Balloons Galore

It's been quite a week here. I went back to work and found myself neck-deep in catching up. Summer's parents visited. We ate out and went to a number of fun places around town. We missed all of General Conference. And I was sick.

But for the fun stuff. With the Catheralls in town for the Balloon Fiesta, we made our first ever trip to the event for Saturday's Mass Ascension. We got there well before dawn, walking in the gates just in time for the Dawn Patrol, a set of a dozen of so balloons that go up early to test the winds. Here are two balloons getting set to take off:

We spent a lot of time on the field, which is pretty surreal. Surrounded by huge balloons in various stages of inflation is pretty awe-inspiring. Here's one shot of the scene:
One of Allyson's Girl Scout leaders works for a company that sponsors a balloon, and the girls, seen below, got to help with the inflation:

Not to be outdone, silliness-wise, here are the boys:

And here is one of my favorite shots, the three older kids with a balloon behind them:

One of the most amazing features of the ballooning is the assortment of special-shaped balloons. A new one this year is this cathedral balloon:
And here are the kids' favorites, the boy and girl bee, who ascend side-by-side, as if holding hands:
But for me, the best part of the day was views like this, as we stood on the field among inflating balloons. I looked up to see three balloons converging, creating a small window of blue sky: