Fiesta 2013

For nine days balloon fiesta magic overtakes city and suburbs alike in Albuquerque.

You might expect a lone balloon here or there in rolling countryside or open fields, but you can’t deny the fairytale whimsy when masses of them fill the sky and float down amidst morning commuter traffic and tightly spaced houses. We were guessing at balloon shapes on neighborhood walks and driving to soccer as balloons landed on either side of the highway. But even more than the fairyland balloons mixed with downtown offices and rugged mountain skylines, this year was extra-special because Auntie C came to visit! She’s a pro at keeping the natives in line,

Finding the coolest balloons to point out,

And sweet sister chats on the field.

This was our second Fiesta visit, and we’re still fine-tuning our spectating strategy. We stuck with our stroller plan, which seems the only safe way to keep kids close in a crowd of thousands on a huge dark field. And we found that by getting out earlier (leaving the house around 4:30-4:45 I think) we beat the traffic backups and then sipped coffee in the parking lot and strolled out to see the dawn patrol as it ascended in the dark.

Next year we hope to catch a special shapes glow-deo and/or ascension because many of the beloved shaped balloons like Snow White, Darth Vader, and the scuba diver were missing when we went. Still, there was no shortage of splendor as swirls of color floated up into the rising sun’s soft rays.

This year, with one-year-older kids, we were able to stay for the fireworks after the glow and the balloon landings after the ascension. Did you know that anyone can just run over to a landing balloon and grab the basket handles to help it come down? We weren’t so bold as to attempt assisting, but the bumping landings made for quite a show.

My new favorite balloon was this one - nothing flashy but Colleen and I liked the happy but peaceful scene and the crisp colors.

Eleanor and I were still partial to the girly pink and red hearts one as well, and the bumblebees with their hand-in-hand ascension.

Now the countdown has begun to next year’s fiesta. Perhaps for 2014 we’ll expand our experience by scoping out some vantage points along the river trails or chasing landing balloons with the car. I still feel no need to ride in the fragile crafts, but what fun it is to watch them soar!

* For more pics click here, and to read about last year’s Fiesta click here.

September snapshots

Before November swoops in and this really gets belated, let’s look back at some favorite pics from September.

Final swims of the season… here Erik is making a wave pool and Luke is swimming with a kickboard.

Croc-tober at the zoo (which started in September). Did you know that huge crocodiles can go a year or more between meals? Here the kids are checking out a cute baby alligator, another crocodilian.

And we always like to catch our zoo’s premier daily show – polar bear feeding with epic leaps to snatch up fish thrown in by the keeper.

We went to the state fair with Luke’s preschool class and enjoyed pig races,

Fought fires,

And survived a frightening encounter with the park ranger mascot… elk??

We went back to McCall’s pumpkin patch for the third year and once again the giant slides were a hit,

And pumpkin field photos will never be optional.

It’s so much fun to capture the eager explorations of the L & E team. Best friends and playmates all day long they’re always having fun (or into trouble!) together. Last month I took Eleanor out for a mommy-daughter shopping date and she kept telling me that she needed to buy something for ‘her Luke-a-boy’. Luke makes Eleanor a card almost every day that he’s at preschool and presents it to her beaming when we pick him up. Stay sweet and take care of each other, my loves!

Bully is back and other wild encounters

Thanks to the hanta virus (which thankfully has not been reported in our area), my severe snake-phobia has melted away and left behind a stranger who delights to see a snake outside our house provided it doesn’t have a rattle. Now I say, go snake go and eat those mice! Both Bully (our former reptilian house guest) and his heavyweight mother/father were recently spotted near our front door on sunny afternoons. One time the kids were with me and we all enjoyed the enchanting swish, swish, swish as he slithered away into the grass. Another time we found a fresh snake skin on some branches. What a fascinating souvenir these friends leave for us to find.

There was, however, one stressful reptile encounter back at the start of the summer. I went out to check on Erik and the kids’ progress cleaning the front porch. Just on the edge of all the action I was startled to see this little guy lying unnoticed.

It can be hard to tell if small snakes have a rattle or not, so we followed our standard questionable snake protocol and took a photo to check the pupil shape via zoom. And… AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! Vertical slits! Venomous. The only venomous snakes listed in our local fauna book are dangerous rattlers.

