Balloon Fiesta 2012

Well, the morning I left for the baby shower in Salt Lake was the start of Balloon Fiesta.  They always start on Friday with Albuquerque Aloft, where a balloon is launched from most of the elementary schools in the city.  We are so lucky at our school to have a resident teacher who is a pilot and has her own balloon. (Harriet's former kindergarten teacher, who has become a fun friend now.)   Her husband has his own too.  We get two balloons :)

I headed to the school with David and the kids on my way to the airport.  I had JUST enough time to squeeze it all in.  The SkyTrek balloon went up first.  (Yes, the balloons are all named.  We are just starting to learn so much about ballooning.)  The wind was up just a tiny bit this morning.  We thought it would be fine.  Totally gorgeous morning.

 We were wrong.  When they tried to get the "Mary Alice in Wonderland" balloon up (only mere minutes after SkyTrek,) it was decided that the weather was too unsafe and so they didn't even inflate it all the way before collapsing it and putting it away.  We are really starting to understand how fickle balloons can be and how absolutely PERFECT the conditions have to be to get one up without risking the balloon or the crew.

 Here is the crew with the crown line.  It took 4 people to hold it down, which, I think is the reason they ended up throwing in the towel.

That was the first weekend.  I wasn't around for the mass ascensions and David decided to take the kids to Tent Rocks (post please?) for hiking instead.  So, the next weekend, the girls and I decided to try to see some balloons at Fiesta Park.  The kids don't have school on Friday during fiesta, so we rounded up some friends and tried to make it to the special shapes ascension.  We got up at 5am, hooked up with our friends at 6am, had a police escort (courtesy of friends) into the park, got VIP parking and free admission... only to hit the field and have the sky split open and start POURING rain.  I mean, the kind of rain that looks like you got into the shower with your clothes on.  Not only was it raining, but lightning started to crack all over the field - very close.  I've never seen people put equipment away so fast.  Within about a minute, the field was clear and the balloon trailers were leaving in droves.  The weather only lasted about 20 minutes, but by then, no one was left to try for an ascension, so the whole thing was canceled.  We went home with tired, soaked, and disappointed kids.  Our friends couldn't go the next morning.

We thought about trying for Saturdays' mass ascension, but were just way too tired to try to get up at 4am (which you have to do on Saturday.)  As we opened our eyes, in bed, at 7am, we saw a glorious, clear, blue sky outside.  We flipped on the TV and watched an absolutely perfect mass ascension take off for about 2 hours.  BUMMER!!!

Since we have never been to a "glow" we thought that might be fun for a change.  At least we wouldn't have to get up early.  All of the glows during the week had already been canceled, so this was the only chance.  The "glow" is when they put the balloons up at night .  They don't take off, but they inflate them and light the burners every so often, which keeps the balloons up, and makes them glow like some sort of awesome Christmas decoration.

The glow starts at sundown, but we got to the park early to enjoy the atmosphere and get around to try to collect some pilot cards.  The pilots each have their own trading card with a photo of their balloon on it and where they are from.  It's really fun.  We learned the Darth Vader balloon is from Belgium.  Some of these balloons come from far far away.  We also saw some other neat things around the park, like the mounted search and rescue officers!  (of course, we like any horse, anywhere, anytime.)

One of the horses was a Belgian Draft horse, 18.1 hands tall!  Such a handsome boy.

We got to meet one of the "Zebra."  The Zebra are official balloon fiesta volunteers in charge of making sure that all balloons safely inflate and take off.  They have their own trading cards, so we got one of those too, for sure.

Then, we went to find Mrs. Johnson!  Our beloved kindergarten teacher is easy to find on the field.  Her balloon trailer is painted so pretty.  She was half-asleep in her truck, trying to get some rest and stay warm after a full day at the park.  She was more than happy to see Harriet though.  She invited us over to her husband's truck where, in the back seat, snuggled down into a soft coat was her new black lab puppy!!!  Oh my gosh, is there anything cuter than a black lab puppy?  I challenge anyone to come up with it.  Well, there IS one thing... a girl black lab puppy, owned by 2 balloon pilots, named BURNER.    She was incredibly adorable.  I tried my best not to eat her or steal her.

 I mean, really?  Harriet was ecstatic.  She loves Mrs. Johnson to pieces and now she loves her even more!

Mrs. Johnson said there was no way she was going to do the glow that night.  There was just enough wind that she feared burning her balloon.  She said everyone inflating was either entirely crazy, or corporate sponsored (meaning that if they ruined their balloon with a wind-blown burner, the business would pay to fix it and they didn't have to personally suffer the cost.)  We learned that the balloons range in cost from about $20,000 to over $1,000,000.  If you are in it out of your own pocket, I can totally see why you would err on the side of caution.  Fixing a balloon that has been damaged is a huge amount of money.  Plus, it can be very dangerous to light a balloon in the wind.  We thought she was pretty smart.  Still we were glad there were a few crazy people and enough sponsored balloons that we got a chance to see the glow!!

Then sun went down, and the (a few) balloons went up!

This photo is so over-exposed, but it totally shows what it feels like to be next to one of those burners when they light it.  It's a huge gust of heat and light.

What was really fun, is that the MC would get on the loudspeaker and count down from 10 and on zero, all the balloons would try to light their burners at the same time so that you could see all the balloons at once.  They did it several times during the night.  SO FUN.  How many times have I said "fun" in this post?  I need a thesaurus.  But, "fun" kind of says it all.

"Spider pig, spider pig, does whatever a spider pig does.  Does he swing, from a web?  No he can't, he's a pig.  Look out, here comes spider pig."  You can only really appreciate this balloon if you've seen the Simpson's Movie a hundred times.

