Balloon Fiesta 2011

Hello everyone!

Hope you all had a great week. Ours started off with some exciting news, I received my Texas dental license on Tuesday morning. I had been telling Janelle that as soon as I got my license I would be heading over to TX to start work. I sent her a text saying that my license went through and she responded something along the lines of when will I see you again. Of course I didn't pack up and leave immediately, but I will be heading down to the Houston area next weekend and I'll be starting work a week from this Monday in the Lufkin TX office. My friend Jon McCauley is currently working there and says that they are very busy and need me there ASAP. I will be looking for places for the family to stay and hopefully in 2-3 weeks we'll all be down there. We have our choice of two areas, either the Lufkin office or an office that will be opened sometime around the end of the year in Conroe, which is closer to Houston but may not be as busy because of a greater number of dentists in the area. I'm sure we'll do great in either office. We are excited! I finished up my last day of surgery at the Sundance office, it was a lot of fun and the office gave me a going away pizza party. I will miss those guys. The other day an old BYUH buddy of mine called me out of the blue, he is working up in Alaska as a dentist, I told him about TX and now he is leaning towards moving down to join the company as well. It's funny how things work out, I would never had thought that I'ld be joining up with friends from BYUH before I'd be joining up with friends from my dental school class. But it goes to show that you never know when you'll see some of your old friends again, but its important to stay in contact with them.

Well this weekend was the start of the world famous balloon fiesta in Albuquerque. What's that? You've never heard of it? Come on it's only the largest hot air balloon mass ascension in the country.

From its modest beginnings in 1972 with 13 balloons launching from a shopping mall parking lot, the Balloon Fiesta has grown to multiple events launching year-round at the custom-designed, 365-acre Balloon Fiesta Park. Our signature event remains Balloon Fiesta—which, with over 600 balloons, is the largest ballooning event on earth, the most photographed event on earth, and the largest annual international event held in the United States.

 They had a couple balloons 'launch' off from the field before Dayna's school started.  Janelle took the kiddos and got hot chocolate and krispie kreme and got to see their first balloon take off.  It was a little windy so it took a couple tries to get it off the ground.  Dax was unsure at times and did not like the fire going into the balloon.

                      I just love this picture of the kids watching the balloon float away. So adorable.


The next morning the real Fiesta started; People come from all over the country and world to launch their balloons here during the festivities. They have "mass ascensions (over 600 balloons launch in two waves)", races, balloon glows, and a lot of activities. There is a huge park devoted to this annual fiesta, I think that there is more grass in that field/park then there is in all of Albuquerque. It was surprising to be walking through wet grass. You may ask "wet grass?" Yes thats right it dropped below the dew point, we were up at 4:30am and out of the house by 5am, we made it for the dawn patrol launches right before the mass ascension launch at 7:15am. The crowds and traffic are terrible! The other night Travis Shepherd texted me and asked when we were leaving and said they wanted to come visit before we leave. I texted back, I'm taking off next weekend, to which he responded "wow!" anyway, they came down to visit last minute this weekend and we went together to the balloon fiesta, which makes the 5am departure even more impressive, 4 adults and 7 kids, dressed and half awake, but out the door by 5am. We had a lot of fun at the fiesta, it was some truly amazing to be walking through the huge fields with thousands of people and hundreds of balloons taking off from every angle.

The kids had a good time, there were balloons in the shapes of animals and characters, the big Darth Vader balloon was especially a hit. They brought a bunch of characters, or real people dressed in costumes to patrol the perimeter of the balloon as they blew the balloon up and got it ready for launch. They made time for mutiple pictures with their fans. Even Darth Vader himself was there (he looked to have put on a few pounds), he was accompanied by his good friend the Emperor. We asked Dax if he wanted to go take a picture with him, he said.....NO! he may have been somewhat swayed by the other children clinging to their fathers necks, bawling as their fathers tried to advance the child towards the tall dark character they've grown to fear.

 Even Darth Vader himself was there (he looked to have put on a few pounds), he was accompanied by his good friend the Emperor. We asked Dax if he wanted to go take a picture with him, he said.....NO! he may have been somewhat swayed by the other children clinging to their fathers necks, bawling as their fathers tried to advance the child towards the tall dark character they've grown to fear.

 Dax wasn't a big fan of the flame they blast into the balloon to get it to lift off the ground. He would cry and cry as they blasted the tall flame into the balloon. Then the balloon would start to sag and fall to its side, you're so close that it looks and feels like the balloon is going to fall right on top of you, which didn't make the poor boy very happy either, then they would hit it with a big burst of flame to get it to stand up straight again, which only added to his torment. Towards the end of the morning he was doing a lot better. The balloons were stacked side by side and would take off one after another, some would collide in the air as they ascended.

 It was a spectacular sight, the 4:30am morning made it a very long day, but it was worth it to see the event. We will probably make it back to the fiesta for some of the other festivities. It goes all week and ends on Sunday.

There were some special shape balloons.  Here is Darth Vader and the Creamland Cow

Lani loved all the colors and especially the butterfly balloon

This was the family of bees.  We were talking to one of the workers.  Their names are Joey, Jodie, and baby Jolie

We celebrated our Saturday with a trip for lunch to Tucanos. The Shepherds are big fans of the Brazilian restaurant as well, so we all went and ate way too much and tried to stay awake the rest of the day. The kids on the other hand would catch power naps in the car and would be ready to play and run around at every stop. This week will go by really fast and before you know it I'll be heading down to the Lonestar State. It will be hard to be away from Janelle and the kids for a little while but we know that it will be worth it in the end. Moves are never fun but at least this time we have more than two weeks to organize and mobilize.




Hope you have a great week, don't forget to check out the blog later this afternoon for more pics of the balloon fiesta.



Love
Jon, Janelle, Dayna, Dax, Alana, and TBA