Balloon Fiesta 2010: Adelaida's first tattoo

A small but significant event happened while we were at balloon fiesta. It happened like this:

A coworker of mine was working on the balloon crew for one of the balloons, so several of us from the lab met at this balloon and stayed near it for most of the balloon fiesta. At one point, I was talking with some friends near this balloon while Dale and Diane (my friend and officemate in the lab) had walked a little ways off with Adelaida. I could see them, but couldn't really see what they were doing. Abruptly, they walked back toward me, picked up Diane's bag, and said to me "we aren't doing anything!" Obviously, they had quite guilty consciences!

The three of them walked about five paces away and Diane and Dale knelt down, with Adelaida squirming between them. This is what I saw:


I walked over to them, asked what they were doing, and they both replied "Nothing!" so I walked away and let the events unfold.

A few minutes later, they let go of Adelaida and I saw this:


Dale and Diane had given Adelaida her first temporary tattoo!

Adelaida loved it, and immediately tried to put another tattoo on her left arm -- she didn't have another tattoo paper, so put the balloon trading card on her left arm to see if the image would transfer like the first one did.


The balloon image didn't transfer, but for a few happy minutes she had a balloon tattoo on one arm and a balloon trading card resting on the other arm!


We even took a picture with three versions of the same balloon: the real balloon, the tattoo balloon on Adelaida's arm, and the balloon trading card.


Adelaida spent the rest of the day, as well as Sunday and Monday and Tuesday, pointing to her arm anytime anyone said "balloon." She was pretty happy with the balloon and immediately showed her teacher at school on Monday. (The tattoo washes off with water, so Dale was careful not to disturb it at bathtime on Sunday night!)

Balloon Fiesta 2010: More Pictures

Here are more pictures from the Balloon Fiesta this weekend. It was so amazing to be in the field as the balloons were taking off!

Adelaida loves to be "swung" between Dale and me, so whenever she is holding both of our hands, she pulls her feet up and says "wheeee!" -- thanks to Diane for taking this picture just at the end of swinging Adelaida.


Looking south from Balloon Fiesta Park, balloons fill the sky!


The special shapes balloons are always fun to see, like this jack-in-the-box.


Look, Mom -- it's Smokey Bear!


A recurring big hit at Balloon Fiesta are the bees: matching bee balloons, one with red antenna and one with blue antenna. This year, there was a surprise third bee, with purple antenna: the bees had a baby!


Dale and Adelaida pause for a father-daughter tickle break.


Looking straight up at the balloons flying overhead.


We were walking around Balloon Fiesta Park when it suddenly got very dark -- we looked up and realized we were in the shadow of a solar eclipse!


The owl and cactus were two of the last balloons to go up.


More to come!

Balloon Fiesta 2010

Following closely on the heels of the New Mexico State Fair is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta -- a state fair with balloons instead of animals. We've been several times since we've been in New Mexico and generally enjoy it -- when we forget about the hours stuck in traffic, the frigid temperatures, waking up at 4am, and all the times we go to the fiesta only to find that the weather isn't favorable for the balloons to take off. Nevertheless, we decided this year to take Adelaida and hope for the best.

Hot air balloons are surprisingly sensitive to the weather and can only take off if there is no precipitation and very little wind. My general plan for attending balloon fiesta is to plan to go every day, and continue planning to go until the weather is favorable and the balloons actually take off. This year that turned out to be a great plan -- we went the first day and the weather was wonderful! It was the best weather we've ever seen for balloon fiesta -- clear skies, no precipitation, no wind, and it was actually warm by the time we left the park.

Being in the midst of a huge field of balloons as they are unrolled, inflate, stand up, and take off is amazing! An essential item to take to the fiesta is a camera, and we took over 200 pictures. Here are some of my favorites.

The first line of balloons inflates against a New Mexico sunrise.


Adelaida spots a balloon in the sky.


A balloon flies overhead, next to the crescent moon.


The first wave takes off!


Balloons fill the sky as more inflate on the ground.


Dale and Adelaida squat in front of an inflating balloon.




Once they take off, the balloons look pretty small, but on the ground they are quite large!




We had a great time and took so many more pictures. I'll post more pictures later!