I started to despair. We were overrun. The rattlesnakes were at our door, waiting to storm our home. Pack now! Where’s the ‘for sale’ sign? Load the car!! But truly the little guy seemed to lack the aggressive temperament associated with rattlesnakes. We sent off photos to a friend, a bona fide NM wildlife authority. To our great relief we quickly heard back that the snake is poisonous but not dangerous to people because his venom is mild and he’s rear-fanged: a night snake. They’re seldom seen because they only come out at night and are extremely shy, but this one was injured and trapped on our porch. My sympathy was stirred and I pitied the poor little guy.

Snakes aren’t the only local resident that’s more active in the warmer months. The past few weeks we’ve heard numerous reports from neighbors about the garbage and birdseed seeking antics of a local black bear. These were all benign but there was one startling bear encounter earlier this summer in our neighborhood. A young black bear pushed in a single-pane window and entered a house in search of food -- an exceedingly rare incident. For some reason the owner confronted the bear (instead of leaving with the doors open), and he suffered a bite on the hand as a result. We have yet to see a bear, but we do hope that they stay in the mountains to avoid execution by the NM animal control units!

Other wildlife encounters from our first year at Wild Oak include Eleanor’s favorite: ‘deers’ munching right outside her window during bedtime stories. Luke and I were awestruck by a gorgeously striped and whiskered bobcat striding down our porch in the middle of the afternoon. Then there are the endless bunnies and hummingbirds, frequent hawks, occasional quail coveys, and a returning roadrunner in the backyard.

I’m still not a fan of scorpion season, but my abhorrence has dimmed a bit as time has passed. Upon close examination the variety that we’ve seen seems to be one whose sting is on par with a bee. All in all, a small price to pay to live in a city-side nature oasis.

I’ll be back to post soon on the three wildlife species that the kids recently adopted as pets: Rustle, Climber, and Froggies!

Weekend recap

Now that Eleanor’s old enough for the parent/child soccer class and Luke can be on his own, we signed back up for Lil’ Kickers! This weekend was their first lesson and they loved it. It was Eleanor’s first organized class other than church activities and she did a terrific job listening and kicking her ball. Luke did great too, he’s recently developed a more competitive bent which motivated him to work hard at the running and kicking games.

Lil’ Kickers is a nationwide program, and we think that their coaches and class structure are super-fun for kids. At Luke and especially Eleanor’s ages they aren’t doing much in the way of real soccer, but they’re getting kids excited about sports activities, building coordination, and developing listening and team skills.

After soccer we met a friend at a BMX course nearby. What an awesome place!

We were awed by the expertly formed dirt berms set up in courses of varying difficulty, from youth to pro level. It didn’t take Luke long to catch on to the idea and soon he was bouncing over the hills with big determination!

Eleanor charted her own course amidst the berms and amazed us by going up and over them on her own too. She’s getting more and more comfortable with downhill acceleration on her balance bike. Unfortunately we didn’t get a photo of her in action, but here she is ready for snack time.

We saw a pro doing jaw-dropping mid-air rotations but didn’t catch that on camera. Here’s a more modest jump by an intermediate guy – the best we could catch mid-kid-wrangling.

Such a fun place to ride and to spectate. And photograph… it will be fun to try to get better pics next time. I’m also hoping to get the kids some safety gear like their cool friend, D. D has been going to the course for over a year now I think, and we’re looking forward to meeting him there for playdates this summer.

In other news, I found a new lamp for Luke’s room! After writing his room up for the blog last week, I came across this lamp in our home’s accent color (yellow) on deep discount in Target’s clearance section.

Erik says it looks like a caramel kiss which has believability, but I think it suits the space so much better than the old one. What do you think?

Hopefully I’ll share pics of the princess room soon. In the meantime, here’s an outtake from its photo session… the chaos principle at work!

Simple weekend

I think this little blog was starting to wonder if it would ever get word of another L & E escapade or Wild Oak update. Did the kiddos’ cuteness wear off? Are we boycotting power tools and paintbrushes?

The answer is decidedly no, on both counts. The kids are cuter than ever – with darling Easter, biking, and hiking photos on deck. And the looming (wife-imposed) deadline of our 1-year house-iversary for all initial home projects has had us checking off little updates weekend-by-weekend.

