lassoing the moon: A Bunch of Hot Air

Last night we went on a family date to the Midwest Hot Air Balloon Festival. It was a beyond perfect August evening here in the middle of the country and checking out this festival is something we have been wanting to do for a few years now.... If you have not attended one of these, I would highly recommend it!

There was a lot of "Ohhh, look Daddy!"s and "Whoa!"s being said...

One thing that I really wanted to do but we could not pull off due to bedtimes and zero afternoon nap, was the balloon glow that was set to take place after dark. It is where they fill up the balloons with light/fire/gas and they look like beautiful colored lanterns burning in the darkness. I have seen photos of these from other festivals and it just looks so amazingly beautiful and cool! This trailer housed one of the balloons that I was most excited about but did not get to see. Wicked is probably my all-time favorite musical, so I was kind of bummed not to get to see the actual balloon all larger than life, but just knowing that one exists is pretty exciting and something to look forward to...maybe next year!

When we arrived shortly after the gates opened, there were no balloons filled up and there was even a question as to whether or not they were going to fly due to weather, but the call was made to "fly" so there was a lot of excitement in the air- no pun intended. It was pretty thrilling to see these beautiful, huge (and they are giant!) balloons come to life right before our eyes....

These two balloons were tethered to the ground so people could go for brief rides in them. The line was a mile long and I was too nervous that wiggly Lily would wiggle out of our arms, so we opted to just watch them fill up, and then go up and down. It was super exciting to hear them fire the loud blast of hot air and then silently ascend into the quiet summer evening....

I have always loved hot air balloons and have so many memories of playing in my parent's backyard as a kid and every once in random while one would quietly float over our house in the evenings. I remember the thrill of trying to wave to them, chase them down our street, telling our neighbor friends to run outside to watch with us and then keeping our eyes on them for as long as possible as they peacefully floated away. Seeing hot air balloons has always been special because they are kind of rare, not something you see everyday floating over your house....so seeing bunches of them at a festival like this was really impressive. Especially when you see how BIG they are up close! Wow!

This cutie pie got her face painted for the very first time...

We had a great spot on the balloon field to watch them all fill up and take off...

All of the balloons are each really beautiful, but I have a special fondness for the non-corporate ones...

These two....well, you may as well, melt my heart....

Lily has a new interest in taking pictures with my camera. This is an example of one...she loves to try and look through the eye piece and then I push the button for her. Oh, I forgot to mention, she also loves to put her fingers on the lens too (NOT AWESOME!)...but we are working on that part. I love her budding interest and talent!

This tired girl was a complete trooper...Joe and I both left home without any cash, so we did not have any way to buy dinner at the festival! So not only did she not have an afternoon nap, stay up (and out) waaay past her bedtime, but she also ate dinner super late. (Great job, Mom! Right?? Sheesh! Mom of the Year!) But she did awesome!