Balloon Races 2010: October 15-17

Natchez Balloon Races 2010

This was Jane and my first Natchez Balloon Race. Seeing all the balloons in the sky reminded me of the Greenwood Balloon Fest. Every summer Greenwood had the same type of festival with bands, rides, balloon flights, glows, etc. I had fogotten my love for hot air balloons and how beautiful they are flying in the sky

Friday night we were asked to view the Balloon Glow and Firework Show from The Parsonage, a historic and beautiful home on the Bluff owned by the Metcalfes.

Saturday morning, Jane and I started our day early chasing the hot air balloons. At 7:15 we set out with warm clothes on and a packed breakfast headed to Lower Woodville Road. We watched 4 balloons inflate at the Elks Lodge with Lindsey, Katherine, Katherine's parents( Shelia and Bud Cestia) and Katherine's niece and nephew (Olivia and Preston).

Katherine and her dad
Olivia and Preston

 After the ballons took off, we drove to the Natchez Mall where the Balloon Targets were. We found Jack, Lin, and Ryan in the parking lot and watched as the balloons manuvered as close as they could to the targets to throw their bean bags. The bean bags reminded me of soemthing I had in jr high called a foxtail. There was a ball with a long fabric tail attached so you could throw the ball farther by grabbing the tail, twirling it in a circle and letting go at just the right time to sling the ball. (does that make sense? I'm not the best at describing the motion). I was very impressed with how well some of the balloons did! Some nearly landed on the target!

Jack with Jane

After the target, the balloons stayed in flight until they could find a place to land and flew over downtown Natchez. Hyde joined us for breakfast with Amelia Salmon, Ben Hillyer and their son Gibson.

After Jane's nap, we strolled over to Leah Tillman's 1st birthday party. Jane was drawn to Leah's new Little Tikes Cozy Coupe. Little Tikes is celebrating it's 30th year. They have updated the coupe with a handle for the parents, cupholders, and the option to block the foot hole so parents can push it.(apparently they still sell the gas pump too-ha!) I couldn't get Jane out of it.

  

Katie (mom) with her Cindy and Joe Meng

 

Brandi (mom) and Lillian Lewis. Lillian will also be in Jane's grade

Leah giving Jane a flower

Leah is wondering why Jane is in her new car, but she shared it nicely.

Caroline Carlton. Jane and Caroline share a birthday, but Caroline is a year older.

Cruising

After hanging out at the Callon's house for the afternoon, we went to the Callon Building rooftop for the viewing the 4:30 balloon flight. This flight is the crowd favorite, but the pilot's least favorite because it's the hardest. The target is on a barge in the middle of the Mississippi River. Everyone can hang out on the bluff and watch the balloons take off and try for the target. Unfortunately, we were practically looking into the sun and because it is such a difficult target, only a handful of balloons actually tried for the target. Almost half of the balloons took off in Vidalia just to fly. With the sun going down, it was a beautiful view with the river, bridge, and balloons in the sky.

Sunday was much more relaxing. We still chased the balloons in the morning, but went to the festival grounds that afternoon and hung out with everyone on a quilt and listened to the bands. Lauren Middleton snapped this picture of me and Jane. 

And below is Jane feeding Jake (Lauren's son) some Cheerios. Jake is 2 months younger than Jane.

The weekend in a nutshell.....

WOW! What a weekend! I look forward to next year!