hot air balloons | summerplayshouse

Wow! What a magical weekend we had (as you can see by all the pictures. I went a little hot air balloon picture-taking crazy). We went to the annual Citrus Balloon Festival for the second time this year. Here is last year’s visit. Like last year, we thought we knew what we were doing and showed up before 9am to see all of the balloons fly. Unfortunately, we missed the 6:30am fly time (their website needs a little work) and only got to see two balloons. But, it was pretty exciting seeing just the two and we hung around to meet up with friends, check out the live music and take a train ride around the event arena. We were disappointed that we missed seeing all of the balloons again and knew coming back that evening was probably not going to happen with Ellie’s bedtime. However, after a very long and late nap, it seemed the stars aligned and we attempted our first “night-time outing” with Miss Ellie boo bear. While she napped, I whipped her up a mama-made Hot Air Balloon PJs top to wear to the Balloon show. And I’m so glad we went. It was so magical seeing all the balloons lit up. Seeing Ellie’s face light up and to hear her so excited was priceless. She told us when she was ready to go home, did very well on the drive home and fell fast asleep as soon as we got home, I’m sure, dreaming of colorful balloons filling up the sky.

-joining Pumpkin Sunrise this weekend.

This weekend was filled with good friends, lots of car travel, morning surprises to see hot air balloons and preparations for a very special someone’s birthday next weekend. One of my very best friend’s in the world was in town (he’s living in NY at the moment). Most of us hadn’t seen him in several years, so we decided to have a special brunch. He got to meet Ellie for the first time and we got to spend a wonderful few hours brunching with him and my best friends and their families. We’ve all come a long way since high school (some of us friends since elementary school) and it’s always neat to get together now. Mimosa’s and coffee are scattered between sippy cups and organic puffs now. It’s less about getting to chat and more about keeping babies busy and catching up quick as we can before melt downs occur. We are so much like family though, when time whizzes by and we finally do get together, like we did this weekend, it was as if no time had passed at all. A fun day was had and we’re all hoping we get to see more of each other on a regular basis soon.

We also wanted to make this somewhat local festival but missed it with all the hoopla going on. So early sunday morning we jumped in the car and made it to see one last balloon. I was disappointed there weren’t more but seeing the look on Ellie’s face when she saw that hot air balloon rise was worth it just for that! It was a bit of magic for a chilly, foggy, sunday morning.