April 10 - Another Balloon Sighting

This evening Hannah & Maggie go tearing out of the house and raising Cain!  So, I followed them out and could hear a hot air balloon.  I looked up, I looked over, I peeked from beneath the tree and no balloon.  So I come back in - then they race out again, this time I spot it landing on the other side or the tree-line in the soccer field park next to us. I grab my camera and head over...  Well, the balloon cleared the field of soccer kids - and the balloon pilot was sweet (smart) enough to put those 20+ kids to work.  :-)  Here's some photos of the balloon and the wrap up.

View from our driveway

Getting closer - darn, its already on the

ground!

Kids from the soccer fields

Helpers felling the balloon

Getting ready to squeeze the air out

Packing it all in

Balloon Pilot giving the kids a pep talk

Stay in school, listen to your parents and teachers

stay off drugs and in about 10 years you can take a

free balloon ride with her.

How many kids can you stuff into a basket

Sixteen!

Mar 25 - We Are Being Invaded

According to Hannah & Maggie - who reacted exactly like Ben & Bear did when they saw balloons in the sky.  With consternation, lots of barking and running back & forth.

Sunday we woke up to a hot air balloon outside our kitchen window.  At first we thought they might try to land in our pasture but I think they decided it would have been too tight.  I grabbed my camera and captured a few shots.  For those of you in Albuquerque - this is not an uncommon occurrence for you but for me, this is the first balloon we've seen since moving.  So its still exciting!!

Hot air balloon over our pasture

CRAP!  We are being invaded!!

If we race back and forth really quickly maybe it

will think there are more of us than two and 

it will just fly on by!!

We are about to get the interloper chased off - a few more trips,

a few more barks and that should do it!

Past the Pecan tree.

Whew, chasing balloons wears a girl out.

Hannah: "But one of us must stay ever vigilant, in case they 

try to sneak back over."

First Day of 2008 Balloon Fiesta

Looking toward launch field

Today is opening day of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - a celebration of all things hot air balloon. We'll head to Balloon Fiesta Park early (4 AM) tomorrow morning to watch the mass ascension up-close at the launch site. I can't wait!

But as a wonderful preview of what we can expect... we woke up this morning to balloons everywhere!!! Bryan looked out the bathroom window as I was trying to decide if I actually wanted to wake up or not and shouted "Look at the balloons outside the windows!!" - which made me hop right out of bed, remembering what today was.

Buzzing over the house

Mass ascension entails the launching of approximately 700 hot air balloons within two hours. They start at 7:30 AM on the weekends. As I rushed from window to window yelling at Bryan to find the camera - I noticed from the master bedroom deck that we could see the launch field (where I promptly burst into tears at the site of all the balloons launching - I'll be a complete mess tomorrow morning) in Albuquerque. Not down on the ground of course as it is 16 miles away but we could definitely see the beginning launches of all the balloons!! And lady-luck persisted as the winds carried most of the balloons directly our way with most passing directly overhead or just to either side of us.

Humpty Dumpty

Balloons with Sandia Mtns behind

Bear, of course, just knew we were being invaded and did his best to discourage them from landing in our yard. It worked as they all flew on over. Poor Bear, as unsteady as he is now, he'd bark and try to hop and almost fall over but his tail was wagging to beat the band. Between the flooded yard yesterday and the invasion today - he's had way too much excitement.

Bear sounding the alarm

Anyway - the flyover lasted about 2 1/2 hours - several balloons just skimming the roof line. It was amazing, truly. A few different shapes - Humpty Dumpty, a car and in the distance a turkey! I guess next Thursday is 'Special Shapes" day and mass ascension for those.

Here is a link to kodak gallery where my album of the balloons is located (hopefully this link will work) http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=15egv3di.49jdx0rq&x=0&y=39hfc5&localeid=en_US

I've posted a couple shots here but took too many pics for the blog.