Balloon Race Weekend-Saturday Morning

Saturday morning Josh, Eli and I woke up early like we always do. I'm going to really love the day that Eli realizes that weekends were created for sleeping in. Around 7:00 AM Josh and I got a text on both of our phones saying that the balloons were going to be flying near the mall. (Yeah, we were the goobers that signed up for a "balloon alert" to be sent to our phones whenever the balloons started flying). Grammy was still sleeping, so we sent Eli into her room to wake her up; we figured she'd wake up a little easier if Eli was the one doing the waking :)

Eli worked his magic and got Grammy up so we all loaded up and drove across the bridge to the mall. We got there in time to watch one of the balloons prepare for its flight and it was so neat to watch it go from a flat piece of material lying on the ground to a huge colorful balloon.

Excited to see some balloons!

Soon the sky was filled with balloons every direction you looked! We loved watching them soar above our heads.

Eli started to try to count them, but soon there were more balloons than he had fingers! Josh said he counted more than thirty balloons at one point and we later read in the newspaper that more than 50 balloons actually flew. WOW!

The balloons were having a contest to see who could get the closest in the beanbag drop. One of the targets was at the mall, so it was neat to see how low some of the balloons dropped down to get their beanbag close to the target.

After most of the balloons had completed their flight over the mall, we headed back across the river to the Riverfront to watch some of the balloons land.

Eli and Grammy going to watch a balloon land.

Eli had a blast from the moment the first balloons started flying until the last balloon landed. He could have stayed and watched them fly all day. Like I said before, this is one of my favorite events that our areas hosts and I was so glad that the weather this weekend was absolutely perfect for balloon flying. Josh said that it was the best that he's seen since he was a kid. Yay! I'm glad we finally got to see lots of balloons flying!

On our way back to the car, we walked down the levee and I decided it was time to teach Eli an important Being a Kid-101 lesson...How to Roll Down a Hill. You'll have to watch the videos below to see the demonstration. Since I'm a teacher I know how important it is to "model" what you want your students to do before they do it themselves. This lesson also applies to rolling down hills. I'm glad I'm past the point where I actually care what other people think of me because Eli thought it was hilarious to see his Mommy rolling down a hill! He was more than willing to participate with me the second time. We had so much fun!

Rolling down the hill :) He loved it!!

Balloon Race Weekend-Friday Night

This past weekend was our area's 25th annual Hot Air Balloon Race. I have enjoyed this event ever since I met Josh ten years ago. It's one of my absolute favorite things to attend. When Josh and I moved here six years ago (can't believe it's been that long) my parents started the tradition of always driving in for the balloon races. This year was no exception! Friday night my mom, Josh, Eli, and I all headed out to the riverfront to go see the Balloon Glow and the fireworks, or "boom booms", as Eli calls them.

This year's Balloon Race was probably the best ever for me for several reasons. 1.) Eli was finally old enough to enjoy the balloons and all the activities surrounding the event. 2.) He was old enough to actually stay awake for the fireworks show. 3.) The weather was absolutely perfect all weekend so we saw TONS of balloons (just wait until you see the post for Saturday!)

Josh, Eli, and Grammy at the Balloon Glow

When we got to the river front on our side of town we saw lots of balloons participating in the glow. The plan was to go watch the balloons glow, walk along the river front, maybe go through the flea market, watch the fireworks and then go home. All that changed for us when my little boy spotted the fair that had magically appeared on the river front. Josh and I didn't remember that there would be a fair on our side of the river so we didn't come prepared at all-translate that into we didn't bring any cash except to eat some food.

As we were walking past the outside edge of the fair, my little boy, who is currently OBSESSED with the movie Cars spotted a ride of little cars going around and around. You would have thought he'd died and gone to heaven. His little mouth dropped open and he shook with excitement as he pointed and said, "Cah!" We went and stood by the ride and watched it for a few minutes before deciding that we'd go ahead and watch the balloon glow and then come back and let him ride the car one time. Eli wasn't happy with that decision, but once we got to the balloons he was okay. He and Grammy went pretty close to one balloon and Eli loved watching all the activity around the balloon, but got scared when they had to fire up the balloon to put more air in it. He was pretty much done with the balloons after that and all he wanted to do was go "Dive cah!" (Drive car).

The ticket line was FOREVER long so my Mom, being the quick thinker that she is, asked a lady already in line to buy her two tickets and promised her she could keep her change. It worked and soon we had two tickets for Eli, who proudly gave them to the lady running the ride. I buckled him in and we waited, and waited, and waited for the ride to start. Finally, it did and my little boy had the best time. He was in awe at all the lights and the sounds, so much that he didn't actually pretend to drive until the ride was almost over. Getting him out of the ride wasn't fun at all though. He was not a happy camper.

