A Windy Balloon Fiesta!

Windy, one of my greatest friends ever, came to visit us for Balloon Fiesta this year. We actually got there this year before the balloons started taking off, so we enjoyed our breakfast in the dark before the sun rose. Then we went out to see the balloons. The mass ascension on Saturday was cancelled due to the wind, so it's a good thing we got out there on Friday.  (This montage has pictures of her whole visit-balloon fiesta, a trip to the park and our hike in the Sandias.  It's a mix between Arthur's photography and Windy's--our camera was set weird so the pictures didn't come out at a good resolution, and they had the blasted date on them!  Thanks, Sean.) 

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These bee balloons take off holding hands, turn toward each other and "kiss" and then part ways. I have no idea how they have that much control in maneuvering these balloons!

This is the very balloon that flew over our backyard last week. Dallin recognized it first, and we were so proud of that little balloon because he won the key grab! The balloons fly over these poles that have prizes on top, some have cash, and some have keys to new cars and stuff. It's fun to watch them come in low and try to grab the prizes.

This year, we actually got to see the Darth Vader Balloon. (Sean calls him "Dark Mater")

He really is "most impressive."

We asked the kids their favorite balloons this year.

Dallin: Darth Vader, and the yellow one with the black bird who flew over our house

Daphne: The castle and the pink pig

Sean: Dark Mater and Nemo and the green dragon.

Sean loved balloon fiesta.

One of his favorite questions lately is, "Mom, we go to Balloon fiesta?"

Okay, here is the nifty little craft we did while the weather was blustery and cold on Saturday.  I got this idea from a friend of mine who introduced me to the blog "Joys of Home."  Here is a link to the project on her blog.  We modified it a little bit so it took a little more time and a little more money.  But not much!  The frame is $1 at the Dollar store.  The background is torn up newspaper glued down, and we used chipboard for the letters, instead of printing them. (That's where the extra cost came in.) Also we painted our frames which didn't add to the cost since I had it on hand.  It was very fun, and very affordable, all you student moms out there.  Give it a try.   I did BOO and Windy did EEK.  They look cuter together, though, so I think I'll have to go get another frame and make one that matches Windy's.

We went for a hike in the remnants of hurricane Norbert Saturday afternoon.  It was cold and windy, but fun anyway.  I have more pictures of our hike but this blog is already taking far too long to post, so here are just a couple.  

Daphne loved Windy so much. She said, "Mom, Windy is such a good friend to me, and Dallin and Sean . . . I wish she were in our family all the time. (Then, after some thought,) Maybe we could adopt her!" 

Thanks for coming Windy! You know you've got a good friend when you can go years between visits, but when you're together it feels like no time has passed at all.