Come Fly Away With Me

We were inspired this weekend

In a town half an hour north

Our friends Mike and Chris with their oldest daughter, Maria

By a gathering of hot air and fabric.

Grandpa and Miriam

No, it wasn't a quilting shop, but a hot air balloon festival. 

Mommy and sleeping Felicity

We're going to overwhelm you with pictures...and this is a very parred down selection. But really we loved it! They were all beautiful. And who sews something that big? Where is it done and how?

Miriam, Vivian, and Aunt Nichole...the girls loved the Sugar Bear balloon

We got to hang out with friends and family. Including our friends Mike and Chris. Their oldest daughter is a couple months younger than Vivian and then they have TWIN girls who are a few months older than Felicity. (So you can imagine how busy these parents are every day.) When all our girls are older they will have SO much fun together! Until then, we really admire how patient, generous, and joyful they are! 

Chris' mom with one of their twins

It was a beautiful day.

Miriam and "little" Maria play Ring Around the Rosy

It's on our bucket list to take a hot air balloon ride, so maybe this brought us one step closer?

There was a really good announcer at the event who had been a hot air balloon pilot in the past. He explained the winds and the competitions. This was the one we saw: Each pilot had a bean bag with him or her. They flew their balloons from any spot they choose in town back to the festival at the small county airport. When they returned, the pilots had to lower their balloons, toss the bean bag out to hit a mark, then rise back up and sail away to a safe landing place. The pilots whose bean bag was the closest to the mark won. Really fun to watch and cheer on the pilots as they lowered themselves to almost scrape the ground and then glide away again.

Hot air balloons are pretty temperamental creatures. Too much wind from the wrong direction makes for a cranky balloon. Saturday wasn't too bad for them.

The pilots name their balloons. Mommy really likes naming, so that made her smile.

Aunt Maria and Aunt Bridget

Plus, some of them look like giant quilts.

While the day was too windy for these big, unbalanced guys to fly, the pilots did blow them up and the girls thought they were fabulous!

Betty Jean the Butterfly

Arky

 Loved seeing these two in their wide-brimmed hats. 

Grandpa and Felicity

 At the end of the night, the pilots set up their balloons in the airfield...

...and put on a light show for the crowd.

Bet you can guess the theme this week in our house.