vintner's brunch. Our first meal while engaged!!! The couple we sat with ended up telling us all about their daughter's wedding.

I loved the sausages here. Gourmet sausages are the best.

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Comment #1286: Jook said:
"Thanks Thanks Thanks!!! I've been looking at the videos and I know that I'm going to have to put them up soon."
(Wednesday May 17, 06 at 02:45:16 AM)

Comment #1285: Victor said:
"Congrats Mr. Andy!!! Hot air ballonn - very cool. Way to sweep a girl off their feet man!"
(Tuesday May 16, 06 at 11:37:04 PM)

Comment #1189: Jook said:
"Thanks!!! And yes, the manicure is an incredibly important part of the picture!"
(Tuesday Mar 28, 06 at 12:28:16 PM)

Comment #1188: chiblits said:
"Yay for Andy!!! Jasmine just messaged me about your engagement. You guys look sooo cute together!!! Jasmine's mom"
(Wednesday Mar 22, 06 at 12:00:44 PM)

Comment #1187: Jasmine said:
"LOL...its good Emily had gotten a manicure b/c her hands look especially pretty in the background picture :-D."
(Wednesday Mar 22, 06 at 11:49:49 AM)

Comment #1186: Jasmine said:
"Its been a while since I've checked this site; what a good surprise to see you guys are engaged!! Congratulations...you guys are a great couple!"
(Wednesday Mar 22, 06 at 11:45:09 AM)

Comment #1185: Wei said:
"Congrats!! Wish you guys all the best!"
(Sunday Mar 19, 06 at 07:25:37 AM)

Comment #1184: Jook said:
"Thanks Simon!!! And of course I will!"
(Tuesday Mar 14, 06 at 10:12:24 PM)

Comment #1183: Simon said:
"Belated congrats -- be sure to invite me to the bachelor party!!"
(Tuesday Mar 14, 06 at 03:24:14 PM)

Comment #1181: Jook said:
"hahahaha...you both are too funny! :-P"
(Monday Mar 13, 06 at 06:59:39 PM)

Comment #1178: Uncle said:
"Hmm, I think your Aunt is making a hint to someone..."
(Friday Mar 10, 06 at 05:45:09 PM)

Comment #1176: Aunt said:
"I never know you are such a romantic person. I am happy for you two."
(Thursday Mar 9, 06 at 11:13:40 PM)

Comment #1175: Jook said:
"why? can't a guy take his gf to get a manicure just because? :-P"
(Wednesday Mar 8, 06 at 01:14:14 PM)

Comment #1172: Hoo said:
"Nice pic! I didn't know about your engagement pic. until now. Woudlnt' she get suspicious when you take her to the manicure?"
(Wednesday Mar 8, 06 at 12:02:46 PM)

Comment #1171: little miss said:
"kept yelling "abacadabra" and waving my magic wand while in CIA...it sooo reminds me of Harry Potter...no food appeared magically though..."
(Wednesday Mar 8, 06 at 12:41:36 AM)

Comment #1170: wowzers said:
"fod looks so good...seems all the pics are about food and wine!! lol...makes me hungry. but congrats....ur a needle in a haystack"
(Tuesday Mar 7, 06 at 08:09:57 PM)

Comment #1169: sanghyup moon said:
"congrats guys! you a lucky guy, your bride to be is very pretty. i wish you guys the best in your new life together! god bless."
(Monday Mar 6, 06 at 11:24:02 PM)

Comment #1167: usrbin said:
"congratultaions !!!"
(Monday Mar 6, 06 at 12:52:32 PM)

Comment #1164: MY-T-MAX said:
"(sniff, sniff) I'm so proud of you! This is going to be a SOOOOO Chinese wedding!"
(Monday Mar 6, 06 at 09:56:48 AM)

Comment #1163: Jook said:
"Enjoy the album!"
(Monday Mar 6, 06 at 09:56:42 AM)