Up up and away in a balloon.

Hello there. Today John and Michelle were in Galena, Il. We won two tickets from a local radio station to go to the Great Galena Ballon Race.

Here's the balloon being filled up.

See the ballons down there. That was our pilot's first choice to land, but the winds took us off to the right and we did not get to land yet. See all the ballons that had already landed.

So we kept going. See deer that we go to see.



We then went further and found a spot, but when we tried to land a farmer came out and told us not to land. So went on. The third time was a charm. We landed in an alfalfa field close to a house. While the ballon was still somewhat afloat, we pulled it over to a driveway by the house. That wasn't too bad, but at one point we had to get the balloon over a fence.

I then help pack up the balloon. See my manly muscles!!!!

We then went back to the launch sight, for the "glow.".

All and all, a great day. It's pretty amazing to be afloat in a balloon.

Here's a final view from above Galena.

Underwater Adventures at Mall of America

A Day I Thought Would Never Come....

Tammy and JJ (John's sister and family) visited this week. While they were here I was telling them how much I liked their blog. Somehow, they convinced me that I should do one. I don't know about this. I am not really into things like this, but I do enjoying catching up with everyone, so I will give it a try. My kids will be shocked!

School is finally out and we have a fun summer planned. Maybe this will be a good time to start blogging. Some upcoming events include a hot air balloon ride, a trip to Boston and one to Utah, lots of camps (girls, scout, trek), etc.

The picture above is from our spring break trip to Chicago. The Jelly Belly Factory tour was actually lame, but the free samples were great! I picked that picture because it was the one where everyone was looking at the camera. That was a great trip - The Museum of Science and Industry, Navy Pier, Millenium Park, the subway, Chinatown, etc.

Katie heads back to school this week. It has been wonderful to have her home. I am going to see if I can figure out how to post more pictures. Wish me luck!