40th Annual Balloon Fiesta, 2011

We attended our FIRST Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. It was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! We were in complete AAAHHHHHH the whole time. My husband and kids were teasing me the whole time, I couldn't quick taking pictures or squealing in delight at every balloon that would blow up right before me. It was a fantastic morning. It should be on every ones "BUCKET LIST".

The first balloons to ascend were the Dawn Patrol. They lifted off at 5:45 in morning. We were walking in right as they took off, such an incredible sight. We brought a dozen Krispy Kremes and Hot Chocolate, and sat down and watched the show.

The next accession was at 7:00 and 7:15...I could not believe how many balloons there were.....rows and rows of them, never ending rows of balloons blowing up. The thing that amazed me was how close the balloons were by each other, in the lower right picture, there is a row of balloons are blowing up.

The kids were so, excited you could get right by the balloons and touch them.

Oh, the shape balloons, were AMAZING!! The coolest part was when a balloon was just starting to blow up, you could see a face or a trunk and you just couldn't wait to see what it was going to be.

The Darth Vader was the hit of the show, when it arose from the ground

 the crowd went crazy. The beer bottle was great, the haunted house and Cream of Weber cow...I had to explain to the kids who Pepe La Peu was...

This is the inside of a balloon, looking up from the bottom of the basket. AMAZING!! Look at the vibrant colors.

We found an open space and laid down and just watched the balloon fly over head. It was cool because the lower wind pushed the balloons south and then once they hit a certain elevation it pushed them north. So, you would have balloons go one way then come back over our head to see again. The lower right is the Alien balloon from Roswell!!

Joslyn just screamed when she saw the bug balloon, it was her favorite.

This balloon is "LILLY", we were standing right by this balloon. So, we got to watch them unpack her, roll her out and start the fire to get her to blow up. The kids were so excited when she lifted up and all the crew in the basket all waved goodbye. We kept our eye on her till she was a little dot in the sky.

This was Morgan's favorite. It is a Dad, Mom and little baby bee. It was amazing watching them all the sudden rise from the ground. The Dad and Mom had regular baskets hooked to them, but the baby had a guy just sitting in a chair. It was pretty cool to see.

The 2 shots of the crowd were 2 different shot in different directions at the same time...TONS AND TONS of people. 

This is Rylee's favorite..THE PENGUIN. This was the first shape we saw rise up, we were so excited to see a fun, HUGE shape.

We never did get to see the glow at night, the night we went it was cancelled because of the weather. All the balloons stay grounded and just light up at night..we watched in live on the computer. It was amazing just see.

I am attaching the link to the Balloon Fiesta website, you can go and watch the camzone in fast motion of all the events, it is soooo cool.

CLICK HERE for the link.