Balloon Festival

One of the kid's favorite memories to mention is when we woke them up super-early for the hot air balloon festival. They were excited to find out we would do that again this year!

This year we decided to try a festival in a different location to see how the crowds etc differed. It is also about a month later, so we though the cooler weather would be nice.

Just had to take another "our parents woke us up early to go" shot. :)

As we arrived "only" a half an hour early, we were amazed at the lack of crowds. With the previous AM balloon festival we were among the masses parking in the dark! So early, in fact, that we got in for free! The people taking the cash were not set up on time, so as Brad was waiting in line for them to set up, they told us to go ahead since they weren't ready yet. A free family event? Perfect in our book! :) We were a little surprised at the lack of direction and organization at this smaller festival, but it was still fun for the kids to see the balloons being aired up and some of them lifting off for flight. It was definitely a much smaller scale and we were relieved it was free so we couldn't be disappointed! :)

Cooler weather was right! We were quite chilly and snuggled under blankets to keep warm!
If you start to notice a lack of Makin pictures...he is currently in the "don't take my picture" phase...hoping thats over soon!

We decided to splurge on a caramel apple for four. :) Yum!

It was a fun start to our day...the verdict is still out on what we will do next year, but we are glad we gave this one a shot! :)