We finished up the evening (after a stressful moment choosing balloon pins in one of the tents) snuggled down with a couple of bags of hot sugared donuts to watch the fireworks.  Excellent fireworks.  Thanks balloons!  We can't wait to see you again.

Jessica's Baby Shower

My baby sister is having a baby.  That, and the fact I'm up before the sun, blogging, because I can't sleep longer than 6 hours makes me feel 76, not 36.  (Had to use a calculator to figure out my age too.  I can never remember.) Is that a storm coming?  My knees hurt.

Anyway, I have a super gorgeous 10-years-younger-than-me, sister, who is having her first baby.  We're so excited it will be a baby boy, since those are pretty rare in our family.  Naturally, the rest of the sisters threw her a baby shower.  I felt incredibly lucky that I was able to travel to Salt Lake for the event and be there to see her big belly, watch her open her presents, and help her put it all away in her new, darling, nursery.

(I'm pretty sure I have the world's most beautiful sisters.  Now to figure out why Jessica can pull off the brunette and I can't.  Let's just say that none of the above is our real hair color anyway.)

Melissa seems to have spent 1000 hours, and probably as many dollars (well not quite, but...) on making every detail at the shower match and look perfect.  Emily and my mom and I did what we could to help her, but she is kind of a crazy-kook party planner.  I did make the invitations which I was pretty proud of:

Jessica made the mistake of telling us she was setting up a sock monkey-themed nursery.  Melissa took that and ran with it.  I am entirely shocked at how many products you can buy with a sock monkey on it!  She bought every single one, of course, and even more people brought monkey items for the baby.  I think Jessica is monkeyed out for sure.

Here are a few photos of the details:

Exhibit 1: The Diaper Cake

Now, I've made diaper cakes before.  You get a fortune's worth of diapers (2 boxes) and make round cake layers and tie them up cute with ribbons and little details.  Oh no, Melissa takes it to the next order of magnitude.  Since Nick is a motorcycle racer, why don't we make a motorcycle out of diapers, receiving blankets, bibs, burp clothes, socks, and a bottle for the headlight?  Are you kidding me?  I really can't believe she pulled it off just by looking at a picture from pinterest.  Pinterest is going to be the death of the world, mark my words.  To say the least, this is the cutest way to give someone a set of diapers and baby supplies I have ever seen.  

Party favors:

Games:  The Price is Right and the Poopy Diaper game

There is little that is more funny than watching your party guests, especially the grandmas, stick their noses in really gross looking diapers to guess what kind of candy bar is melted in it.

Refreshments:

Hey Shell, can you make a baby carriage with a baby in it out of a watermelon, a cantaloupe, and some fruit, like this picture?  Sure thing, Lis!  

Should we make sock monkey cupcakes?  Absolutely.  These were actually SO easy and turned out extremely cute.

My mom really does make great food.  This spread was delish!  I still need to get that artichoke dip recipe, mom.

Presents:

Jessica is pretty set now.  She has nearly everything on her registry and got tons of clothes in lots of sizes.  Sean and Kate were in on the action of course.  They have never seen a present they didn't think they needed to help with.  

I love these two.  Kate Elayne and Grandma Elayne.  Even though I was really sad I couldn't bring my girls up for the trip, it was kind of fun to get to play Aunt.  I never get a chance when my kids are around and I'm busy being Mom.  Kate and I spent some quality time over the weekend and she was so worried about how many nights I had left each day.  She actually cried when I left.  Awww...  love you Kate.

All the women in my family:  

Grandma Elayne (but we'll always call her Grandma Primmer), my Mom, Melissa, Me, Emily, Jessica, and Grandma Pearlie.  It was pretty cool that we were all able to be at the shower.  

These are Jessica's in-laws, the Moffords.  The "other" Grandma!  And, we're going to have to work hard for "favorite aunt" status with these two sisters in the mix.  

Here's the nursery.  Jessica has perfect taste.  The details couldn't be put together better.  I guess she still has the chair and armoire to add.  I think my favorite thing is the rug.  

Sisters really are the best.  It doesn't seem to matter what we're doing, whether it's a whimsical baby shower or a disgusting chore, we always have a blast when we are together.  Jessica has this giant koi pond in her backyard (that they built for their wedding backdrop last year,) and the top of the waterfall had gotten incredibly disgusting since they have been at their other house in TX a lot lately.  Jessica was heading out to clean it herself (7 months pregnant?  I don't think so.)  Melissa and I decided to go help her do it.  Sparing the rank details, it was reminiscent of the scene in Christmas Vacation when cousin Eddie was emptying his motorhome sewage into the gutter.  In Jessica's words - it looked like an elephant had used it for a restroom.  (As David pointed out, those really weren't Jessica's exact words either.  hahaha...) We suctioned the pond for about 1.5 hours until Emily was off work and came to finish the rest.  It was a comedy of errors as we hefted the industrial vacuum to the top of the wobbly rocks, tried to balance it, get it in the right spot so that gravity would help us, and drain the mess.  

We laughed so hard doing it that we were crying (and possibly barely controlling our bladders.)  At one point, we covered Jessica in the mess when the hose came loose from the vacuum.  So much for keeping her from getting near any of it.  Still it was so fun to just be with my sisters and laugh with them.  I miss getting to do that very often.  

Thanks for a really stellar weekend everyone.  I feel so lucky to have such an awesome family and that I was able to come.  I'm pretty lucky to have a great husband too, who bought me the plane ticket and stayed home with my girls all weekend so that I could go.