Live from Tormville!

A few more pictures - as promised. I always scroll through the front page of my blog just to make sure I'm keeping things well-rounded and not too balloon heavy, kid heavy or layout heavy. This weekend I have hopes of bulking up the layout side. I have a few on my desk right now...

I forgot to mention with my boy's picture last night a little funny: On our way to Denny's house, which they'd never been to, I mentioned that Denny has a caboose in his yard. For the locals, his was one of the ones mentioned in the paper last fall when they did a feature on the area cabooses. 

They immediately asked - "And does he sell ice cream????" 

The caboose that sells ice cream was one of the other cabooses featured, and is a frequent summer hot spot for us. They were sorely disappointed to learn that Denny does not keep ice cream in his caboose.

I also went and got my tire fixed this morning. It took longer to get it fixed than it did to get four new ones put on yesterday. They asked if I had driven onto a construction sight. I said no. I didn't mention that I chase balloons. 

You can see my boys in the left corner of this one. I tell them they have to pick a spot and stay through until the balloon is in the sky. They are pretty good about it.  

hey - have you seen a balloon?

I mentioned that I hadn't planned to follow this night since they had enough people and I had my little boys, but we did end up following in our van. We lost the balloon several times - here they are asking if there were any open areas in the back of that sub where he might have landed, that aren't visible to the road. 

They must have radio'ed or called at this point, because Denny was already several miles south from where we'd been looking.  

At this point, near the boys bedtime, I decided to just head out on my own and see if I could track them without following the chase vehicle. It's sometimes easier to track in a vehicle that's not pulling a trailer because it's so much easier to turn around if you take a wrong turn. 

I did end up picking up the trail, but left my camera in the van for the rest of the evening so I could help keep the balloon out of the trees. 

_____

'bout it. 

Today we have volleyball, preschool graduation, an ice-cream social and dehydrating more fruit - and, of course, we've already completed the tire fix it and the Meijers run. 

It just stays busy. 

Thing One, Thing Two, Thing Three, Flat Tire.....

Thing 1: Brian lost another tooth today. So if you're keeping track - Brian lost a tooth on Sunday, Wendy lost a tooth on Monday, Brian lost another tooth on Tuesday and Mark has to get a cavity filled on Thursday. 

Thing 2: Brought these two yahoos with me to the balloon launch tonight. They were all wound up, but they still managed to mind the rules. I don't bring them often anymore.  I hadn't planned to chase tonight - intending to get these two home - but I did, and it was a good thing because the balloon went many miles tonight, and I managed to get there before the chase crew. He lost all of the chasers several times. 

Thing 3: The thing I was up until 2am working on last week was a Shutterfly album for Denny. I gave it to him tonight, so I can share now....let's see if I can figure out how to link it correctly:  Denny's album

I also made one for myself that is more my family focused and much more wordy - that one hasn't come yet, but you can see that one here: My album

I think I'm hooked. I was worried that the 8 x 8's might be too small, but they're not - they're cool. 

Flat Tire: So, I got four brand-spanking new tires this morning for the van. The guy at the tire shop was all, ooh - you have those tire pressure sensors on this vehicle, you like that/ever use it?  I was all - no, we've only had the vehicle a couple weeks. 

Then tonight driving home from ballooning, I was all - huh, I wonder what that yellow exclamation point light stands for. 

While driving through McDonalds to get the boys the promised if you be good I'll get hot fudge sundaes, I looked it up. Huh, it's the tire sensor that the guy mentioned. 

Back at home - the tire was hissing air so fast, that my husband - who literally walked in the door from Atlanta just minutes before me - is now out there putting the spare on. Crazy how things work, right?  I decided not to take a picture of the tire changing for my Project Life album. The changer seems a little, shall we say: tense.

It was meant that I waved the white flag on taking my dad to the hospital tomorrow and handed duties over to one of my brothers a couple days ago. 

Cuz boy - I'd be stressing about now trying to figure out how to do that on a flat. 

Things work out. 

*smile*

I'll post the rest of tonight's ballooning adventure tomorrow, cuz - truth is - I'm tired. 

be good

 

 

a little bit giddy

I ordered these a couple days ago from Moo.com and they arrived in my mailbox today. I love-a-duv them. So much so that I might have a hard time parting with them. 

The thing is, often at the balloon launches/landings someone will mention that I post the photos on my blog, and they'll then ask for the name and I end up giving them a variety of things they can Google for to land here. Some wittier than others. This will be so much easier. They were created with fifty of my favorite ballooning photos. My family has already grabbed their faves for their wallets/collections. 

Love Moo. 

