The Great Reno Balloon Race

I am still not entirely sure how I did it, but there was finally an agreement for us to go to the balloon races this year! Not only did my husband, who I am not even sure has ever been up before the sun, say he would go to Dawn Patrol but he agreed to the Glow Show as well! So this morning, our alarm clocks went off at 4:00am! Once we were packed and ready, we got Riley up and dressed. We were out the door and on the road at 4:30am – right on schedule!We really lucked out on parking! Stephanie’s parents (a friend from Microsoft) live a few blocks from Rancho San Rafael and they let us park in their driveway for the morning. With the wagon to transport Riley and our necessities, getting to the park was a piece of cake! To top it all off, the weather was absolutely perfect!We got to the park, setup camp on the grass right next the launch field, settled in and got a few pictures just in time for the start of the Glow Show at 5:00am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riley was completely mesmerized! He snuggled in my lap, eating Dough Boy donut holes (Daddy had picked up the night before) and watching the balloons. It was a beautiful show!Riley enjoyed it so much, he did not want the balloons to go when it was over! We took a lot of pictures and are posting most of them (mainly in album form) so the McClures can feel like the were with us :) I have no idea why my camera was putting water spot type specs on all the pictures taken in the dark, we tried everything to fix it. Oh well, hopefully I will have a new camera soon! Here are more pictures from the Glow Show portion.

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Next up, Dawn Patrol at 5:30am. As the sun rose, Dad took Riley to the launching field to get an up close view of the balloons being inflated.

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Then it was time for the National Anthem,

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a military flyover,

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and the state song.

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Mass Ascension started at about 6:45am. Riley was very excited to see over one hundred balloons take to the skies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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When it was time to walk back to the car, we had a wonderful view! We rolled down the windows in the car and opened the sunroof so Riley could continue watching the balloons on the drive. Dad talked about how much fun he had and was glad we went! Our final stop was to get some hot chocolate. Have you ever seen a kid so happy to be the in Starbucks drive-up? He loves their cookies! We got home at 9:00am and both boys immediately went down for naps (and are still asleep).