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...