balloon fiesta

After a few short weeks in our new Texas home, we discovered that Tyler had passed the New Mexico state bar.  Hooray!  While he will still have to take the bar again here in Texas, we were so excited and proud.  He had to be in Albuquerque for the swearing in, so we made a trip of it.  It happened to be the last weekend of Balloon Fiesta (!!!!!!) which was the happiest coincidence ever.  We went two years ago, when TJ was a baby, but I was so excited to take both my kids.

Traditional picture of Tyler driving

We drove up on Friday, and hit up Balloon Fiesta the next morning.  It was two days in a row of getting up at 4 am, which was exhausting but so worth it.  When we got there Friday, I drug Mom and Haley with me to the dollar store to get glow sticks so we wouldn't have to buy the overprices souvenir light-up stuff from Balloon Fiesta.  We also went to wally world to stock up on snacks and to pick up a onesie (sp?) for me so Haley and I could be matching.  (Mine is actually pooh, but we were trying on the night before and I wanted to try Eeyore).

 The glow sticks were a huge hit.  We like to go crazy early, so that we can get a good parking spot and a good spot on the balloon field, but balloons don't take off until dawn, so that leaves a few hours to fill.  The glow sticks+hot chocolate+donuts kept everyone entertained.

My uncle James had flown down specially to go to Balloon Fiesta with his family.  We were all staying at my parents' house and it was so fun.  James' kids were always so sweet to my boys when we lived in Utah, and my kids were so happy to be around fun cousins again.  

My favorite was when TJ asked Caleb to build a hot air balloon out of glow sticks.  Caleb said "OK" and I thought he was just trying to get TJ to leave him alone but he actually did it!  He built a super cool hot air balloon out of glow sticks and everybody, especially my kids, loved it.

Dawn patrol is the traditional start of any BF launch.  It is amazing to see the fires and the balloons lighting up the night sky!  Just so cool.  My kids were going crazy for it.

 After the dawn patrol goes up, there's a little time while other balloons roll in and get set up to fly out.  Traditionally this is when we go buy burritos for breakfast, but everyone was pretty stuffed on donuts.  Instead we did more glow stick playing.

 Tyler decorated himself as glow stick man.

 One important thing to mention is most people do not do balloon fiesta like the Skousen's do it.  We take a big drink cooler of hot chocolate, loads of blankets and chairs.  Dad always puts a tarp down, in case the grass is wet.  It gets really, really cold before dawn in October, so extra blankets are a must!  I remember doing it this way even when I was a little girl.  As I got older, I would lay out and take naps all snuggled in blankets until the balloons started going up.

 Because we'd gone early, we had a prime spot right on the edge of the balloon launch.  We had to move our camp back a little because we were actually on the balloon field where they were setting up a balloon.

 It was totally worth it.  It got crazy busy, probably because it was the last Saturday of the event.  People were just mobbing around the balloon that was setting up in front of us.  We had our territory clearly marked by our spread of blankets and chairs, so we had a great spot and a little bit of space from the crowd, which was so great.   We got a few dirty looks, but we also had tons of people taking pictures of our camp and saying "I want to be with those guys!"  How funny is that?

 We decided to stretch our legs as the first round of balloons started going up.  (Check out my sweet pooh-bear onesie!)

  I don't love crowds, and it was especially crazy, so after a little while I went back to our camp where we had a break from the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.

 With all the balloons going up, my kids could not stand to stay in camp.  Tyler and my Dad took them around to see all the fun hot-air balloons getting ready to launch!  My sweet Dad followed Eli all the way across the balloon field and back again.  Don't let his face fool you - Eli was having a blast!

  It was a mass ascension day.  Mass ascension is always my favorite.  One wave of balloons sets up to launch, and once they leave, more balloons come out and blow up in their place.  It's seriously amazing to watch.

 ^ A shot of our camp.  Haley is all bundled up so you can't see she was wearing her Eeyore suit!  I was a little sad because my pooh-bear suit attracted a little attention and nobody even noticed I was matching with my sister.  Because she was asleep under a pile of blankets.  I can't be too mad though, if I didn't have kids I would have slept too!

 ^ I thought TJ perched like a parrot on Tyler's should was hi-larious.

 ^ Mom and my cousin, Jack

 ^ Selfie with my sweetheart

 ^ I don't even know how many donuts my kids ate.

 ^Haley, me, Madre

 ^ While Dad was out chasing Eli, Haley stole his super awesome recliner chair and went to sleep.  She had gone earlier that week with friends so she didn't miss out completely.

 Seriously, it's so cool!  Pictures just don't do it justice.  I think everyone should go.  It's amazing.

 Eli returned from adventures and came to lay down with me while he ate.  I loved it and he actually stayed for several minutes, pointing out the balloons to me, before he got too restless and needed to wander again.

It was such a great experience, I'm so glad we went!  I hope we can take our kids every few years.  I loved going as a little girl, and it's even funner to share something I love so much with my own kids.