Happy Fourth of July

Happy Freedom Days! We spent Friday morning before the fourth watching hot air balloons inflate and then rise into the sky. The kids were pretty impressed by the amount of fire it took to get the balloons into the air. It was awesome! The wind actually allowed the balloons to go up this year but wasn't cooperating enough to let the balloons play their games. Ah well. I guess you can't have it all.

We had a few "characters" show up this year for the festival. Smokey the Bear (as seen from below) and the pink piggy bank are regular attendees. The Coke bottle showed up after all the balloons had left the field. But the main attraction was the Darth Vader balloon all the way from Belgium. Wow! There were even stormtroopers, Darth Vader, and the Emperor who made their appearance. It was fun!

Speaking of the Coke balloon. It inflates but rarely flies. The crew actually had volunteers from the crowd (preferably those under the age of 12) come roll the air out of the balloon before it got stuffed in the giant bag and put in the trailer. We talked John into helping out with the crew. And before the end of the line, Jack decided to help a little. We got that on video.

All of the kids were pretty good. We all tumbled out of bed and they showed up in their jammies. It was so much fun. Maybe we'll see some of you next year and we can show you around the festivities!

Happy Fourth of July

A very big Happy Freedom Days to everyone! In honor of the 4th of July, we take the kids to see the balloon festival every year. It's held in the baseball field behind the Utah Valley hospital and this is it's 26th year. They have lots of balloons, people, kids, and even an early pancake breakfast by the Kiwanis club. It's a good time!

We decided to see the balloon launch on Friday morning. I was hoping that there wouldn't be as many people attending the Friday session as the ones for Saturday and Monday. I was right. It was a LOT less crowded! It was actually more enjoyable this way. The only problem we/the pilots encountered was a strong crosswind somewhere overhead. There wasn't any wind on the ground, but it's been fairly windy for the past couple of days, and the atmosphere above us could be doing anything.

Anyway, we got to see the balloons inflate and one was even offering rides (I didn't check out prices). But it was an awesome sight to watch deflated fabric suddenly "balloon" overhead and then lift off of the ground! The kids loved it!

Thanks to Daddy's camera abilities! The panoramic picture is awesome, Shawn! I think the Coke bottle was a favorite of everyone's this year. John kept calling it "Dr. Pepper" but he finally figured it out when he could see the letter "C" on the huge label.

Amazing what they can fly? So...the unusual balloons this year were the bottle, piggy bank, and Smokey the Bear. Kinda fun to see something different in the sky.