Hot Air Balloons Part One: Friday Night at the Festival

I was super excited to take the kidlets down to the hot air balloon festival late in the afternoon on Friday.  The kidlets were skeptical.  I called Dr. Peds on the phone before we left to tell him to meet us down at the festival when he finished work, and I mentioned that Mr. SP wasn’t excited about having to leave his book, even though I knew he’d like all the fire involved when we got there, that The Banana was not excited about having to stop playing with all of her neighborhood friends, and that YaYa was angry about having to go because there would be fire involved, and she hates fire.  Dr. Peds predicted that Mr. TOF would be scared of the fire, YaYa would hang out with him as far away from the fire as she could get, Mr. TOF would probably burn his hair in the fire, and The Banana would probably find ten friends to play with when she got there.

That’s pretty much how it turned out too!  But overall, the evening went much more successfully than I anticipated.  The evening was breezy so the balloons couldn’t actually go up, which was disappointing.  However, we still had a ton of fun, and because the balloons weren’t up the park was not overly crowded, and there was a lot of great space for the kidlets to run around in and play.

Mr. TOF was very frightened of the fire at first, but he got used to what was happening pretty quickly.  As we walked into the festival we were given free helium balloons from a real estate company that sponsors one of the balloons.  The helium balloons, tied to the wrists of the three youngest kidlets, were a huge hit.  They ran around and chased each others balloons.  Mr. TOF got a big kick out of racing his balloon against his siblings.  It kept him totally occupied for hours.  YaYa brought a sketchbook and drew what was happening in the park.  There were also helicopters taking off and landing to the side of the park, giving rides to festival goers willing to buy a ticket, and getting to see a helicopter up close was a big deal too.  While we were there several big ships went through the canal, and watching big ships never gets old, especially from different vantage points.

By the time Dr. Peds arrived, YaYa was drawing.  Mr. TOF was racing his balloon around.  Mr. SP was looking at the balloon baskets up close and talking to the pilots about how the burners worked, and The Banana had located ten friends.  Maybe more.

Dr. Peds bought a bag of cotton candy on his way in.  Mr. TOF asked what it was.  “Stuffing for your pillow,”  he replied.  Then he opened the bag and stuck a handful in his mouth.  Mr. TOF yelped in horror.  Dr. Peds handed him a piece.  Mr. TOF was pretty apprehensive about trying it, but once the fluff touched his tongue, he gasped in surprise and grinned wide, holding his hand out for more.  All of our children swarmed in as soon as they realized that cotton candy was available.  It was like they had sugar radar, or something.

As the sun began to sink, it started to get chilly.  Around the stage all of the balloon baskets were positioned in a semi-circle, and as the live music started (a Scottish bagpipe and drum group, followed by the brass and percussion section from the symphony) the balloons would simultaneously blast their burners along with the applause of the audience.  They called it the ring of fire, and it significantly warmed things up and lit up the scene!  As it got darker the effect was more and more dramatic.  We ran into a group of friends, and the kids had a great time flittering about while the grown ups chatted and enjoyed the music.  Mr. TOF was a dancing machine!  He was so into the music, bee-bopping away with his helium balloon, having a terrific time.