Balloon Festival

Back when we lived up North, one of our family’s favorite things to do was to go to our local balloon festival.  We are not great lovers of crowds, so we learned early on that to go to this type of thing in the evening with all the people and booths and hoopla was not a fun experience for us.  We spent more time trying to keep an eye on our little kids, than enjoying the balloons.  We figured out that if we went to a balloon lift at 6:00am in the morning, it was so much more enjoyable.  First, there is hardly anyone there; and it’s such a quiet and peaceful time of the day.  We brought blankets and chairs and our coffee and just hung out watching as the balloon enthusiasts did what they love to do!  Our boys were little back then, and they ran around in the grass, or sat on the blankets and watched.  It was way more fun for them too…
We really missed that when we moved down South.  But this year someone on my homeschool web group posted about a festival only an hour away.  So this morning we all woke up at 5am and left by 5:30.  We drove a good distance along back country roads and finally about an hour later happened upon the small sign for the balloon festival.   Because it was so early in the morning, parking was free.  There were about 15 cars there to check it out… including ours.  We drove through an open field, parked right up next to the balloons, and got out and watched!  It was awesome! 
Here are some photos of the morning….