Category Archives: Hot Air Balloons

Balloon Sunday 2013 at Mesa Baptist Church

Today was the final day of this year’s International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta here in Albuquerque, and also the annual balloon Sunday at our church.

On our way to church this morning, we saw TONS of balloons from the last mass ascension of the 2013 Hot Air Balloon Fiesta, and when we arrived, I took these pictures from the church parking lot . . .

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After morning service, everyone received a helium balloon with our church name and address on it, and a Gospel tract. We all wrote our names on ours, then went out to release them.

Here are the boys getting ready . . .

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And here we are outside, getting ready to release . . .

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And here they go, off to who knows where!

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I was told that last year, one made it to Windsor, Ontario by the very next day!

As always, I’d love it if you would join me on all of “My Journeys”! Just use the “sign me up” button at the top of the blog, and never miss an update again! 🙂

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Filed under Albuquerque, Balloon Sunday Mesa Baptist 2013, Hot Air Balloons, Mesa Baptist Church, Ultimate Blog Challenge 2013

Balloon Fiesta 2013

So, I promised I would write a post after I got my pictures out of my camera, here it is! As you all know, last night we met up with our friends Chip and Sheila (who live in Oklahoma) at the 2013 International Balloon Fiesta here in Albuquerque. Last night was the “Special Shapes Glowdeo”, and it was spectacular! Here are some of the fun balloons that were out last night . . .

First up, watching as the balloon pilots were testing the flames . . .

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Hopefully, this will give you an idea of how BIG the balloons are, when they are laid out on the ground waiting to be inflated . . .

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And now, here are just SOME of the fun shaped balloons that glowed for us last night!

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Here is a video of one of the special shapes glowdeos that have been held . . .

Then today, before our friends had to head back to Oklahoma, they took us out to lunch at one of our favorite spots, Dion’s Pizza, after which one of the very nice employees came outside with us to take a picture of us all together . . .

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Thanks for lunch, Chip and Sheila, and it was a fun few days together! 🙂

As always, I would love to have you join me on all of “My Journeys” . . . just use the “sign me up” button at the top of this blog and never miss another update! 🙂

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Filed under Albuquerque, family, Hot Air Balloons, Ultimate Blog Challenge 2013

FUN, FUN, FUN!

I’m a day late in posting this, but it’s been a busy few days. Thursday, some dear friends from Oklahoma came into town for the International Balloon Fiesta, which is held annually here in Albuquerque.

Here’s a little video of some of what you will see if you ever come for the fiesta . . .

So, Thursday evening, our friends came to our house for supper, and then last night, Friday, we all went to the Fiesta for the special shapes Glowdio. We did take lots of pictures, but my camera is currently charging back up, so I’ll do another post later (to catch up on the Ultimate Blog Challenge), so you can see some of what we saw last night. Until then, we’re heading out to lunch with our friends at Dion’s, which is one of our family’s favorites. Can’t wait to introduce it to our friends! 🙂

As always, I would love to have you join me on all of “My Journeys” . . . just use the “sign me up” button at the top of this blog and never miss another update! 🙂

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Filed under Albuquerque, Hot Air Balloons, Ultimate Blog Challenge 2013

It’s Balloon Fiesta Time!

Nothing says autumn in Albuquerque like seeing all the hot air balloons flying! Here is a time-lapse video from the International Balloon Fiesta:

My family, along with good friends who are coming in from Oklahoma, will be going this Friday evening for the Glowdio. And then, the beautiful fireworks after!

We went one evening last year, and it was wonderful! This year, we will not need to rent a scooter, because my husband finally was able to have his spinal surgery, so he won’t need one.

We are very much looking forward to the event, and I will have a full report for you after we’ve been! 🙂

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Bibles and Boys and Balloons, Oh My!

This is day 2 of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge,

and I’m touching on several “B” words. First, an update on yesterday’s word “agony”, because of my “Back” injury. It’s no better at all, in fact my husband took me to a work in appointment at our doctor, who gave me a prescription for a very strong pain medication. I took the first one 15 minutes ago, and it’s definitely working, so . . . YAY! Along with that, the doctor told me to go ahead and take my prescription muscle relaxer. My back is now feeling MUCH better, at least until the meds wear off, but the hope is that it will allow me to relax enough to actually sleep tonight, and that it will help my back recover from whatever happened when I was cleaning off the ottoman yesterday. Unfortunately, because of this, I was unable to attend Ladies Bible Study at church tonight :-(, but it is absolutely my intention to go to church tomorrow night. After all, I won’t have to drive, Mike can do that! 🙂 Which brings me to my next “B” word . . .

. . . “Bible”. As a matter of faith and practice, our family, and our church, uses only the KJV Bible. We believe it to be God’s preserved word for English speaking people. My Bible . . .

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. . . which of course, anyone who knows me well would immediately know it was mine even if it didn’t have my name on the cover, given that it is purple, is extremely important to me. My Bible reminds me that no matter what happens in my life, the Lord is still in charge, and even if for some reason I get to feeling that He doesn’t care, well, He really does, and everything, even things I may think are bad at the time, will work to God’s glory at some point. My Bible can answer any spiritual questions I really need answered. The words contained within are at times a comfort, at times an encouragement, at times they are instruction, and always there to show me God’s love. My Bible is the manual for the human race, and it is God’s love letter to us.

“Boys” . . . of which my husband and I have four, four boys who we love beyond reason, and would willingly give our lives for, if necessary.

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This was taken right before we left Michigan, on our big move across the country to New Mexico. The boys (“The Batman”, “Mr. Loquacious”, “The Artist”, and “The Puzzler”) are playing in Torch Lake, which is between Kalkaska and Traverse City, Michigan, a lake I grew up going to, and where we wanted to go one last time before moving away. Our boys are very much the joy of our lives, second only to God. We home-school, so I get to spend LOTS of time with them. I have known lots of moms who say they couldn’t stand to spend so much time with their kids. Sometimes I feel sorry for those moms . . .

Having moved to Albuquerque, NM, we see a LOT of my next “B” word, “balloons”, as in hot air balloons!

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This picture was taken from right outside out front door, after my youngest came running to get me after going out to bring in the newspaper one morning. Aren’t they beautiful? We often see several hot air balloons when we have errands to run in the morning, as early morning is when they generally take off. Our city is home to the International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta, which we were fortunate enough to get to attend for the first time last October. It is awesome, seeing so many hot air balloons all at once! Until we moved here, I had never seen one in real life, only in pictures, movies and TV shows.

Another “B” word, “Bed”. Doesn’t go with the other words, but I’m proud to say that for the most part, I’ve gotten into the good habit of making ours look pretty every day . . .

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Our bedroom furniture was a gift from my mother before she passed away, and we purchased it at Emory’s Furniture in Port Huron, MI, in their used furniture department. Isn’t it pretty? I just love it! As you can see once again, proof that my favorite color is purple, LOL!

One final “B” word for the day, “Baptism”.

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Here is “The Puzzler” being baptized in our church back in Michigan, shortly before we moved to New Mexico. He asked the Lord for salvation on the final day of VBS, and was baptized the Sunday right after that. I’m so grateful that he finally understood what salvation was, and that now I can know for sure that all four of our kids will be with us in Heaven when the time comes. 🙂

So, there you have it, just some of the words which begin with the letter “B”, that have importance in my life for one reason or another.

See you tomorrow, with the letter “C”! 🙂

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Filed under Christian faith, family, health, home education, homeschooling, Hot Air Balloons, Kids