The General Consensus

Albuquerque is home to the International Hot Air Balloon Festival, which we think is great since the general consensus in this house is, "The bigger the balloon, the better".

Sadly, the annual festival takes place in mid October which is pretty disappointing for people who moved here in the beginning of November.

So when we heard that 100 balloonist were launching their hot air balloons over Valentine's weekend, we dug out our winter stuff, woke up at the crack of dawn, and dusted off our Ohhhh's and Ahhhhh's.

Before you go and look at all my beautiful pics, I need you to know one thing: Little K owns a very warm, very beautiful, very new coat. Let me say again, it's very warm, very beautiful, and very new.

Oh, and it's also very what she does not want to wear anymore, which is why she looks half-frozen in some pics and burritoed in others.

It was cold-ish, but we're tough. I guess our blood is still a little Idaho thick. We came prepared to face a crowd and ended up being one of three families there. Seriously.

This was the first balloon to launch. Ta-da! Can you actually believe I was up early enough to see this?

I love this picture of little B, little P, and little Scarf-faced Girl.

Our darling walking blanket. Complete with glasses and a hat.

Typical little P. Cold, hungry, tired, whatever...he's always good for a smile.

See the man in the background being drug across the field by a balloon? That was my favorite part of the launch. Every launching team has one person who's job is to hold a rope that is tied to the top of the balloon. As the balloon fills, they gently roll it across the field so the sides do not burn. As the balloon rises, they have to try and keep it from bending so they lean back and let the balloon drag them up with it. I had no idea there was so much involved.

Little B wanted me to take this pic as a balloon flew right over our heads. I think it's my favorite one of the morning.

We stayed for the whole launch (mostly just to prove the value of a coat to little K). It was amazing to watch the whole sky fill up with colors!

Just in case I wasn't thrilled enough by New Mexico's weather, or by the fact that they love really huge balloons, they decided to sweeten the deal and build (just for me, of course) a beautiful nature center right next to the Rio Grande River.

There are miles and miles of trails that follow along the Rio Grande. So of course we had to scout out a few...
...and I was sure to bring the wagon so little P would have something to pull. Why doesn't he sit in it? Pfft! Ridiculous people.

This is a spider little B found walking on a trail next to the Rio Grande. He decided to kill it, hollow it out, give it a pair of googly eyes and a flip-top back, and use it as his Valentine box. Such a resourceful child.
Somehow I was put in charge of the craft for little B's Valentine party at school, which made it really easy to bring home an extra craft for little P. Which he immediately put on upside down and did the impossible...he became even cuter.

Speaking of the impossible...who else out there is amazed that I just blogged...again?