Balloon Fiesta 2012

The Balloon Fiesta is something that I love about living in New Mexico. Held every year in October it's always an adventure trying to guess which day would be the best day to go and check out the balloons. This year we decided to wake up early on a Saturday morning (4am) and head to Albuquerque in order to see the balloons. Julie (Jack's sister) and KyLee our niece came over from NC to see them so we were excited and hopeful. Our hopes were dashed as we were riding on the shuttle bus to Fiesta Park and it was announced that the wind speeds were too high and not only were the balloons not going to launch they weren't even going to blow up! SAD! We decided that we weren't going to let that news spoil our whole day so we hopped off the bus and walked the rest of the way to the park, ambled through the fields where the balloons should have been inflating and then scoped out the balloon museum. We enjoyed hearing some history of hot air ballooning and then checked out the craft room for KyLee to make something for her daddy. Then we headed out for an early lunch then it was back to Los Alamos. Slightly bummed that we didn't get to see the balloons take off we started planning our next strategic approach to seeing the balloons. Monday morning Julie and KyLee were scheduled to fly out so we decided to rent a hotel room walking distance from the park in Albuquerque and hopefully see the balloons take off Monday before they flew out. We went down late Sunday afternoon, hung out at the hotel and woke up early Monday morning and headed to the park. Launch was scheduled for 7am and we were there not long before 7 but to our chagrin there were no balloons inflated! NOOOO, not again! We spotted an Balloon Fiesta official and asked what was going on. He told us the winds about 50 feet up were too fast for the balloons to launch at that point but they were hoping once the sun rose above Sandia Mountain that the winds would die down and they would launch late. With J&K's flight time quickly approaching we were again starting to feel a little deflated in our attempts to see the balloons this year.  However, around 8am our hopes were elevated as we saw some balloons starting to be laid out on the ground and then the inflating process began! Flames shooting towards the sky all around us, large fans billowing large balloons off the ground and then, slowly but surely...lift off! We were so excited to get to be there for the ascension and KyLee enjoyed seeing the balloons floating in the air. It was magical (as always) and I couldn't keep from staring at all the pretty colors. We were even interviewed by the local paper telling them our harrowing story of almost missing out on the balloons two years in a row! Enjoy a few of the fun pictures.

excited to be at the fiesta! 

checking out the "new mexico state food" ha

hopes are starting to rise at this point! waving for the camera!

testing out the flames! 

we have inflation! kylee was fun to watch as she checked it all out while trying to stay warm

almost ready for lift off!

hello! surprise smiley inside the balloon

success! the first balloon carries the flag while the Star Spangled Banner plays. 

they blow up so close together that they touch while inflating!

always mesmerized by the colors

fun shape :)

the sky was littered all morning!

peek-a-boo!

one of Jack's favorites.

swirls

Heading back to the hotel to get them to the airport on time....*

dun-dun-dun, dun-da-dun, dun-da-dun. :)

so long for now, Balloon Fiesta 2012...until next year!

*so we got Julie and KyLee to the airport, said our goodbyes (which were precious with K) and off Jack and I headed to Los Alamos. While in Santa Fe we find out their flight is delayed...then once back to Los Alamos (about 1hr 45min away) we find out it was canceled! Boo. They ended up getting put up in a hotel and then flew out the next morning. Shucks, wish we could have spend the extra time with them but were glad they finally  made it home safely! Thanks for coming out to visit!!