Balloon Surprise

 Dadam and I had been throwing around the idea of going to the Balloon Fiesta for the last couple of weeks.  Dadam has been in the thick of it at work and school hasn't really given him a lot of free time as of late.  Tuesday we had made to decision to go and by the end of the day work had changed that decision to a no go.  Wednesday we were back on in the morning, but it was a maybe by the afternoon!!  Thursday came and Dadam said it was on and we were in the car by 4:00 pm headed to Albuquerque.  I drove so that Dadam could study, he had one paper and two finals that had to be done by Sunday.  I know we picked a great weekend to get out of town!!

Friday morning Dadam was working and in meetings and so the zoo (I love the Albuquerque Zoo, it is the perfect size.) was a great option for the kids and I.  We still had not told anyone, but Troy and Jen that we were coming to Albuquerque so we let Lil Adam call Nanee and invite her to the zoo.  We also invited Spencer and Owen to come and play with us!  

We started our day with a picnic by the polar bears.  Subway, chips, cookies and juice...yummy :)  The polar bears were first on the list to visit and they didn't disappoint.  The bears were out playing and we enjoyed watching them.  The cat walk was great fun, except the lions weren't out. 

After the cat walk we walked over to the duck pond.  I wish that I had a pocket full of quarters, but I didn't...the kids had fun watching them though.  A peacock was by the pond as well and boy was he fast.  I am guessing my little ones are the only ones that give him a good run for his money :)  We all enjoyed the sea lions.  While we were enjoying the sea lions Nanee and Uncle Jared joined us.  The kids were thrilled of course and after the excitement subsided we headed towards the monkeys and Africa.

 I know that I have chatted about this chair in past entries, but I just love it!  I have truly enjoyed watching my children grow up in this chair.  This day was no different, all of the past memories just come flooding back and I get so excited!

4:35 am Saturday morning alarms went off, kids were woken and dressed and stuffed into cars!  We sat in traffic about 45 minutes to get into Balloon Fiesta Park.  The wait becomes so worth it though when you see your children light up at the sight in front of the.  This was the first time to the fiesta for Alex and Amelia.  Alex was saying "Balloons up, Balloons down. "  Amelia was all smiles, which was amazing for me.

Entering the park with the Navarette Family, Chris and Parker was fun.  The kids were so excited.  We walked onto the field together took the above family photo, but within minutes had separated accidentally. I couldn't believe that none of the phones had service.  We could not find each other on the field.  We tried and tried, but the phones never worked. Such a bummer.  

We were able to be on the field for about 30 minutes before Alex started to have a hard time.  There were record breaking numbers of balloons going up and people trying to get the best seats for the show.  We tried as quickly as possible to work our way to the outside of the field which took a good 10 minutes.  Once we were off the field there was  a little more space, but the speakers were very loud.

 We ducked behind an Army Reserve truck and enjoyed a little breakfast.  Alex was still having a hard time so we made our way to the exit.  We enjoyed the next hour from the van.  Dadam moved the van so that we could watch as we waited for the Navarette's and Shepard's to finish.  I must say that I was glad we couldn't reach them at this point.  I would have hated for them to have rushed watching the balloons because of us.

I think that the kids enjoyed the morning.  It truly was a perfect day for the Balloon Fiesta. 

The rest of Saturday we enjoyed a soccer game, thoughts of naps and yummy burgers!  Dadam worked on a final and then the guys attended Priesthood Session.  

Sunday Dadam had a hard time signing onto Duke to take his final...That is never a good thing right!  We headed to Great Grandma Greg's and watched the first session of Conference with Nanee and Great Grandma Greg while Dadam took his test.  After Dadam was done we met up with Uncle Jared and enjoyed a good-bye lunch at Dion's.

The trip was short, and full of school work for Dadam, but it was nice to spend some time with him before he heads to London next week!

I truly need to send a special shout out to Hunter.  He was such a stud while we visited.  Friday and Saturday night after the kids had gone to bed he stayed at the house and let us big people slip out and enjoy ourselves.  THANK YOU Hunter!!  You Rock :)