2007 Plano Balloon Festival - Part 2

Emily and I got up early last Saturday to go to the Plano Balloon Festival.  It's an annual event that starts on Friday and lasts all weekend.  Thirty two balloons participated this year, launching twice daily.  A number of non-profits set up shop at the event, along with food vendors,  and even a fireworks shows.

We got up at five, grabbed the camera gear I had packed the night before and took off to have breakfast at Poor Richard's, a local diner serving breakfast and lunch.  We got to the festival at 6:30 AM and that's when I started snapping pictures.  Emily reminded me the night before that I should have packed our tripod, but I didn't feel like digging the thing out of the closet.  I rarely use it, but I think it would have been handy.

Regardless, there was quite a crowd there of spectators and photographers.  I managed to shoot 450 shots from 6:30 till about 8:00 AM.  I must have swapped lenses 10 times depending on what I was shooting.  I took a 50mm F1.8, 24-105mm F4, 70-200mm F4, and the 10-22mm F3.5 wide angle lens Emily just got me for my birthday.  Some folks brought more camera gear than me and had their tripod, but I swear they weren't even shooting!  What's the point in dragging all of the camera gear to an event like that if you're not going to use it?

Early shot of everyone getting set up.  There was a good bit of fog on the field.

This crew was sponsored by Shepps.  This shot shows them testing the burner.  There's quite a bit of heat coming out of that thing!  Laid out in the foreground is the balloon -- Airabelle,  a large dairy cow.

Emily smiling as I take way too many pictures.

Me, having fun.

The launch that morning was going to be a "fox and hound" where one balloon would be the fox and the rest the hounds in chase.  This Remax balloon was the designated fox.

Close up of the crew righting the Remax fox balloon.

Balloons to the right...

Balloons to the left...

The "fox" taking off.

Airabell is starting to look like a cow.

Lift off.

Give it some gas...

This balloon drifted directly overhead, so I couldn't resist taking pictures directly underneath.

Airabelle's almost done.

Close up of Airabelle's leg inflating.

Felix.

Daisy inflating.

Daisy ready for lift off.

We have lift off!

Airabelle in flight.  This balloon was a kid favorite.

Wide angle shot.  A lot of balloons.

While we watched the launch, the announcer told the crowd that the Albuquerque balloon festival has 700+ balloons!  This was only 30 or so.  Maybe when Sam's a little older we can make our way to that one.

Chris

2007 Plano Ballon Festival - Part 1

We took Sam to the Plano Balloon Festival last Sunday evening. Chris and I also went Saturday morning, but I'll let him post about that separately. We stopped by the mall first to get Sam his first pair of Stride Rite shoes. His teacher at day care said he was slipping a lot with his other shoes and recommended rubber soles. He wasn't sure what to think about them at first and was walking very slowly. When we got to the festival, he was so excited about climbing the hills that he forgot about his new shoes. We let him run around and climb the hills while we were waiting for the balloons.



It started getting a little windy and cloudy and we were worried for a while that they wouldn't launch. Sam played with the flags and watched the other kids run around. He also wanted to stop and pet every dog we saw. He loves dogs!



We had a few snacks while we were waiting. Sam and I even shared a BBQ beef sandwich. Here's Daddy and Sam sharing some graham crackers.



Finally the balloons started launching. We were amazed at how quickly they inflated and took off once they decided that they were good to go.



Here's a view of the field after a few balloons had already launched. This field is right next to our neighborhood.



We kept pointing at the sky and saying "balloon" to Sam. We also clapped along with the crowd every time one of the balloons launched. After a while he caught on and started pointing to the sky and saying "doon".



Sam had a great time! We were so glad that we got to take him and that the weather cooperated.



We actually got a preview of the balloons bright and early Friday morning. We must have had 20 or more balloons go over our house. As you can see, Sam was more interested in that morning cup of milk.



We went to a party at Ian and Roya's Saturday evening. It was fun getting dressed up and going to a "grownup" party. We also got to catch up with some friends that we haven't seen much since we became parents. We even got to see balloon festival fireworks from their front yard.