So let’s see if I can start catching this little blog up. Starting with… this past weekend! There was breakfast with Princess Crinklenose,

Who can carry on a delightful conversation these days provided she isn’t in a “No, I NOT!” mood.

Princess breakfast is served concurrently with “math time”. Most mornings Luke and Erik have math time, during which they count to 100 or more and do simple additions and greater than/less than activities. Luke delights in numbers and will quantify anything, from how much he loves me (14 zillion) to how much celery he wants to eat (zero), to how old he’ll be when he can always obey Mommy (89).  Here Luke is coming up with a tough addition for Daddy to solve!

Thursday to Saturday, Erik and I caught pieces of a terrific homeschooling conference. We’ve already started and plan to continue “homeschooling” but we’re not sure if we’ll also send the kids to an elementary school. We have less than a year and a half until Luke starts kindergarten so the schooling decision which seemed distant for so long is suddenly nearing and we want to be ready to make the best choice for us!

After the conference we stopped at the Bosque bike path. Look at these hill-climbers!

Luke loves to pedal fast and now that Eleanor has learned to glide she relishes the whoosh of acceleration too.

Then there was snack time with a rare cloud shielding the sun and we headed for home.

After a little rest, the menfolk bagged and bundled sticks and leaves for our neighborhood’s spring green waste pickup.

They met the 10 bags or bundles maximum and readied the yard for our next big project – installing an irrigation system! Erik’s been eyeing the ditch-witches at Home Depot ever since we moved in, and I’m sure Luke and Eleanor will be fascinated by the mighty D.W. as well. I’m less enamored with the tool rental, but am hoping it means that no more trees die and our watering becomes more efficient. Until then, Luke and Eleanor will practice mixing dirt and water so that they can lend relevant expertise as needed for the project.

So today it’s so long weekend, hello midweek make-a-cardboard-car party. We have the car kits, Luke’s made a pile of spare wheels in case of blow-outs, and I just need to tidy up the house a bit. Happy mid-week and here’s hoping I’m back soon with our photo backlog!

Our first Fiesta

Somehow Erik and I managed to live in Albuquerque for four whole years without ever properly attending her annual Balloon Fiesta. But last month we remedied that and were so smitten by the beauty and excitement of the event that we can’t wait to go back next year. Plus, our new house affords a spectacular overlook of the balloon dotted city to entice us.

The ten-day festival was long enough for Luke and Eleanor to fall into the routine of running to the window each morning to look for balloons. Then we’d take to the driveway in our PJ’s for a closer look, watching to see which way the balloons traveled and where they would land.

Our first official event was the evening balloon glow, during which the balloons all inflate, filling the field with glowing jewels of light. But first Luke fed his need for speed with some rides down the super-slides!

Even more than the Fiesta, my weekend highlight was having Papi in town! We were delighted that my dad’s business trip brought him out our way.

After a little time for sideline attractions, twilight fell and the balloons began to glow, sometimes blinking in unison and swaying in the light breeze.

As it got darker the balloon lighting grew even more surreal, as you twisted and turned through crowds in a forest of glow. {Made much brighter below by Erik’s slow shutter on a tripod.}

The next morning we underestimated the notorious Fiesta traffic a bit, and saw the first of the 500+ balloons ascend from Solveig.

We feared that we might miss much of the spectacle, but thankfully traffic sped up and there were crowds of balloons left to launch when we arrived.

It was chilly, and early, but the kids were mostly enthralled.

The balloon propane tanks flashed flames and whooshed noisily slowly giving form to limp plastic that awoke in wild shapes.

All around us the riot of colors and shapes soared off filling the sky.

There was always a new shape to point out in the sky or puzzle at as it filled on the ground. Here Spidey-Pig and Lion King face off.

And my favorites, the classic bumblebee lovers.

Instead of being kept behind caution tape, the crowds stream freely amidst the balloons. In fact, if you aren’t watching your step you might trip on the anchor ropes held by the ground crew or bump into an inflating balloon.

We didn’t get quite that close because the propane tanks were so noisy, but we did catch a basket photo op.

By mid-morning we were starting to run out of steam, but nonetheless we all left exhilarated. Being so close among the balloons as they filled and sailed away, it felt like we were part of the ascension event, rather than mere spectators. What a blessing to find more and more to love about ABQ each year, even though we do miss being closer to family and friends. Any more visitors for next Fiesta? (:

{More pics here.}