First Weekend of Fall

Yesterday was the first day of fall, and we had the best day. We went to get breakfast for the last time at our favorite breakfast place downtown (Country Corner Cafe). Seriously, if you are EVER in the Saratoga area, you have to get breakfast there. It is hands down the best breakfast place.

B learned to stack the little creamers.

 And then he realized he could drink them.

 Then we made plans to attend our last evening launch of the Adirondack Balloon Festival.

Our very first ADK Balloon Fest as newlyweds in 2008

Originally, we had hoped to spend this weekend in Maine with my college friends Rachel and Matt and their two little boys, but what with our recent travels to Texas and the variations in B's sleep, we decided to stay put. Hopefully, they'll be visiting us overnight next weekend!

The weather forecast was looking unpromising for yesterday's launch, but when the skies cleared blue in the midday, we decided to give it a go.

Last year, B was just shy of 8 months old at the balloon festival. Although he delighted in seeing the balloons, he wasn't really engaged with what was going on. It was a memorable first balloon fest for us as parents. The line of cars to the airport c-r-e-p-t along, and B was still at a point where he HATED being in his car seat. He wailed and wailed until I got to the point where I felt like we were torturing the poor kid. We decided I would carry B and walk the rest of the way onto the airport grounds while Nich waited in that ridiculous line and parked. I think I walked over a mile with B that day, but the aching back was worth it! I remember sitting in the grass to nurse him, how the shrill siren of the fire engine startled him, how we ran into about a million people from church.

He was so itty-bitty last year!

Well, it was an entirely different story this year. Although the balloons didn't launch due to the coming storm, there were plenty of colorful kites in the air, crafts tents, airplanes and fire trucks to look at, and we made a fun afternoon/evening of it.

We shared fried dough and wood-fired pizza for dinner, and B made some friends with a Chinese family whose girls sweetly gave him his own bottle of bubbles to blow.

Since we really wanted B to experience the balloon fest before we move out of the area, we showered in the evening, set the alarm to attend the sunrise launch, and went to bed early. I woke up before N to pack up snacks, warm drinks (maple coffee for me and N and warm milk for B), fleece sweatshirts, extra just-in-case clothes for B, extra socks, boots to wear on the muddy ground. When N and I were ready to go and we had loaded up the car, I went in to get B out of his crib. He had slept soundly while I crept in and out of his room to get his things together, but when I picked him up, he let out a little mew of complaint. Once he realized I was taking him outside, however, he perked right up and asked, "Car? Daddy? Boots?" We had hoped he would fall back asleep in the car, but the novelty of being awake in the dark and going for a car ride was much too exciting for something so mundane as sleep. 

The first of the balloons to begin inflating

And here begins the excitement

This is about when he started yelling, "WAH-OOOOOO!" (wow) repeatedly and running all over the place in circles.

40th anniversary for the ADK Balloon Fest!

"YAY for balloons!"

They had a "petting zoo" of balloons with lots of different animal balloons, including a T-Rex.

 

 

 

 

And a Spider-Pig.

Happy family at the 2012 ADK Balloon Festival!

We came home, took a 3-hour nap, had lunch, and made some visits to friends, dropping off some thanks-for-loving-on-us gifts (more on one of those in the next post!) along the way.

What did you do this weekend?