Balloon Festival

I was determined to take Reagan to the Balloon Festival for her 3rd year in a row (click here to see last year's post), and although it was almost the death of me, I'm proud to say I managed to pull it off ... barely!


When Diane invited me to the lakehouse, I was really excited about it, but also a little disappointed that it fell on the same weekend as the annual Balloon Festival. Reagan enjoyed the balloons so much the previous two years that I was looking forward to taking her back. Of course, when Diane and I discussed the overlap, we both tried figuring out a way to cram both the lakehouse and the festival into the quick weekend!


We were planning on driving straight from the Poconos to the Festival in Readington, NJ, but I had to go home first instead to get Avery (John had to go down to Union City to fix a clogged pipe for one of the tenants). I drove home (just under 2 hours), picked up Avery, then got back into the car and drove both girls to Readington. Its about 62 miles, so it should have been about 1 hour, 15 minutes, but it took us about 2 hours to get there, due to the craziest summer storm I've EVER witnessed! It was sunny and we were about 20 minutes away when Maribel called me from the balloon festival ... Maribel, Marcelo, Joaquin, Nayda and Pepin were had just arrived when a crazy thunderstorm hit. They found coverage in a tent and once it passed, the sun came out again, Just after hanging up with Maribel, I hit the storm and it was insane! The rain was coming down so hard that everyone on the highway pulled over to the side of the road - it was literally impossible to drive in it! As soon as I pulled over, the rain turned to huge balls of hail! The hail was so loud on the car the Avery started to cry. Yet after a few minutes, the rain let up and I got back onto the road. Within 5 minutes of driving away from the storm, it was sunny skies again. Talk about bizarre!!

Silly expression, but I thought it was a funny picture ;)

Avery and Nayda

My little model posing

This is a classic video of Reagan - I pulled out the camera and she thought I was going to take a picture. I love watching her pose, as I'm pretty sure I used to do the exact same thing when I was a little girl.

We ended up lying our chairs and blankets down around the same place as last year, thinking we'd have a prime spot for the "mass ascension" of the balloons. Except they changed it this year! The balloons ended up taking off from an entirely different area, one that was rather far from where we were. We moved our chairs, but by then, we were a little too late. I felt like we missed the mass ascension and I was disappointed that I didn't get any really great pics of the balloons. I was too busy trying to purchase dinner and feed the girls and then move to a new spot. Oh well. At least Reagan and Avery had fun playing with Joaquin!

Maribel and her crew were pretty disappointed with everything ... Maribel and I went together last year and had a great time, so Nayda, Pepin and Marcelo were all looking forward to going for their first time. We hyped it up and then it ended up sucking. I doubt they'll be returning in the years to come! And rightfully so - they braved the storm, then the MUDDY grounds that followed, then a pathetic number of balloons in the mass ascension (hardly any compared to last year) and they'd dropped $100 just to walk through the gates! ($25 per adult).

*~*~*~*

Then there was Diane. Poor Diane! She ended up driving her 3 kids from the lakehouse and her GPS wasn't doing a very good job of giving her directions. After a very stressful, long drive, she got there as the balloons were going up. She threw the older kids in the double stroller, strapped her baby to her chest in the baby Bjorn, then trekked across the very muddy parking lot in flip flops, all the while telling her kids to look up to see the balloons floating away. When she finally arrived at the gate, the attendants told her it was closed to new entries. At that point, she put her hands over her eyes and cried. Thank goodness this worked, as they finally allowed her to walk in, just as most people were leaving.

I met her inside and we went to the area with rides and begged the young attendants to let the kids ride them. Thank goodness they accomodated us and Diane's kids got to have a little bit of fun!

Reagan and JP had fun riding the ponies

... while Avery waited patiently in the stroller

Kaitlyn, Erin and Diane

After the pony ride, we walked out together ... the clouds were rolling in again and it started to sprinkle as we got to the car. I got the girls in and by the time I moved the car, it was already coming down pretty hard. This made for a VERY long drive home! It took us about 45 minutes just to get to the main highway because of traffic. We inched along the sideroad painfully slowly. The girls were exhausted (to say the least) and they were completely spent. To make matters worse, I only had about 20 minutes left of battery on the portable DVD player. The following video is in the car, just after we left, with the rain pounding down:

Once we got on the highway, the girls lost it and both started crying (over tired). At one point, I had to pull over to try to calm them down. After they both had finally fallen asleep, my gas light came on! I had to find a gas station and pull over, which of course made Avery wake up. Anyway, we didn't get home until just after 11:00 pm and everyone was happy to be home!

We'll see if we make it next year for the 4th year in a row ... let's just say the circumstances will have to be perfect because I won't brave thunderstorms next time!

Balloon Festival

Last night, Maribel and I took Reagan and Joaquin to the Balloon Festival in Readington, NJ (about an hour and a half away). I was really looking forward to it this year, since John and I took Reagan last year and she loved it. Last year, Reagan was 20 months old and she loved watching the balloons. In fact, every time I was on the computer, she requested to watch the balloon videos I took that day. I thought it would be fun to post one of those videos, to take a walk down memory lane ... it's shocking to see Reagan look so little and so young! Enjoy this video:

Balloon Festival 2007

Back to 2008 ... I really wanted to make it a family outing again this year, but John felt strongly that he should stay home with his mother this weekend ... she underwent 5 chemotherapy treatments this week and the doctors told him she would feel weak, tired, and possibly "drunk" over the weekend. John wanted to monitor her, since a fall could cause serious internal bleeding. I admire John's constant consideration for his mother and her needs, but I also missed him and Avery. At least I had the wonderful company of his cousin Maribel. We had a great time chatting on the drive there and back ... thanks for driving, Maribel!!

Amanda and Reagan, waiting for the "mass ascension" of the balloons

The festival takes place in Readington, a very small town with this small airport. The tents for food and other merchants are set up on the runway, then everyone sits on the grass (if you can call it that) to watch the balloons go up. When we first arrived, we checked out all the food, then decided on cheeseburgers ... turned out to be one of the best burgers I've ever had!

Reagan, Maribel and Joaquin

Reagan - just as the balloons were starting to go up

There were so many beautiful balloons ... aside from the traditionally shaped balloons, there were many that were unique. This "Noah's Ark" balloon was pretty extravagant!

Last year, the balloons went up and then floated off into the distance. This year was so much better because they went in the opposite direction ... this meant they went directly over our heads which was so cool! Here's some video of this year ... the noise is from all the balloons above us.

Balloon Festival 2008

Maribel and Joaquin


The American flag was there last year, but the Darth Vader one was new



These bees were there last year too, but this year they were sporting PINK RIBBONS (Breast Cancer Awareness), so they immediately made me think of my mom :)

Isn't she a little beauty? She's learning how to pose for the camera!

Another big hit with Reagan and Joaquin, the Energizer Bunny ... the sunset was absolutely gorgeous! It turned into such a beautiful night.

After all the balloons had taken flight, we walked around and stopped at this area with big blow up slides and bouncy things, etc. The tickets were expensive ($4 each!), so I bought 1 and walked Reagan up to each one. As soon as it was her turn, she chickened out and wouldn't go. She finally went into this little tent where balloons were blowing everywhere. All the kids inside were running around, screaming and having a great time, so it turned out to be perfect. I doubt I'd ever spend $4 on something like that again, but oh well. She enjoyed it.

After this, we made one last stop at the "Best Darn Kettle Corn" tent and bought a big bag for the drive home. Man, that stuff is addictive! Joaquin fell asleep as soon as we hit the road and Reagan chatted with us the whole way home. It really was a wonderful evening and I'm already looking forward to next year's festival!