2008 Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

Better late than never -- here are the pictures from our trip earlier this month to New Mexico for the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. We had such a great time!

We were a little nervous about taking both boys on the plane, especially with Henry's temperament....and it turned out we were justified. I'll just say that anyone with two boys under two should only fly with the complete acceptance that they will be seen as "THAT family" at some point on the trip. You have to be prepared to handle the looks and the fear on everyone's face as you file onto the plane, to have fifty million bags that will hit people in the head, to know in your heart of hearts that your kid will scream inconsolably for several minutes and possibly an entire leg of the flight....I could go on, but you get the point. And yes, it happened. Anyway, here is Charlie feeling like a big boy in his own seat, and Henry having fun with Daddy. I also wanted to show how Charlie wanted to hold hands with Henry in the car--it was so sweet! Their carseats are not usually so close together.

We stayed in Albuquerque, where the hot air balloon festival is, and also visited Santa Fe. Santa Fe had a great town square where Charlie got to run and play. Henry was very content to people-watch from his carrier. We also spent some time in "Old Town" Albuquerque which had a similar town square with shops, restaurants, and live music. Charlie made friends with two girls, and promptly pulled out all his show-off moves: spinning in circles, jumping, hugging them, and the granddaddy of all moves...proudly showing his belly button! I have a video somewhere I will try to post.

The balloon festival goes for a week, but we wanted to be there for the first morning launch. We had to get up incredibly early--the train left at 3:59 AM--but it was so worth it! Henry stayed with some relatives because of the cold, but we bundled Charlie up and off we went. I must say, the balloons were AMAZING! You don't realize how big they are until they are being blown up right next to you. There were hundreds of them in all shapes and sizes and colors. Pictures just don't do it justice but here are a few. Notice the gigantic cow--several sponsors had specialty balloons--I tried to capture how enormous it was by including the crowd in the shot. I don't know how it even got off the ground! Charlie liked all the colors but he was afraid of the fire they used to lift off, so now when you ask him about the "big balloons" he says "TOO hot! No fire!" It was a great experience to be there.

We also visited a nearby mountain but we were in the clouds for the most part. We did have a view off of one side and it was beautiful! Charlie had fun running around. Be sure to enlarge the last picture--he had just discovered a chipmunk and the look on his face is priceless!