(We used the same company for the cards we put in my husband's Etsy shop orders) 

--------

Other stuffs

• The girls lost their volleyball games last night, but they had fun
• Looking at the calendar for the week ahead - I took today off.  Went to a baby shower, picked up a pie to share with my dad, hit a few garage sales (found a few things - nothing spine tingling) and sat on my back deck eating an ice cream bar while watching Jerry's hot air balloon soar over the horizon. 
• Brian is no longer wobbly on his two wheeler. *pumps fist* 
• Greg is working again tomorrow - 3rd Sunday in a row. 
• Tomorrow is the last Sunday School until fall. Where is the year going???
• I'm not even ready for May yet. 
• I really want to go kayaking tomorrow.
• Hope that 3:00 meeting doesn't go too long. 
• And hope Greg doesn't work too late. 
• Anyone know how bad that construction on east bound 96 is at 6-6:30 am? 
• I'm pulling out the extra six foot table next week. 
• I almost quit the kid's dentist this week when I couldn't find a People magazine in the waiting room, but they went in the back and found me one. 
• Good thing, because we'll be going back twice in the next two weeks
• My knee is feeling much better. I'm still getting my 10,000 steps per day, but cut back on the stairs and eliminated the squats. 
• I'll still keep the knee check appointment.
• I'm down 13 pounds exactly in one month's time. 
• giddy

be good! 

 

 

I lied

I said I was taking Thursday and Friday off from ballooning, but....I lied. 

Do you ever do that thing where if you have one must do on the calendar already for the night (Wendy's concert) then you don't even bother writing the other stuff because you know you can't do it anyway so why clutter the calendar?

I do that. 

So last night was Wendy's concert and that was that. 

But then the note came home that it was only from 6 - 6:30 so I was all - oooooooooh. In that case, I'm able to help Denny after all because he was short one crew member. Awesome.  

And I committed. 

And then I remembered that there was church last night. Oops.  (It was Ascension Thursday). Sonja can attest to the fact that I felt more than a little sheepish as we were chasing down Gulley Rd where more than a couple families waved on their way to service.  I kept saying, ooooh....I should've gone to church, I should've gone to church....

She kept telling me to hide behind the map that she made me pull out. Sonja is bossy. 

favorite shot of the night
click it (or any of the photos) to see it larger 

Sonja and I exchanged cell phone numbers yesterday, and I asked Denny and Paul if that might have been a mistake. They looked at me all - oh, naive one, you are so in trouble now.  She was texting me an hour after we got home last night saying - where are the pictures? huh?  huh? huh?  

We also realized that we both have boys entering 12th grade at the same high school next fall and upon getting home last night I asked Allan if he knew him and he responded instantly that oh yeah, that kid plays awesome guitar. For my Allan who is horrid at remembering names, I thought it was pretty cool that he knew who he was. They had at least one class together last year. 

Another fun and beautiful night out. 

*****

As for today...

• I'm doing the whole Hallelujah, we made it to payday jig over here
• One of Mark's last two days of school
• Wendy has another volleyball game tonight, and I AM going
• Costco. Mother Hubbards cupboards are desperately bare. 
• Dog Sitting.  One day down - three to go.  We haven't botched them up too badly yet. 
• Working on Week 19. For reals this time. 

Happy Friday!

be good! 

flight night * date night

Denny was in need of crew last night so Greg and I both went - leaving Allan home to babysit.  Date Night!

We rarely have date night. 

This was Greg's second time crewing. He's really enjoying learning the science behind it all. Here they are measuring the angle that the test balloon took off. They prefer a 45 degree angle or more. 

Greg got the crown line and me ..... can you tell? I said the other day that you can always tell from the photos I take. 

I'm doing the exact same thing that Sonja is doing - but on this side, and with a camera strapped across my chest. I'm that good. 

Greg drove the chase vehicle, and I navigated - which makes for a fun date night. You can read into that whatever you want. 

It took awhile to find a landing spot, so the balloon ended up down off of Brighton Road. I actually had to dig out the map once it flew over Coon Lake Rd. 

Balloon down, Sonja sent the new guy running with the crown line. 

Packing it up

Rachel spotted us chasing about mid route and followed to the end as well. Perfect. 

Another flight complete
I'm taking the next two nights off - it's a busy time of the year.  

Oh - and we came home to World War III, reminding us why we don't do date nights on school nights. 

Reality

*****

As for today - 3 kids to the dentist for 8:30. Ugh. 
Wendy has the opening lines in the 5th grade concert tonight - I'll have to make sure there are batteries in that little point and shoot video camera
Finishing Project Life Week 19

be good!  

the rest of the last night's flight....

Alright...

showered
kids off to school
laundry humming
breakfast dishes stacked
the project that kept me up until 2am - complete. I can't share for at least a week though - don't let me forget.  *smile*  

But. Now I can share the rest of last night's flight before I get them mixed up with tonight's flight.

