Up, Up and Away

Every year here in our beautiful Ogden Valley there is a hot air balloon festival.  This year it happened to be held in Eden Park, which happens to be a block from our house.  When we first decided to move here, this was one of the things that made me most excited about our location.  A lot of the locals (especially the ones who live right next to the park) have expressed some annoyance at the crowds and noise and commotion that disrupts their otherwise peaceful abode, but I must say I loved it.  (It was only my first year, after all.)  It was so fun to wake up and see beautiful, colorful balloons rising from the park and floating over our house.  I loved being close enough to walk over to see the happenings whenever we had the urge.  The evening balloon glow was pretty awesome.  And even the bands that played all day and into the evening, which we could hear perfectly from our deck, were not half bad.  So, for the record, we're fans of the festival and can't wait to see more balloons next year.

Not only did we enjoy balloon fun for the weekend, we also had lots of family visitors who came to play and see the festival, too.  Callie was in heaven with cousins and aunts and grandpas and grandmas non-stop.  Have we mentioned we're happy to be back in Utah?

First, Heather and the boys came over Thursday night after their soccer games.  Callie was already in bed, and we just visited for a bit before all heading to bed ourselves.  The next morning we woke up, and realized the balloons were already starting to go up, so we rushed to get dressed and out the door.  We made it to the park in time to see lots of balloons in the air, but none left to launch (besides the tethered Remax one that stayed there all day).  We opted against the pricey (albeit fundraising for a good cause) breakfast, and headed back home for some French Toast instead.  Then, because the booths were not up and running till later in the afternoon, and it was blasted hot outside, we headed to the beach for a little dip in Pineview.  Back home we headed for lunch and a nap for Cal, and shortly after Callie was asleep, Paul and Kim arrived.  We loaded up in Heather's van for a little excursion to the Huntsville Monastery. where we visited with a nice monk in the gift shop (Baby Dos even got a special blessing from him!) and peeked inside the chapel.  When we got back home, we lounged about in the heat for a while until it was time for some Papa Murphy's for dinner.  Then we all headed over to the park to check out the booths and wait for the evening launch.  Unfortunately, Gregg was not feeling well (at all), so he and I made a little visit to Ogden to see the doctor while Callie was spoiled rotten by her cousins and aunt and grandparents.  The heat kept them from seeing any launching balloons (seeing as hot air balloons need cooler air around them so they can rise), but they entertained themselves with bubbles and ice cream.  (And p.s. Gregg was just fine, so it turns out we got a little "date" in that evening, too.)

A peek at the park from our driveway.

Playing in Pineview - with cousins!

Gorgeous clouds all weekend long.

Visiting the monastery.

Ready to go to the park!

Heather bought Cal and the boys a ticket to play in one of the
blow up toys - exactly what Callie was wanting to do since she
laid eyes on them.

Back on the deck for a little bubble action.

Saturday morning Cal and Gregg slept in while I popped over to the park to see a few launching balloons up close.  We visited the booths and played at the playground for a while that afternoon and otherwise just hung out at home.  That evening, the Elwood Grandparents and Ky dropped by for dinner (with dinner, actually - man we were spoiled this weekend!) and we enjoyed that on the deck, listening to the tunes wafting from the park.  We all wandered over to watch a couple balloons launch that evening (it was much cooler that day, but the wind was a little trickier - so you just never know what you're going to get at a balloon festival depending on the weather!).  After a while at the park we came home to get Callie to bed and then I walked back with my parents and sister to watch the after-dark show: the balloon glow.  Turns out hot air balloons are pretty spectacular any time of day!

That's our house under those balloons!

There's a tiny speck near the right edge in the cloud - that happens
to be the parachuter bringing the flag into the park to "open"
the festival Saturday morning.  I lucked out that I was standing in
my driveway just as it was coming in.

One more of the parachute and flag (speck).

The view from our backyard.

Some pretty impressive firepower is used to lift
those things!  It was fun to be so close - you could
feel the heat.

Who wants to join us for the party next year?  ;)