When we were at Aspen Grove this summer, some "neighbors" of ours had made home-made hot air balloons and launched them one night. It was amazing. I told Rand that i really wanted to try it on our own sometime. Well, we bought the supplies to do it for my birthday a month later, but it just didn't happen since life just gets in the way.
Finally after Christmas and all the craziness was over we decided New Year's would be the perfect time for our first launch. We worked on the balloons on New Year's Eve and then launched them New Years day in the park behind my in-laws house.
They worked even better than we expected, rising a 100 feet of more into the air. The only problem was the wind was blowing just ever so slightly and they became caught in the trees a few times and ultimately one landed on someone's roof where it will stay for a while I assume.
The kids thought it was so cool as you can see the awe in Jane's face here. Between the 2 balloons we probably launched at least 15-20 times.
The kids (and Rand) also thought it was fun to chase them down as they descended. That, and we didn't want them to get ripped or wet so we could fly them again.
This is my favorite red and yellow one stuck on a neighbors roof-bummer
After the kids did a little sledding we came inside because it was just too cold to be out for long. Thankfully Grandma served us up some hot cocoa with real live whip cream on top. Can't beat it.
It was a really fun activity to do with the kids and honestly kind of a symbolic start to our year. In my mind it was us watching our bright hopes and future for the New Year rising up into the beautiful clean blue sky. Not a bad way to start 2013 off, not bad at all.
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