Wind? What Wind?

At the onset of August each year our fair city hosts a hot air balloon festival call "Balloons off Broadway." We went as a family last year and loved it despite the heat and humidity. Now, I must admit that a hot air balloon festival will never compare to the one in Provo, UT at 6am each 4th of July. Nothing can beat that. But, I applaud Grove City's efforts out here in the big OH.

Things were a little different this year. The festival was at a different location, the size of the crowd was very different (more than doubled from last year) and the fact that the balloons never lifted into the sky was different, too. Ahem.

We lasted about 45 minutes this year and then decided to ditch the over-hyped extravaganza with disappointed hearts. The feelings of disappointment were very fleeting though and lasted about 10.2 seconds.

Here are a few priceless moments we captured before our exit.

These were the only two balloons that went up. Unfortunately, this wasn't at the festival. It was about 8am from the back steps of our home.

Here's the Dash-man with a surprisingly pleasant look on his face. This must have been taken post-tormenting (from the sisters).
Here's Addie with her initial symptoms indicating the necessity to empty one's bladder. Or she could be a big Michael Jackson fan (but we doubt the latter).
Emery looks so serene and calm here. You know how a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, our camera lies!
Addie standing in Dashle's stroller just moments before she nearly fell to her death. But, how can you pass up such an angelic pose even though you know the immediate outcome after you snap the picture?

I love this picture! It just really captures the essence of our short stay at the festival...Emery playing in the Poison Ivy. No joke. No outing with our family could be complete without the sisters antagonizing the chubby little brother to tears and screaming. But, my favorite part of the episode is when other adults start looking frantically around for this kid's parents to help relieve him or relieve themselves from the high pitched squealing.