Balloons

Well, this year's Balloon Fiesta wasn't a total bust after all :-) We went to the Special Shapes launch on Friday morning and had an awesome time. It was chilly to be sure, and we had to get up at 4:30, but it was so worth it. It's so cute to hear Jordan say "fiesta", point out the different balloons, and get excited about the school bus ride to the park. I had told her the night before that we would have to get up really early and it would still be dark outside. When I went to wake her up that morning, she put a big smile on, told me what was on the agenda, and was ready to go!

The special shapes seemed a little lacking this year. There were definitely less balloons, and maybe it was just not as overwhelming as the first time you see them. But we saw our favorites (Arabelle the Dairy Cow) and some new ones (Pepe Le Pu, the space shuttle). What was really cool this year was the pole grab competition. Last year we kind of had to hustle to leave because people were coming to work on the house. But this year we stuck around, ran into some people Jamie works with, and watched the pole grab. The wind was just right and the balloons clustered right overhead and stayed nearby a long time.

Balloon Fiesta is the most photographed event in the world, and I believe it. I have as much fun taking pictures there as I do watching the show. As usual, Jordan evaded all attempts of mine to photograph her. I really wanted a pic of the two of us together, and I had to wrestle her to get it. Likewise for our family picture. Amazingly my pictures came out. I say that because today I grabbed the camera to take pics of the roses Jamie and Jordan cut for me, and realized I had it in manual. Yep, all of my Balloon Fiesta pics I took after I put the polarizer on were in manual; I must have hit the wheel. As they say, better lucky than good :-)