Balloons and Big Girls

OK, about the pictures, hey, I tried. I used the quick capture on my webcam, so the resolution is not so great, and the picture of the balloon festival does it absolutely no justice, but I had to give it a shot. Must. Get. Digital. Camera. SOON. I have some other shots from the balloon fiesta on my regular camera, so we'll have to see if those come out better. But, of course, that will require getting them developed, and in some form of digital media, so don't hold your breath.

Madeline lost her first tooth during the first mass ascension of our first balloon fiesta on the first of October. She thought that was VERY cool, even going so far as to say it was the best day of her life. The tooth fairy made a late night run to the grocery store to get $5, because apparently, a quarter just doesn't cut it for these modern kids. Doesn't she look cute with her one-tooth-less smile? She's growing up so fast, I can hardly keep up these days.

So far, the Balloon Fiesta has been breathtaking, and we haven't even made our way over to the Fiesta Park yet. I got up pretty early (for a minute) on Saturday and caught a look at the dawn patrol. They send up a few balloons at dawn to check conditions and it was so stunning to see the morning glow on the west horizon in the background, and the sun just barely hitting the tops of the balloons. Then, there's the mass ascension. Wow. That's all I can say is Wow. We got really lucky Saturday, as the wind was headed in our direction and they literally were floating over the house, and landing in the fields around our neighborhood. We've decided to go see it all up close and personal next weekend, which will involve dragging our asses out of bed at an ungodly hour, but I think it will be really worth it. If it was this great from the house, I can't even imagine how beautiful it will be at ground zero. We also really need to find a day to go see the glow in the evening. They don't take off, but they fire them up so they glow in the dark. We saw those few at Madeline's school last week, but I want to see the big show.

OK, I've decided, I need to figure out how to post some of the pics on the official fiesta site. They are stunning. Especially since it looks like some of them were taken from the air. Lucky ducks. I want to go up, up and away BAD. So does Zach, which I find kindof funny. Every time I open up the windows here in the bedroom, he's digging out the binoculars and picking out his favorites. Pretty impressive for a 3 year old.