Walking the Winds

Since Leonard and I were both going to turn 40 this year, we thought we'd celebrate by crossing an item off our bucket list by going on a hot air balloon ride.

 

We met at the University grounds so early that the moon was still up.

 

Trying out our new camera we were able to get this close-up!  (And we could have zoomed in further, we just couldn't keep the camera steady.  We'll have to try again someday with our tri-pod.)

 

We were travelling with one pilot, and 10 other basket-mates.  There was also a single ground crew man who helped us get the balloon filled, then followed us with the big van on our journey.

 

These 2 couples shared our side of the basket with us.

 

Our pilot and the other 6 passengers.

 

Hot air balloon flying is a crazy sensation, because there is NO sensation of movement.  We couldn't even feel the lift off, just all of a sudden I looked down and we were no longer on the ground.  We truly felt like we were just walking the winds.

 

I like this pic that Len took of me taking a pic of the sleepy city below.

 

I felt like Peter Pan (or maybe Wendy, ha!) flying over the roof tops of London.

 

The new Lansdowne Park area was under our flight path.

 

We couldn't get a shot of the inflated balloon, because as soon as it was filled we had to hurry and jump in the basket before it lifted off.  Also, as soon as we touched down it started deflating before we were even out of the basket.  I am so glad I was able to capture this lovely reflection though!

 

Len had to fly a paper airplane out of the basket, silly goose!  We also travelled by a helium balloon that lost its way.

 

We were aiming for a soccer field to land in, but missed it by a little.

  

We touched down in a field of wildflowers and a few of the guys (including Len) were asked to jump out and then guide the balloon over to the soccer field.

 

Time to jump out.

 

We had the best time and would love to do it again.  Although, I'd rather fly like this super cool green bee someday!

#239

I have enjoyed living in Canada, Taiwan, and England, but America will always be my home!

 

American-born Kaleb

 

American-born Noé

 

Canadian-born Leonard

 

Canadian-born Hiram

 

Canadian-born Ali

 

Taiwanese-born Gavin

 

Taiwanese-born Teague 

 

We headed down to Lake Placid, New York to join the festivities for America's 239th birthday.  Right as we arrived it POURED down rain again!  We drove around Mirror Lake a few times and then it cleared up.  It was still a little too chilly for us to take a dip in the lake, so the kids played at the playground instead.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

It started raining again, so we took shelter at our favorite Pizzeria- Bazzi's.  We had a table right at the window so when the rain stopped again and the parade started we could watch it while we ate.  After dinner we walked up their charming Main Street.  Of course, we had to visit their Christmas store and buy some yummy fudge for dessert!  We so badly wanted to watch the fireworks over the water that night, but they weren't going to start until 9:30.  With a 3 1/2 hour drive home and church the next morning we didn't think it was the best idea.  Next year we've got to plan to stay the night in town!

Happy birthday America!

#148

We had planned on joining the local festivities at the Navan fair to celebrate Canada's 148th birthday.  Mother Nature had another plan and it POURED down rain!  We still had a fun day at home playing Wii Sing, Ticket to Ride, watching Saints and Soldiers, and eating ice cream to celebrate reading scriptures for every day in June.

It's always fun for Len and I to spend time with our wonder twins...

 

 ...three musketeers...

 

...and messy princess!

Happy birthday Canada!

Sunshine

Noé and I went up to the church to re-do the bulletin boards in the Relief Society room.

"Scatter sunshine all along your way...

...cheer and bless and brighten every passing day."

"There is sunshine in my soul today!"

Swinging

For June's parent-child date I took Ali to the park to push her in the baby swing.  What else would a one year old like to do?  She had a blast!  I do admit that I took all of my kids to the park that day and I look forward to many more days of park play this summer with each of them!

Last Day of School

After 297 days we finally reached the last day of school!  The kids brought in gifts for their teachers and bus drivers and had a fun last day (especially Kaleb and Noé who had a field trip to mini-golf, lunch at the Upper Deck, and to see the movie Inside Out).  The kids have made lots of fun plans for the summer!

Kaleb plans to spend lots of time using his new rollerblades and is looking forward to participating in an International Camporee.

Noé looks forward to spending lots of time at the beach and going to Young Women's Camp for the first time.

Gavin is excited to play soccer with his 2 little brothers each Saturday and to go camping as a family. He is also having eye surgery to correct his lazy eye (after 2 years of waiting!).

Teague is excited to play at the park lots and that he gets to spend more time with Hiram and Ali every day.  He's also looking forward to some mini road trips with our family.

We had our traditional dinner of ice cream.

And everyone got to open their year-end gifts.

This year the kids each got a new summer outfit, some new summer pj's, a book/book series, and a Wii game/CD.

Bring on the summer!!