Plano Balloon Festival

Saturday September 18, 2010

We went with some friends of ours to the Plano Balloon Festival.  I think the highlight of the evening was the ride over there.  We parked at the DART parking lot and then they had buses shuttling people into the festival.  Weston loved the bus.  He was laughing, giggling, and saying "fun! fun!" the entire ride.  He thought it was fantastic that he was on a bus and that he wasn't in a car seat.  Natalie could really care less.  She wanted to be on the floor touching and licking everything dirty in sight.  We could see some of the balloons launching from our window on the bus.  Weston was blown away (no pun intended).  "Balloon!  Balloon!" he screamed so that everyone on the bus could hear.  Such excitement!

Daddy and Weston

Mommy and Natalie

We arrived and I was astonished at the size of the crowd.  They were not joking when they said this festival was huge.  They were handing out little wrist bracelets to put on the kids with our name and number in case they got lost.  Weston and Natalie's lasted a whole twenty seconds.  They got working on those right away.  No way were they going to wear a bracelet!  So, they were history.  Oh well.  Guess who is staying strapped into the stroller then?

We walked along the road and looked at the vendors.  We were heading to the toddler section when we noticed there were jumping castles.  We pretty much assumed that the jumping castles were probably extra, so to avoid any meltdowns, we decided to keep away.

So, that meant just sitting and waiting until the next event which would be the "glowing balloons" in an hour and a half!  It was incredibly hot and ridiculously muggy.  We were all soaking wet and the kids were not liking it very much.  Luckily, Roland grabbed the kids some balloons which kept them occupied for quite some time.  I have never heard Natalie laugh so much in my life.  She was shaking that balloon all over and was giggling incessently.  Weston also was very entertained. 

After a while we decided to walk back towards the entrance so we could beat the crowd on the way out.  We sat and waited.  As the sun began to set, they began re-inflating all of the balloons.  The fire caused them all to glow in the night sky.  It was really neat.  At this point though, the kids could really care less so we decided to just leave.

All of the kiddos

No fireworks for us.  Bummer.  I really wish the sun set sooner here because the kids have missed out on fireworks several times now just because it gets too late.  We climb onto the bus and Natalie loses it.  The bus turns dark inside as we drive and Natalie starts to wail.  I think between being overstimulated, hot, and scared of the sudden dark unknown place, she was just out of control.  Roland and I passed her back and forth between us.  Her screams echoed through the bus.  The poor little boy by us kept making comments and the sweet Dad kept saying things like, "You used to do this.  Remember when you did this?  It's okay.  She is just sad."  He was really kind because I know I would have been annoyed, that's for sure.

At one point, Natalie was so upset that she leaned over in my lap and made a gagging sound like she was about to vomit.  I about had a heart attack.  I was thinking, "Oh great.  Here we go.  How am I going to clean this disgusting mess up?"  Luckily nothing happened.  But, Roland did tell me that some boy two rows up yelled out, "Dad, what do you mean 'Uh Oh'?"  "No, I don't want you to tell me later, tell me now.  Why did you say 'Uh Oh'?"  That made me laugh so hard when I found that out.

We finally made it to the parking lot.  What happened when the bus stopped and the lights turned on?  Let me tell you.  Everyone stood up and in one smooth motion looked back to see who was the cause of all of this commotion.  It wasn't a casual glance as they were getting up from their seats.  It was a full stand up, turn around, and stare.  Natalie and I were in the last row along the back wall, so there was nothing to hide behind.  There we were in all of our glory.  Yes everyone, that was us!  Take your good looks now!  We are a handsome sight, aren't we?

And you know what that little stinker did once we got off the bus?  Nothing.  That's right.  She was perfectly fine and all smiles.  Grrrrrrr.

Our Family

The Krewsons

The Bowcotts