Balloon Glow

 On Saturday evening, our family of 4, along with Grammy, Sarah, Andrew, and Abby headed to the balloon park for the balloon glow! (This time, we purposely parked in that remote parking area and took our secret passageway through the drainage ditch. We saved $20 in parking and avoided lots of traffic. Score!) We packed a picnic dinner to eat while watching the balloons inflate.

It was a calm, clear, cool, beautiful evening!

 Abby was excited about all of the balloons. :)

 Ryan was, too, despite how it looks. :)

 This time, Abby got to ride in the baby backpack! Way to go, daddy Drew!

 As the sun set, the balloons looked more and more like they were "glowing" whenever the pilots pulled the burner.

 An announcer instructs the pilots when to burn ("3, 2, 1 ... all burn!") Sometimes, just the perimeter balloons or a certain row burns. Usually, though, it's all of them together.

 The kiddos loved playing with the glow sticks that Grammy and Papa gave them.

 After the balloon glow,we stayed at the balloon park for a really cool fireworks show. (This was actually the third time we saw the show while in Albuquerque. The other two times we watched from a spot closer to Kim's parents' house.) It's a great show ... and was even better watching it from the field! Here are some great pics Sarah took. (She took most of the shots above, too ... my camera couldn't focus very well in the low light.)

A fun evening for all! :) (Are you convinced yet that you need to attend next year's fiesta? I hope so!)