Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Balloons Done

It's so sad. Balloon Fiesta is over for 2005. The only balloons we'll see for the next year are the Albuquerque Natives that are out for an early morning joy-flight.

Friday October 8th we decided to go to the "Glowdeo" instead of the Early Morning Mass Ascension. We did the early morning thing last year but haven't done the night show.

We told the kids we were going to go see balloons and fireworks. They were way excited. We don't like dealing with traffic and the kids love riding the bus so we went to the mall to the Park & Ride. We went to the food court in the mall to eat dinner and dessert (cinnabon) before going and being tempted to pay way too much for food at the balloon field. We then went back out to the parking lot and got our jackets and stroller out of the car and walked across to the buses. "W" wanted to push his little sister in the stroller and wouldn't let us help. But let's face it; an almost 3 yr old doesn't have that great of steering so I had to help him avoid the parked cars.

They use school buses for the Balloon Fiesta Park & Ride. My son sees the different buses around town and knows that the yellow ones are for "big kids going to school" and "daddy rides the white buses to work". He was very excited that we were going to ride a school bus! We got on and my daughter was bouncing all over. Laughing, banging on the window, she even hit her head on the window and didn't even care. She loved going on the bus. The buses (and their passengers) got special privileges.

The buses got their own special route into the park and didn't have to deal with the traffic. As we got close to the field my son could see the Wells Fargo balloons on the field. When we got off the bus we walked under this huge air filled arch. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. That is till the saw the balloons on the field...

The Special Shapes events are always sponsored by Wells Fargo. Their balloons were filled up first I think, because they are the sponsor but also to test the wind speed. It was kinda breezy that night. After we got the kids eyes away from the arch and they saw the balloons they became very excited. We walked along the boardwalk where all the booths are but it was just so crowded we were starting to get claustrophobic. We headed out for the grass where all the balloons were laid out.

We walked out onto the field pretty far to get away from the mass crowds of people and to be close to a balloon for when they started inflating. We found a nice patch of grass and declared it OURS. We sat down near a balloon all laid out on the grass. A few minutes after sitting there we heard the announcement that the balloons could start inflating. The balloon near us got ready to inflate. First they tip the basket (gondola) on its side then they turn on this motor that sounds like a lawnmower. It blows air into the balloon to get it filled up.

Once the balloons are half filled, like in the above picture then they can start burning the propane. The burn is what makes the air inside the balloon hot which makes them rise. The balloon we were near started to inflate but it got laid out twisted and there was a bit of a breeze so the balloon started to move close to us. Our son got very concerned. "Oh, NO! Watch out!" He almost started to cry. It made us remember how last year he was so upset when the balloons would lift off. We moved back away from the balloon so he would feel better. As the balloon inflated more the breeze pushed it closer to us. Our daughter was in the stroller and was the closest to the balloon. Big Brother started yelling "Oh, No! "Sy"! Oh, No! Watch out! He quickly grabbed the stroller and pulled it away from the balloon. We decided it was time to wander around and see the other balloons.


The kids were just entranced with the big balloons and the loud noise of the propane burner and to see the huge flames shoot up into the balloon. It was pretty cool even for us as adults!

It was so amazing to see so many different balloons.

It was fun to see the devil and the angel set. Right after I took the picture my husband said I should have had our kids standing in front of them.

Over the speaker system they would count down from 10. The crowd would get involved in the counting and 3-2-1-BURN!!! All the balloons would start their propane burn. It was SOOO COOL! After about 45 minutes of on and off balloon glows they called it done for the night. And just like that the land of giants was flat again. They quickly started rolling up the balloons and a few minutes the fireworks began.

Our son thought the fireworks were amazing. Our daughter got kinda scared; she tried to climb out of the stroller until I finally let her out. She climbed into my lap and sat there with her back to the show. Eventually she started to say "ooh" and "aah" with the crowd.

We rode the bus back to the mall parking lot. On the way back "Sy" was sitting with me and behind us sat my husband and son. My daughter would stand up and make a face at her brother. They were both laughing so much it got everyone around us laughing too. My son likes to make these high-pitched laughs, every so often one would squeak out and it would kill our eardrums and we would try to shoosh them to no avail...


These past few days have been pretty tough on my son. He's been going into Balloon withdrawals. Every time we have been in the car since Friday night he's asked if we're going to see more balloons and fireworks. Saturday morning he even talked to my parents on the phone and told them all about the balloons and fireworks. He hasn't talked to anyone on the phone since April!

Yesterday on our way home from the grocery store he was sad when I told him that balloons were all done. He wanted more balloons and fireworks. He wouldn't accept that there were no more balloons. I finally asked him in desperation whether pictures of balloons would be okay. He agreed that would work. I have printed off tons of pictures of balloons in the past two days. He takes these printed pictures and lays them out on the floor like a big jig-saw puzzle. If I try to pick them up he says "Puzzle broken, Mommy. Fix, it!" His little sister can't touch them or he dissolves into tears.

If he can't go to Balloon Fiesta anymore, he'll have to resort to bringing Fiesta to his own bedroom! No one in our house can wait till next year. It's a good thing we live in Albuquerque so that there's a pretty good chance we'll see a few more balloons on early mornings between now and then.
Posted by ABQ Mom :: 10/11/2005 09:23:00 PM :: 4 Comments:

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