My sidekicks for the night were my Wendy and the twins, but they had to walk from the launch over to volleyball for 7, so while they saw some of the prep stuff, they missed the launch. Next time.  

sealing the envelope

You can always tell what my job is by my photos. On this night, I was in charge of the fan. I was asked if I could drive too, but when I said it's been ten years since I've pulled a trailer, he decided that Rachel was the better bet. I'm confident though, especially after some of the stories I've heard, that I can do it if needed.

We had to fill it twice again tonight - it went all cock-eyed once it went up and you can't shoot the flame if the balloon isn't straight. 

I'm keeping a favorite ballooning photos file this year, and this one is going in it. I love that I can take the same shot hundreds of times, but then get one that I like more than all the others. 

And for Preston. Preston knows balloons and is a common sight at the launches and landings.

I'd never met Tommy before - he's concentrating on not getting tangled in the ropes.
Right Tommy?

The pilot and co-pilot trying to figure out where we are now that they're on the ground. 

It's all good. 

Back to the laundry for me....

morning came early

I went ballooning again last night, and I'll share more pictures later (including the one of you, Preston)...but last night after I got home I got myself involved in a fun project (that I can't wait to share) that had me up until 2am when I finally forced myself to go to bed.

Morning came early, and I was working on the same project again this morning

I'll share the rest of last night's photos a bit later - after I eat...and shower.....and do the morning dishes....and get some laundry on the line......and....and....and......

be good! 

Volleyball vs. Balloon Launch

Friday night was another set of volleyball games - the games where the girls had to play the full two hours because there were only five in town on our district's three day weekend.  

I did stay for the full first game, but I'm not even sure who won. The guy was keeping score on a scratch pad in his hand.  I do know that they did manage to win a couple even with the odds stacked against them player wise. 

So we watched for a while, and I watched my clock and eventually I leaned over to my kids and others and in a whisper asked - hey, would you rather go watch a hot air balloon, or the volleyball game? 

They all said hot air balloon. Fifth grade volleyball is pretty slow moving. I hear in 6th grade the ball does start going back and forth over the net more than once. 

 

Denny and his crew are always really great about making everyone feel a part of things and giving everyone a job. Here they have one putting away water, another putting away a tarp and another holding the map. 

It was almost too windy to fly - so the kids got to see and learn all about the test balloon. Twice. 

Volleyball was walking distance from the launch site, so my goal was to get over there in time to watch Denny train the new guy (my husband - although Wendy mentioned that we shouldn't claim him when he's wearing his Friday shirt).  Greg was the last of our family to finally meet Denny and help crew. The text report card I got a bit ago said Greg did excellent and he hopes he crews again. He will. 

This little guy, whose sister was playing with our Wendy, was the most fascinated of the kids I dragged along. He didn't miss a thing. 

It took awhile for the wind to die down, and even when it did we weren't sure it had died down enough. It was decided that Jerry would try first and Denny would base his decision on how well that went. It went well. 

That new crew guy got to do the job that I did last night. My stories will mean so much more to him now that he's been. He had no idea the opening was a big as it is - so my stories last night about how it was a full body workout, didn't make sense to him until tonight. 

One of the other kids I dragged away from the volleyball game was my cousin Greg's daughter Maria. Sonja got her in nice and close for a good gander into the balloon. I emailed a picture to the family email list when I got home, and her siblings are officially jealous. 

My husband enjoyed a close up too. 

At this point I headed back towards volleyball thinking I was still going to be able to see the last game, but somehow they finished 1/2 hour early. 

Next week I'll attend volleyball. 

A couple hours later I got an email with pictures from Sonja. She says hey - we landed in your friend's yard - pass these pictures along. 

They always land in my friend's yards when I'm not along.  Greg had one of these girls in his Sunday School class, so they were pretty thrilled to see a familiar face along with a hot air balloon. Sonja said they were all sweet, silly, giggly, great listeners and helpers too!

I've left these last two pictures full size so the moms can right click them (it might work better if you left click it to bring it to a new screen and then right click) - but there are two more pictures as well.  Shoot me an email (link in the upper left corner of my blog) and I'll forward the others.

Have a great weekend!! 

be good

Tomorrow I'm hoping to share some good garage sale scores. Fingers crossed. 

every flight has a story

I helped crew again last night - 3rd time this year. I was starting to twitch since there was a 28 day gap between last night and the time before, not like I'm keeping track or anything. 

Every flight has a story and some are more fun to tell over a cup of coffee than others. There was the time when he started holloring from the air - "MOVE THE VEHICLES!!!!" as he was close to landing right on top of my Jeep and the chase vehicle.  There was the time that he had the chase vehicle driving back and forth over Oak Grove Road as the winds kept changing drastically sending him a mile east and then two miles west, and then there are times when the wind takes him just out of reach of any good landing spots as dark rapidly approaches. 

Each landing is unique.