Look at that face! He was in love!

After the car ride, we let Eli play one more game before finding a spot to watch the fireworks show. He really enjoyed playing this duck game and would have stayed there all night if we'd let him.

Eli was starting to get pretty cranky at this point so we knew we were pushing it to stay and watch the fireworks show, but we wanted to at least try. We found a spot overlooking the bridge and watched the show. Eli did great. He watched the "boom booms" and seemed to really enjoy them.

Our beautiful bridge :)

Our first night of Balloon Race activities was a success. I love being able to do things like this with my family. It was a wonderful night!

"Day Home, Mama!"

Eli and I were both out of school on Columbus Day so we spent our day relaxing and having fun together. It was so much fun to tell him that morning that we were going to be able to stay home together. Every now and then when Eli has to go to school or to Mrs. G's house in the mornings, he'll say, "No, Mama. No go. Day (Stay) home!" I have to explain to him then that Mama and Daddy have to go to work so he has to go and play with his friends. Most of the time that works and everything is fine. Today, when he found out we didn't have to go anywhere, he was as excited as I was that we finally got to "Day home!" together.

We relaxed all morning and after Eli woke up from his afternoon nap we went to the playground at the school where I teach. Eli loved being able to play on the playground equipment there because it was the perfect size for him. He slid down the slides, ran all over the playground, hopped, jumped, played on the swings, and got to do his most favorite activity of all...drive. This is just one more reason I'm so happy to be a teacher. I love getting breaks, even for just one day, because they allow me to spend time with my little boy who is growing up way too fast for me!

Birthday Preview

Anyone want to take a guess what kind of party my soon-to-be two year old is going to have this year? We went outside the other day to take some pictures for his birthday invitations and I thought I'd give you a preview of some of my cute little buckaroo. I can't believe his birthday is only weeks away! I better get busy!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Hayden!

Fall is a busy time for us as far as birthdays are concerned. Eli's second little friend to make the jump from 1 to 2 was Hayden. You may remember Hayden from previous posts last year. Josh and Hayden's daddy, Guy, were best buds growing up so it's kind of cool that their boys are probably going to be pretty close friends, too. Eli used to stay with Hayden at the beginning of last year, but we had to switch sitters when their sitter found a new job. Eli and Hayden don't see each other much during the week, but spend lots of time with each other at church on Sunday's.

Getting sidetracked, but Hayden is also one of the only children who can actually get close to saying Eli's name right. Who knew that those three letters would be SO hard for little kids to say? Most of the time his name comes out as Le-Li or something like that. Eli, by the way, still calls himself "Wah-Wah." Why "Wah-Wah" you may ask? Well, little Miss Molly, whom Eli stayed with all last year couldn't say Eli and called him "Allah" instead. You get it now? "Allah" and "Wah-Wah?" Thanks, Molly! Maybe by the time he turns three he'll realize that his name is actually Eli; if not, I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do when he goes to preschool since we're Baptist and all.

Anyway, back to the party. Hayden had a John Deere birthday party and everything was so cute! There were tractors and combines and other farm equipment galore! Most of the kids loved watching Hayden open presents and he got some pretty cute gifts, especially those John Deere boots. I know a little someone who is pretty enamored with boots right now, so he'll probably also get a pair of boots for his birthday.










Hayden's big present at the end was a John Deere lawn mower with a little wagon in the back. He loved it! It was the perfect way to end his party. I know he was one happy little boy!





Happy Birthday, Hayden! Thanks for letting us come and celebrate it with you! See you in a few weeks for Eli's birthday!

Farmer Eli

Towards the end of September, Mammy called and asked if Eli and I could come out to their house so he could visit their pumpkin patch. I immediately said yes because I knew that Eli would LOVE being outside and it would be a fun experience for him. Knowing that it would be a good photo op for me, I dressed Eli in his cowboy/farm duds and we headed out to the pumpkin patch.

Mammy and Clare had a stack of pumpkins just waiting for Eli, but he quickly bypassed those, went straight to the tractor, and said, "I dive (drive)!" THE.BOY.LOVES.TO.DRIVE. If you didn't know that yet, now you do! So of course, Eli got to do exactly that and he had the time of his life! He LOVED being able to drive the tractor with Uncle Clare. It was hard getting him off the tractor, but eventually he did decide that he'd give the pumpkins a little bit of attention, too. Thanks for a great afternoon, Mammy and Uncle Clare! We had so much fun getting to share it with you!