Each Labor Day weekend, Colorado Springs hosts the Colorado Balloon Festival, which is an amazing event to bring your kids to – and it provides something cool for you to look at as well. This year we again met up with some good friends and went down, except instead of going in the morning for a launch (click here for the photos and story of the first time – wow, it’s crazy to look at pictures of Ezra at that age), we went in the evening for a nighttime display. While they don’t actually launch the balloons, they put on quite a display as they fill them for everyone to see. One of the things that makes this such a huge draw (tens of thousands of people have been there each time we have gone) is that you can walk up to and all around the balloons as they are getting unrolled, set-up, and filled. You also have the opportunity to talk with the balloonists and find out more about the process or their balloon in particular. If you are ever out here during that time, make it a point to go there – it won’t let you down.
The Life of a Little Hippie 
What a beautiful display. No doubt the kids saw something to remember. We’re sure that sometime in the future, you will be taking a joint flight in one of the baskets.
Several years back, Betty & Nancy gave Hip and me a trip as a birthday gift. It is strange to be aloft, no noise except an occasional burning of the gas.