Week in Pictures: The Great Balloon Race

I've lived in Nevada for 12 years now and I've never been to the Balloon Races, until today. I can't tell you why I haven't, but I know that I'm so glad that I got to share my first time with baby girl this morning. I now understand why people go crazy for this even year after year.

We woke up this morning at 3:00 am to get ready and get the car packed to go. I felt awful waking Haidyn up at 3:50 am, but she was surprisingly willing to get up easy. She had no complaints as if she knew exactly where we were going. ( I love that she's a morning person - like me!) We bundled her up and headed out with Stacy to get to Rancho San Rafael Park before 4:30 am. 

Haidyn was thrilled to hear everyone cheering, the music and the count down for the Glow Show. We each picked our favorite balloon while Haidyn did some cheering herself.

Next, Dawn Patrol lit up the beautiful Nevada skies. Haidyn at this point was tuckered out to even care about the lights. I, on the other hand, was too excited at this point for all the balloons to keep still. Thank you 3:00 am coffee! 

We were told that the other balloons weren't going to be up until 7:00 am, so we waited around until we got kicked out of our spot by the volunteers. Damn you chili pepper balloon!

 Getting kicked out of our spot allowed us to enjoy all of the other balloons up close and personal.

We also met "High Kitty". Haidyn was awake for this and she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the giant cat. She also didn't mind seeing all of the other colorful balloons fly up. 

We missed Darth Vader ( Waymon's balloon choice), but we did see him fly up! That balloon by the way is ridiculously cool.  

Waymon and Stace posed up together like they liked each other.  

Two seconds later, we were playing selfie queens with our favorite balloon of the day. :)

We checked out the little tents around the venue. Our favorite was watching all of the little kids roll around in giant bubbles. haha Oh man, I could watch them all day.

We headed out of the park around 9:00 am to head home. Now, our first Balloon Race is in the books! I can't wait for next year.