what should have been balloonfest

Every year, Howell, MI has a great balloonfest where they bring in all sorts of hot air balloons and have a carnival and serve all sorts of fatty foods and it is a blast.

I have great memories of balloonfest. Balloons used to land in our front yard during the festival because our subdivision was right next to the end of the race, and hot air balloons are hard to aim. It was pretty much the coolest.

So, I took Mike and Tennyson along this year and we went to see the hot air balloons.

Before I go any further, let me just say that I never ever in my wildest dreams thought I’d see my son running around my old high school parking lot. Ever. I was certain that once I left Michigan for college, and once my family moved to Chicago, I’d have no reason to ever go back to Michigan. God must have had a good chuckle at that one.

Anyway.

We went to balloonfest. It was exactly like I remembered, but a totally different experience toting along a one year old instead of running around with all the teenagers.

Tennyson got to play his first carnival game.

He did well. He won a stuffed monkey. Doesn’t he look thrilled about it?

 

We walked around a lot and saw all the art stands and took in the atmosphere.

We even stopped for some quality festival food. Tennyson would have none of the hot dog, apparently they don’t make them right there, so he just stuck with his fruit loops. Have I mentioned yet that he’s learned to throw a tantrum? Yeah, his scream will burst both eardrums.

After our bellies were full, we went to wait for the hot air balloons to inflate and set off on their race (the one that ended in our backyard when I was younger).

Only they never inflated. There was too much wind. Well, I guess they did get one up after we left, but remember that ear piercing yell I just told you about? It’s ten times louder and much more frequent when he’s tired.

We did see a couple things in the sky before leaving.

Like kites.

And planes.

And skydivers.

And babies.

(and no, that is not photoshopped)

But we did not see hot air balloons.

Thusly, instead of pictures of hot air balloons, you get a ton of pictures of the cutest kid in the world (we had a lot of down time). Lucky you!

Lately…

We haven’t been up to much lately. Things are pretty quiet around here. But that doesn’t mean we’ve done absolutely nothing.

First off, Father’s day.

My dad was still in town, which was so nice. It’s been a while since I’ve spent a Father’s Day with him.

And it was nice for Tennyson to have his Opa around, too.

Playing iPod with Opa is serious work:

I tried to take some pictures of Mike and Tennyson on Father’s Day. I said, “Mike, pose normal!” and this is what I got.

I tried.

It’s been pretty rainy here lately, so we really haven’t been able to do much.

We did make it to the mall once for an evening. Mike and I both needed new shoes. And Tennyson needed to get out of the house. Plus, we really wanted to go to the “nice Meijer” that is right next to our mall.

Other than that, we’ve done a lot of sitting around and laughing at the comedic stylings of Elmo and Mr. Noodle.

And we’ve watched the rain, just wishing things would dry up so we could go to the park.

Oh yeah, and this is how we sit in grocery carts now. Doesn’t it look comfortable??

Absolutely Perfect Saturday

My family is in town. The weather today was beautiful.

Family + Great Weather = Perfect Day.

We spent the afternoon at our new favorite park in town. It was supposed to be stormy, but ended up absolutely wonderful.

The first thing we did was take a walk around the lake.

Then we went to the splash pad.

I decided from now on I will only go to the splash pad on Saturday mornings. Seriously. The place was de-ser-ted.

Yes. The only people you see in that picture are members of my family. It was wonderful. Tennyson wasn’t quite as brave as he was last time, but I attribute a lot of that to the fact that we cut his morning nap short.

Since it was only in the 70s outside, Tennyson had sit out for a minute every now and then to warm up.

Once he stopped shivering, he jumped right back in again.

While we played in the splash pad, my dad and Mike and my siblings rented paddle boats and went out onto the lake.

We had a nice picnic lunch waiting for them when they got back.

Tennyson had fun playing in his stroller. I never let him sit in there without being strapped in. He quickly learned he could put both his feet on the back of the seat and climb up.

Which he thought was hysterical.

Before leaving, we soaked up the sun for a bit longer by sitting on the beach by the lake.

      

And that picture brings me to my latest obsession… CURLS.

I knew I would have a curly head kid.

   

Anyway. Back to the beach.

Tennyson quickly realized that all the other people on the beach had a lot more to play with than we did.

Not our towels:

Also not our towels:

Tennyson also learned about gravity since the “beach” is one big grassy hill.

For anyone who argues that this might not have been the perfect day, I dare you to say that after seeing what the sky was like.

Yeah, perfect.

Absolutely perfect.