Blue Monkey Stampede

Last Friday Greg told me he was taking me somewhere on Saturday for a surprise. We had to leave the house by 7:00 a.m. (no easy feat with a non-morning person and a one-year old) and we got in the car and drove to Antelope Island where they were having the Antelope Island Balloon Stampede! I've been wanting to go to a hot air balloon festival all summer and thought I had lost my chance (actually I thought getting him and Will out of the house so early was a battle that was lost before it was begun).
We had a great time. The weather wasn't perfect for hot air balloons, which do best in very still air, as we had winds around 15 mph, but we were able to see several launch and an inflation demonstration. Will was a bit scared of the balloons at first becuase the fans and flames were so loud, and then becuase the balloon was so huge, but once he saw that it just sat there and then floated away he decided they were ok. His favorite part was the little train made out of 55-gallon drums for the kids to ride. He giggled through most of the ride and the rest of the morning kept trying to run back to the train to ride again.
They also had a clown at the festival doing balloon animals for the kids and Will got a blue monkey climbing a banana tree. That clown was a real artist, I tell you. If any of you need a clown for your next big shindig, give Bobbo the Clown a call.
I'm so lucky to have such a sweet husband that does things like that for me. We both realized the other day that at the festival we both felt like we are now somehow an official family. Maybe it's because Will is getting old enough to interact more with us or becuase there's another one on the way. Maybe it was just the magic of the hot air balloons...

Update

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since my last post! Time is flying by! William got his cast off last Friday and is doing great. The doctor said it could take him 2 or 3 days to get back to running around, but as soon as we got home from his office and put Will on the ground, off he went! So as far as his break goes, everything seems to be fine. Will got a really gross blister on his heel from the splint he had initially, and that didn't heal with the cast around it, so now we are working on getting that healed up. It's looking a little better but it still breaks open and bleeds every day or a few times a day. At least I don't think it bothers him. I ask him "Where is your owie?" and he'll examine the blister and poke at it and then is bored with it.

As far as my little project, things are going well. We had an almost 12-week check-up today and the baby is growing and looks healthy. The midwife said it's too early to tell the gender and she didn't want to guess, but then did guess it's a girl becuase she couldn't see any evidence to the contrary. We're not putting too much stock in it... we'll find out for sure in 4 weeks. Whatever it is, I think it's pretty cute!