Plano Balloon Festival

4:05 AM - Brad and I start getting up and going. Thankful it isn't raining like the night before!

5:10 AM - Kids in car ready to go. Lorelei super excited and Makin wondering what in the world his parents are doing to him. :) Lorelei had been anticipating this for weeks and was ready to hop out of bed as soon as I got her up. The night before, when she was supposed to be going to sleep she hollered at me, so I went into her room unhappy and she said, "We go see hot air balloons now!?" No you haven't even slept yet!!!! :) She was more than a little excited.






7 AMish - Kids enjoying the picnic breakfast we packed, strawberries, bananas, grapes and even home made cinnamon rolls!

There was supposed to be (I think) a morning "glow" where you see the balloons lit up, but none of them were out yet. We are guessing from the rain the night before, but then after doing more reading they may only do that in the evenings...but it seemed like everyone was there early to try and see that!



Wanted to show the process as we were watching it. Finally around 7:15 vans started coming out to set up their balloons. Of course started rolling out first, then fanning, then up...you get the idea.

Their reactions watching the balloons go up.














State Farm was one of the sponsors so had to take a few pictures for Aunt Heather!




































The lady bug was one of our favorites.



















Since it was so cloudy, the balloons did not go up as planned, so I guess they decided they better give us a little something for our money, so everyone was let out on the field to get an up-close look. We all loved this chance, and Lorelei even got to sit on the basket for the purple people eater. You can see the flame behind her and she didn't even flinch at the sound and the heat! :) They liked that her bow matched their balloon. :)












Owning the balloon field. ;)














Then we headed to the fair...and do you know what this smart mom did? She was so worried about her breakfast picnic she didn't think to pack...you guessed it, the STROLLER!!! Yep, I toted around that 26.4 lb boy and will never forget a stroller again! And yes, my arms are aching as I type this. :)

The highlights were the free art tent where Lorelei got to do stamps, stickers, chalk, and even get a few tattoos. Then we headed over and did a little spin art, which was a lot of fun. The other big hit was the State Farm bear. This girl loves her a mascot. :)

And the really best part? We got to go inside a hot air balloon! They had it set up just fanning it open with air and let people go inside. As you can see the reaction was pretty fun. :) These balloons are huge!

9:30 AM - Annnnd who doesn't need a mid- morning snack of chocolate ice cream? :)

We were home by 11 AM where we regrouped before heading out for the night!

Yes, we woke our kids up early and kept them up late, but it was for a good reason! Jerry and Joyce Steger moved back to Texas on Tuesday, and their kids invited us to their family get-together Saturday evening to celebrate the move as well as Joyce's birthday. It was a great time for all of us and we are so glad we got to meet their kids and extended family as well. Lorelei was thrilled to have more cake and candles...we cant go a week without them these days! :) Oh and I have to mention a)they had TWO dogs there and Lorelei could not leave them alone of course and b)the host had a pool in his yard and Lorelei swam across it (with floatie) all by herself! :) It was awesome.

And did we pay for this on Sunday? You betcha. :) Thankfully both kids are now fast asleep and hopefully we recouped enough today. :)