Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (picture overload!)

So this past weekend, Jeff, Alyssa, Jason, Carter, and I all took a roadtrip down to Albuquerque, NM for their annual international balloon fiesta. I have been trying to get Jason go for years now. He decided he wanted to go after seeing a segment about the fiesta on tv. Go figure! Anyways we drove half way (Monticello, UT) on Wednesday night. We decided to go to four corners since Alyssa had never been. I hadn't been in 10+ years and man is it different now. It's $3 a head to get in and there is massive construction going on in the area. Here is Mr. Man sitting in all four states. As soon as I sat him down everyone was saying how cute he was. We had a hard time getting him to sit still since he wanted to look at all the people.

Jeff and Alyssa

Mr. Man was getting tired of being in his car seat so we let him drive for awhile....

We arrived Thursday afternoon and decided to go up the tram that night. I forgot how beautiful the Albuquerque sunsets are. (and how cold it is once the sun goes down)

Thought this was pretty funny...



We got up bright and early the following morning for the special shapes mass assension. It was too windy for the special shapes, but some of the normal balloon's still went up. They also filled most of the special shapes which was fun to see. Some of them are just massive! Carter did great with getting up so early too! He LOVED the balloons!!

My dad ended up having meetings in Albuquerque so my mom came along. She met up with us at the park.

Such a happy baby! Even at 5am!

After the balloon fiesta, we met up with Cari, Ryan and their kids at the hotel for some swimming while others rested. Hope decided to have a little mess up with some milk and had to go home. The rest of us spent the rest of the afternoon at the Children's Museum. I am not sure who had more fun--Carter or Jason and Jeff....

After the children's museum, we headed back to the park for the "Glodeo" which is when they inflate the balloons at night and they glow from the flames. Cari, Ryan, and her kiddos met us at the park for a fun filled night finished off w/ some fireworks!!

Hope loved Carter! She told me multiple times that he was her best friend. She was constantly giving him kisses and hugs and talking to him. It was so sweet!

One of my favorite balloons---the bees

We got up again the following morning to hopefully catch a better mass assension. We were in luck!!

This balloon is MASSIVE!!!

Later we spent the afternoon in Santa Fe shopping and eating and having some great margaritas!!

This is the famous mayor's mansion where all the local Native Americans sell their goods. It was a little pricey for my liking...

That evening we met up again with Ryan and Cari for some good Mexican food at El Pinto. It was a fantastic evening. Carter did great the whole night and fell asleep in the car before we had even left the parking lot!!

And for the 3rd day in the row we went to the farewell mass assension. We had a great trip!!