Balloon Stampede Weekend

This weekend was the annual Balloon Stampede in Walla Walla. Friday morning, the kids and I loaded up early to go chase the hot air balloons that were landing after a brief flight over the valley. We got pretty close to a couple of them.

Saturday morning I took the kids to the Fairgrounds to walk through the booths & entertainment. Luckily, my mom escorted me there to help wrangle the boys.

Yum, the smell of fair food is hard to resist.

Having her there helped free up my hands to take some pictures of my girls at the BEEHIVE CUT & COLOR BAR who had a beautiful booth set up. They were taking donations for haircuts done on site and all procedes went to our local Walla Walla Helpline, a shelter for women. They have also been collecting hair to send to Matter of Trust, who take the hair and make "hair booms" out of nylons that help skim the top of the water & soak up oil spilled in the oceans. WOW! Taking part in this event will surely give you a double dose of good karma. It looked like there were a lot of people in line for trims. What a great cause, they raised nearly $575!

I'm proud to be associated with such a generous & beautiful bunch of girls!

Saturday night was the infamous Night Glow, this was always my favorite part growing up. And, as with most things, it seemed better when I was little. For one, the Balloon Stampede was held in a park, not the fairgrounds, and during the night glow you could walk around under the glowing balloons looming overhead. Now, we sit in the grandstands and look out over the top of the balloons off in the distance. Not the same. Memories of sitting on my Dad's shoulders in the midst of the crowd, watching the balloons burn over head is a sweet one... and one I wish my kids could have.

One thing I don't remember as a kid was fireworks, but they closed the night with a bang and the kids loved it. We had already started to walk back out to our car (to beat the crowds) when they set off the fireworks. They were lighting them behind the parking lot so they exploded right over the top of our car. An open moonroof and some wide-eyed happy campers in their carseats was a great way to finish the night. Hunter was asleep before we got out onto the highway.