We probably could have used another crew member last night. I keep telling him, Denny - I've got lots of people, but you have to tell me if you need another body. I never know until I get there if I'm taking pictures or crewing. Last night I was crewing, my pictures are very few. 

I tried to get some in the balloon shots last night while holding it open, but it was tough. We needed full body strength as the balloon kept pulling one way and then back the other, and the balloon has to take priority over photographs. (So I enjoy a chuckle afterwards when he asks, "did you get many photos?" Um. No.

We ended up doing this part twice as it didn't get enough air the first time.  By this time we had wrangled in a spectator to help us realign the basket. 

The second time is a charm. I was keeping one eye on my camera and the other on my duties. I snapped quick and then went to hold down the basket. 

Bye Denny! Bye Vince! 

*makes me smile (for the photo challenge) sun flare and hot air balloons

And then we chase. He was looking at a half hour flight, but it went longer than that only because he was just shy of good landing spots many times along the route. I was really hoping he'd land at the end of this street because I know people down there and I just knew my young friend would have had fun going to school and telling his teacher that he met Denny, since she's been along crewing before too with her boyfriend who has flown a few times.....but even though Denny was hoping to land there, he was just shy - so he continued on, and so did we. 

Meanwhile he's radioing us on the ground to keep an eye out for his glove. 

Right. 

Then he's radioing us to help him find a landing spot, and so we (I use that lightly) were in this field dancing and waving and whistling. Perfect landing spot. 

But then he landed on the other side of those trees, and we were left trying to figure out how in the world to get there, until he radioed us with an address. 

So while he was on the ground waiting for us... the trailer got a flat. And flat is an understatement - it was pretty much shredded. 

We limped along to the correct road, looked for the address and then radioed to ask if it was the long driveway. Yes. Limped along some more - got to the end - and it wasn't it. 

At that point, we had to take off the trailer, and double back to find Denny, Vince and the balloon while someone stayed back and worked on changing the trailer tire. I was a little anxious, wondering how we had completely missed the address, but going back we saw that there were no addresses at all. It was an excusable miss. 

I had to pee so bad by this point that I've already told Denny I'm so packing toilet paper from now on. 

Tire changed, we double backed again and managed to get the basket and balloon in the trailer just before dark.

Home by 9:30. 

I told Denny, I dunno - I don't think I can make it tomorrow. *laugh*  But only because Wendy will be playing two straight hours of volleyball tonight with a five player team - all the other players had other things going on with it being a no school day today. 

I'm so glad I canceled this morning's 9am dentist appointment. Not sure what I was thinking when I scheduled that. I definitely wasn't thinking I'd be out on such an adventure the night before. 

 

2012 * Second Launch

Well on my way to beating the 14 launches I attended in 2011. Two down and it's still April. Tonight I had to pay a sitter in order to sneak out of the house, but it was still worth it. Sometimes I bring the littles with me, but they were waiting for dad to come home with supper. I grabbed a granola bar and scooted. 

If you'd like to see my entire collection of hot air balloon photos, click here. There are two pages full - make sure to click the tiny arrow on the bottom of the first page to see the rest of them. 

Hey, wait a second. A Michigan Tech flag. That's where I was raised!  I saw this flag just after Kelly was trying to describe a breakfast dish that she eats that's made of eggs and poofs up real big and then comes down and I'm all - "you mean pannukakku?".  Yeah! She says. She and her husband Brian, who own this balloon, enjoy a pannukakku recipe they got from some friends, Jukuri's - up near Michigan Tech. See, it is a small world. 

(Pannukakku is a Finnish pancake)

 

There was enough crew tonight - at least, I was pretty sure there was, so I was able to just saunter around and take photos

Denny and George (not Uncle George, a different George) sealing the envelope

Brian, Jerry (Gerry?), Denny

George, working out his thighs.

Hey look - looks like they're going to fly over my brother's house.  I made a quick call home to make sure supper had been delivered and all was well, and then decided to go ahead and chase again. Sure beat doing laundry. 

Most of tonight's flight was just beyond the treeline or just behind the houses. It was a tricky one to follow. 

I know the roads well enough, that I was able to zip around the scenic route to catch a shot before they landed. Sorry Denny - that ones not you - that's Brian's. 

If things were steerable, there were a lot of great landing spots just a 'little to the left'. He just kept missing them so had to keep flying. He finally found this spot and I was all. um. There's a fence here and it says no trespassing and I couldn't see any access. They got permission from the ground though. They always do their best to get permission. The places that have previously said no thank you are marked on the map.

We parked and ran in because we sure couldn't see how to drive in. 

It was a beautiful spot, and the owners were able to show how to drive the truck back. This property is right next door to a piece that we had looked at back in 2004 when we were trying to sell the place we are in now. Made me a little wistful - it's so pretty. I could have enjoyed a million happy sighs there. 

But we've got good neighbors here. 

Everybody say cheese!!

peace out -