Colorado Balloon Classic

On Saturday morning (7am!) and evening we went to the 36th Annual Colorado Balloon Classic.  Started in 1977, it has grown to be the largest and the longest continuously running hot air balloon festival in the Rocky Mountain Region as well as the State of Colorado.  The weather conditions were great, so we got to see a lot of balloons!

 

There were so many cool pictures I couldn't decide which ones to post.  I did whittle it down from how many I took, but there are still a LOT posted here.  I mixed morning and evening pics just to vary it a little. 

 

In the morning, we got to see the balloons layed out, inflated, and launch.  They flew over the trees and over a little lake.  The more adventurous pilots took their balloons back down and skimmed the surface of the lake, then lifted off again.

 

During the night time "Balloon Glo", the balloons inflated, but did not launch.  The loud speaker lady would initiate a countdown every few minutes (for 30 minutes) and all the balloons would fire at the same time creating the glow.  So cool!

 

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1---GLOW!

 

 

 

 Eating some kettle corn at the balloon glo.

 

This was one of the first shots of the morning.  The balloons inflated on the grassy area, flew over our heads, over the trees, and across the lake on the other side of us.

 

Here is the "cowboy" balloon skimming the lake.

 

"Smokey the Bear" balloon.

 

Jonas with a ring side seat during the inflation of one of the balloons.

 

Ezra!

 



 

Flying directly over our heads.

 

 

The boys got to play in the bouncy castles and the Judith got her face painted with a unicorn.

 

We were headed back to the car, but stopped on the way to see a parachuting (?) guy.  He was strapped to a giant fan and was flying a around with a sail over him.  I'm not sure what that's called...  After he landed, 3 planes flew overhead dropping 4 real USAF parachuters.  Three of the guys made designs with red smoke and the 4th guy had a US flag and POW/MIA flag attached to his feet.

 

 

 

Watching the parachuters.

 

 

 

Jonas' First Day of PM Preschool

 

 

Jonas began afternoon preschool on the 21st.  I don't know if you can tell by his face, but he is very excited as well.  ;)

 

 

His teacher, Mrs. Potter, read the same story as Ezra's.  She's kind of making a scary face in the pic, but she's not scary. 

 

This is the "kissing hand" (from the story) that Jonas made for me to tell me goodbye. 

 

My big boy!

Ezra's First Day of Kindergarten!

Ezra is a kindergartner this year!!

Got the school supplies out and loading them into the back pack before the first day of school.

Ice cream social and meet the teacher night at Madison Elementary.

What a great way to start off the morning--hot air balloon in the back yard!

All suited up and ready to go.  If you can't see what the board says, click on the picture to see it enlarged.

He did great with a few pictures, but then he was like, "Can we go now? Come on. Let's get in the car!" :)  Here he is heading out the door.

Chaos of the first day--we had to park a nice distance away and then walk.

In front of his class.  It's nice (I think) that it has an external (and internal) entrance to the classroom.

I teared up a little on this one.

Jonas helped carry the heavy back pack for a while.  Here, Daddy and Jonas say goodbye.

Ezra finding his name to hang is backpack up.

Sitting down to listen to a story about Chester the racoon who was nervous about going to school but then shares a special moment with mom and then everything is ok.  :)

Ezra was and is so excited about starting school.  He was appropriately affectionate and at ease when the time came to say goodbye.  He gave me lots of hugs and kisses, but then was fine with waving goodbye and settling in when I left.  What every mom wants--"I love you, but I'll have a great day at school and I'll be excited to see you when the day is done."  It was perfect.

Jonas missed his brother today, but he starts afternoon preschool tomorrow and is super excited!  Jonas had lots of hugs for Ezra when we picked him up.  :)

 First day of kindergarten: resounding success!  Now, to make it through the next 12 years...

Another trip to Houston

Sadly, I forgot my camera on our last trip to Houston.  I took some pictures with my phone and thanks to my friend Jennifer, have some from our trip down to Galveston but the trip mostly went without pictoral documentation.  :/

We stayed at Embassy Suites in Dallas on the way down and there was a big Mary Kay conference going on.  Ezra and Judith couldn't resist this throne under the arch of pink balloons.

The Houston Zoo gives a great military discount so we took our niece Armani to see the dinosaur exhibit.  It was miserably hot, but the dinosaurs WERE pretty cool.

This picture turned out even more awesome than I had hoped!  Watch out, Armani!  Hee, hee. 

We hit the mall one day...

and Mike and always try to take advantage of the free child care.  This night we attempted to ignore the Olympics while indulging in creamy goodness at The Cheesecake Factory.

Of course, now that we live so far from the ocean, we HAVE to go to the beach when we're visiting Houston-- even if it is Galveston with less-than-pristine water.  

Our friends the Bass family joined us for a romp in the waves.  Lily's first time at the beach was a huge success!

Ezra had a blast too!



Me and my water babies.

After, a very enjoyable day at the beach we had DELICIOUS dinner at Casey's.

On the way home we stopped in Capulin at the Volcano National Monument.  These were actually taken on our walk inside the crater.

Ezra at the top of the volcano.

We also enjoyed seeing a lot of Mike's cousins at a reunion (no pics--boo).  A long drive, but we had a pretty relaxing vacation.  It's always good to be back in Texas!