Sam changes so much every week. I started letting him walk into day care on his own this week. In other words, I'm not carrying him in any more. This seems to have helped because he walks in his room and all the other kids come running up to him. Then he doesn't cry when I leave.

He's also started trying to repeat words after us (if we say them enough times). He's said cheese, cat, socks, and shadow, but "cat" seems to be the only other word that he's repeating unprompted.

Chris is teaching Sam to brush his own teeth. He gives Sam the toothbrush after he get's him out of the bathtub and puts him in front of the mirror. Sam is doing a pretty good job, which is good, because he won't let us brush them for him any more.



Sam loves Chef Boyardee. One night he even picked up the container and drank the tomato sauce.



Melanie has really been helping us out with Sam. He loves playing with her. It's amazing that it can take three adults to keep a toddler entertained sometimes. Sam's favorite is when Melly chases him around the house and jumps out and surprises him.



Sam wants to color every morning now. He goes straight to the office after breakfast and pulls the paper of the desk if we don't get it for him. He's starting to switch back and forth between his left and right hands now. He's also starting to make some lines on the paper instead of just dots. He's still mostly interested in dumping out the colors and putting them back in the box.



Sam loves The Hungry Caterpillar book. He mostly likes to turn the pages, but he has started "counting" the food in the book. For those not famliar with that book, the caterpillar eats 1 apple, then 2 pears, 3 plums, 4 strawberries, and 5 oranges. There is a hole punched out of the page in each piece of fruit. When we read the book, we run Sam's finger over the holes and count them. One day we turned the page and Sam started "counting" on his own. One and two sound sorta like the real words sometimes, but mostly he's just matching the sing-song sound of my voice when I count. He's also started counting things besides this book.



Sam is very ticklish on his thighs. I love pinching his little legs and making him laugh.

16 Months Old

Sam turned 16 months old this week. He's been a joy to be around lately. Maybe it's because that bottom right molar FINALLY came in! He's started eating again, and we don't have to watch Baby Einstein 24x7 to keep him happy. We got Sam some crayons and Color Explosion paper and markers a few weeks ago. He loves to color. He goes to the office and lets us know that he wants us to get them out for him. He mostly likes to take the crayons out and put them back in the box. When he colors, he mostly stipples. He uses his left hand most of the time.



Sam was sick with a stomach virus weekend before last. Thankfully it didn't last that long, but he didn't have a lot of energy, so we staid inside and colored.



We got a Kangaroo Climber for Sam. It's really cute. Sometimes he loves the slide, but sometimes he's not so sure. His favorite part is the little door that he can open and close. He can't quite climb up on the little green platform by himself yet, so he goes up backward on the slide instead.



Sam loves to be pushed/pulled around the house in whatever container he can find. Here he is with Melanie pushing him around in a box from our trip to Costco. Then again, with me pulling him around in his Mega Bloks wagon.



I took the week off from work last week. It was great! It gave me the chance to have fun making a cake for Chris's birthday. Melanie took this picture of Chris blowing out his candles.



Here's the gang sampling the cake. Chris and I went out for dinner that night. I think I caught Sam's stomach virus because I ended up getting sick too. Chris took vacation Thursday and Friday which was really nice. We hung around the house on Thursday, but we got out on Friday and even went to see a Dr. Seuss art exhibit.



I hate to take pictures of Sam when he isn't happy, but here's one for posterity. I think this may have been one of those fits where I wouldn't let him eat cookies for dinner last week.




You know it's fall when we get balloons every weekend. We love it. We're hoping to actually go to the balloon festival this year. Too bad Cleo can't go with us!



Poor Cleo!

We've been working with Sam to try to get him to talk more. Melanie was singing the ABC's to him last week and we both swear that he sang along to some of the letters. We were staring at each other in disbelief. Of course, we couldn't get him to do it again. Last night, I gave him some cheese with his dinner. He repeated "cheese" a few times after I said it, but got bored with that trick pretty quickly. We are also working with him to know his body parts. He can point to Sam's nose and Mommy's nose. He thinks that is pretty funny. He also appears to be over his Mommy obsession. He wants to go to Chris and Melanie now, especially if they will sing along to his Children's Songs book. Sam is starting to dance when he hears music. Melanie is really encouraging that too.