Balloon Fiesta 2014 - with the COVILIS!

Oh man, we sure love it when friends come to visit.  We were SO excited to have our forever friends, the Covilis, come down for Balloon Fiesta!  They were such troopers to make the 11 hour drive with their kids to come all the way to our house.  There is just something so fun about spending several days together.  Our kids all got along so well.  It was super sad when they had to go home.

I did feel bad that they had to get up early every single day of their trip.  We made them get up early for the Balloon Aloft at the school.  Then, they got to experience the pre-5am wake-up call for Balloon Fiesta the next morning.  Then, they had to get up early to make the drive home.  I'm sure they were beyond exhausted.  But, Balloon Fiesta is exhausting.  It's an experience, not a vacation :)

No matter how annoying or exhausting it starts out to be, (and it is ALWAYS annoying AND exhausting.) I still always love Ballon Fiesta and I'm glad I went.  One of these days,  I really want to volunteer for chase crew.  I just might this year.

Getting up in time for dawn patrol never seems like it's worth it, until it's seriously worth it.  I love seeing the balloons go up in the dark and being on the field when the sun comes up.  There is like a 10 minute window when the light is so perfect. 

Grace, Kennedy, and Harriet - such great little friends.

This year the HIGHLIGHT of the morning was GETTING A TRADING CARD FROM THE DARTH VADER BALLOON!!!  We have tried every year, and every year, they have run out of them before we could ask for one. This year, we managed to find the Darth Vader truck before they got the balloon up, so not very many people had figured it out yet.  And, since it was the first morning, they had a fresh stack of cards.  The kids were SO happy!

Bunch of weirdos.

more weirdos. (no, really, it was so cool to have someone with us who could get a pic of our whole fam.)

Accidental close-up when I forgot to zoom out for a selfie, but check out the balloons in my shades.  I think it might be my favorite pic I took.

This year, there seemed to be a lot more of the "old fashioned" shaped balloons (the long skinny ones.)  I think they look so cool mixed in with the others.

Mr. Johnson's balloon (above, next to the dog), and Mrs. Johnson's (below.)  Harriet will always have a soft spot in her heart for her Kindergarten teacher's balloons.

The fractal balloon.  Grace loves this one.

My (tired) girls.

Thanks, Jared and Tara, for coming to hang out with us and see the balloons!  We totally loved every minute of your visit.