Hot Air Balloon Ride & Family Visit July 26, 2009

Jeff and I had a gift certificate given to us by one of his co-workers a while back for a hot air balloon ride that we were dying to use. It was with Aerial Balloon in Snohomish and we had made several attempts to go up in the air but they had all previously been cancelled because of weather.

We woke up at the crack of dawn and met up at the Aerial Balloon at 6 AM for our sunset flight. Luckily the wind was not that bad and the weather was cooperating so we were able to go up this time. There actually really was not any wind so we went up in the air and stayed there. We did go up about 5000 ft and into the clouds which was really cool and when you got up that high you could feel the air change. Once we came down again we caught a little wind and floated over the river right above the trees. When we landed we actually didn’t make it to where the pilot was shooting towards and basically landed in this guys back yard area. It was a pretty thrilling landing because when we came down we barely missed taking out his satalite dish and hitting his roof but we made it safely to the ground. You can check out the pictures below of our adventures.

 

   

     

 

Also during the previous weekend my sister and her two kids were visiting from Colorado so we met them at Lopez Island for the weekend. My step brother was also able to join us along with his new addition, his puppy Poncho. The weather cooperated so we had a great time playing on the beach and of course trying to not step on Poncho.

 

     

Reading time July 13, 2009

This is his favorite Dr. Seuss book, he may not have all words down but I think he has the cadence.

4th of July – Lopez Island Washington July 6, 2009

For 4th of July we jumped in the car and headed to Lopez Island for the weekend. We decided to wait until Friday morning to head over and the ferry terminal in Anacortes was a total zoo. We were trying to catch the ten o’clock ferry and by the time we got to Anacortes we had twenty minutes to spare before the ferry left. We did not anticipate the two and a half mile backup though down to the ferry terminal. The ferry was thankfully late leaving the dock so Jeff dropped Ethan and I off at the landing and was expecting to put us on the ferry and take the later one four hours later. They were delayed in getting the cars on however so Jeff ran from the way far away parking lot and literally jumped on the boat as it was pulling away. It was definitely out of a scene from a movie from what he described.  When we got to Lopez we were able to relax a bit and hang out on the beach, enjoying the beautiful weather.

 

  

 

 

On the 4th we went to the parade and we sat up by the start of the parade which was a wise decision. Two of the floats were handing out ice cream cones and rootbeer floats and I guess they ran out halfway through. All of the floats also hand out candy and Ethan made out like a bandit. He got more candy than Halloween.  We also went out with Jon in the boat to check out Fisherman’s bay and Ethan got to drive the boat. We were all a little scared when he figured out the throttle. My mom and Jon had a really yummy 4th cookout with pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, potato salad, and beer. We even roasted smores over the bonfire. Jeff and I stayed awake for the spectacularfireworks and from where we were sitting on the deck we were able to see both Friday Harbor and Lopez shows. We had a great weekend but we are glad to be back home and not traveling for a least another weekend.