Balloons and bicycles, times two

This past weekend was all about hot air balloons.  We kicked things off with a bikey outing on Friday night.  Bikes are the way to access this event.  No getting stuck in traffic; no parking and walking from far away.  We biked from The Hill to Forest Park, through the VIP parking barricades (with a wave and a nod from the guard), and right up to the edge of the balloon field.  We had a rather impressive number of bikes locked together, as you can see in the top photo in Rebecca’s post.

We enjoyed a lovely potluck picnic spread as the sun set and the balloons started to glow behind us.  We forgot our camera, so I’ll let you enjoy Rebecca (linked above) and Mike’s photos.

On Saturday, Matthew finished up at the garden early so we could take Gabriel to the park for the balloon launch.  Similar to last year, we packed a picnic dinner.  Unfortunately, I forgot to pack any toys, a lapse which someone lamented greatly.

Also similar to last year, Sir seemed as interested in the bounce houses as the balloons.  (Sigh.  Three year olds!)

We brought the camera, but I only caught one thing flying this year:

On the way home, we stopped for gelato.  Gabriel had his very own cone — blueberry and chocolate chip — which he thoroughly enjoyed.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather over the weekend!  Friday’s biking was lovely.  Saturday’s trip was a bit stressful; we’re struggling a bit with the dynamics of riding together (vs. solo riding).  Not a new problem, but one we’re hoping to solve (I may say more about this later), so future bike outings are more enjoyable.