And on the 8th day she rested....

Today is "lazy day"... the day after a vacation where all the laundry needs to be done, the house picked up, errands ran, blogs updated.... you know...

We just got back from our yearly "Firecracker BalloonFest" up in Bear Valley Springs, Ca. which is nestled within the Tehachapi mountains. The great community there invites us up to help them celebrate the 4th of July. We free fly and also offer rides for those interested. Usually we don't have enough balloons for the amount that wants to ride, but this year we succeeded!
We had our favorite balloonists, Don and Kamma Kissick, coordinate the whole weekend and we had absolutely gorgeous weather for the 18th year in a row (of course!).
Here is what the weekend looks like:

*get there (2-3 hours depending on how many 'kid breaks' we take)
*set up camp (we tent camp, but LONG for a toybox where we can have a real bathroom and shower)
*meet and greet everyone at camp (usually at least 20 other families)
*go to bed by midnight
*get up 5:00am to get everyone ready and beg for coffee from anyone I can (Thanks Lauren!)
*Get to field by 6:00am, pilot briefing at 6:15, set up balloon while Jeff at meeting
*6:30am meet new guests (usually first time flyers) and inflate balloon
*7:00am- try to be off ground asap and load up truck. Get ready to "chase" balloon
*9:00am- try to be on ground and packing up balloon
*10:00- enjoying the biggest tailgating party with new guests with balloonists toast
*11:00am-midnight- do whatever you want back in camp (usually involves napping, showering and more eating)
Repeat for the following days.



Our modest tent
and beautiful
scenery












Cope and Tierney took their scooters and had a great time-until they crashed and burned! They had a great time then going from camp to camp peeling off the bandages and showing everyone.














Of course I only
brought 1 pair.
What could happen
in 2 days, right?













And of course
I only brought flip-flops
for my daughter
who won't wear
tennis shoes...
Thanks to Tom Pratt who cleverly duck-taped the one flip back on!
Can you say, "Whiskey-Tango"?



Just some of
my favorite balloons














"Panda-monium" the latest balloon from Tim Chico- and YES!
You can get a ride from this bear- Just call Tim @ 760-717-8444





More beautiful
balloons
















The beautiful
valley we flew in








The "Carousel"
(our balloon) is the multi-colored one with bunting (2nd to R of Panda)
Click on picture to enlarge









This oak tree
was so neat that I
had to take a picture!

Trompe l'oeil Artist Dina Farris Appel

At the Indian Wells Arts Festival a couple of weekends back, (Where our RCMS mosaic'd bike sculpture was), Jeff and I met this wonderful artist.
Her name is Dina Appel and she grew up in Newport Beach. (not too far from Palos Verdes)
*Click on Dina's name to go to her website!
She does these beautiful Trompe l'oeil paintings that are incredible!
Her work caught our eye because there was one with a balloon in it. We got to talking and low and behold they live in Techachapi and participate in the Bear Valley Springs Balloon Festival each year. That is when we go up to Tehachapi and balloon for the community. They are nestled in the nook of mountains and have a car show, fireworks, arts and crafts, etc... very beautiful and a fun weekend all around!
This is the picture by Dina that caught our eye!


*These two pictures are from the 2005 Bear Valley Springs 4th of July Balloonfest-

World is well again...

This is David's Potato Cannon...Yes, it really shoots potatoes- and far!
It uses hair spray, yes, I said hair spray, and flint to create a combustion.

Finally got together with mom and dad! Tierney wanted to go to Red Robin, so off we went. We had a great dinner and sat and caught up on the haps. We then moved on to Costco for dessert and a quiet-er time to continue catching up!
Dad shaved off his beard and mustache he has had for over 28 years! And this was 1 time I didn't have my camera! Once I got used to it, he looked pretty good. It was weird though to see no hair on his face! LOL
Cope and Tierney couldn't figure out what was different on Grandpa! We got a kick out of that!
Leaving you to enjoy your Friday! I can already taste my yummy iced coffee that I make each morning. I'm getting pretty good at them.
Ciao baby!

Geezsh...Im finally here and writing!

Here I am. Period. Right here on the computer. Right now...Here I am.

I'm not even sure where to begin-LOL...

Let me start with this past weekend where we picked up the kids from their field trip where they went to the Long Beach Aquarium. They were supposed to get back around 5:00pm, but around noon, I received a call that the one bus had been hit in the rear by a car, but that everyone was okay. I was in the middle of 6th period and almost lost it. (It was T's bus, Cope was on the 2nd bus) So we waited till about 6:00 when they showed up, all smiles. They didn't say anything about the crash, so that was a good sign. Otherwise T would have talked about it non-stop right away. At this point we had the truck loaded with the balloon, and pulling the rented motor home for the balloon camping weekend out in the Carrizo Plains- 55 miles East of San Luis Obispo.
We had an ABSOLUTLY WONDERFUL weekend even though it took 5 hours to get up there, and we got into bed around 12:30 am, only to get up and to the pilots briefing at 6:30am. Ugh.
Both Saturday and Sunday were FANTASTIC- and I think I owe it all to 3 VERY IMPORTANT THINGS....

1. Walls
2. Heater with automatic thermostat! Who invented this?
3. real pooper and shower!
4. a fridge! and a big one!
5. kitchen table to eat at
6. did I mention an automatic heater?
7. a real bed to sleep on with comfy blankets
8. an automatic heater

I know what you are saying....it is more than 3 things, but all of the above made the weekend so fantastic! I'm going to stop yakking, and post some pics.



Jeff ready to fly 'solo'. He flew just about an hour and 30 minutes Sat.










This is just a few of the 26 balloons from Northern Cal and Southern Cal that flew Saturday morning









Jeff's video where I challenge him to a series of "hops" for money...

This is how ALL AWESOME bonfires should be lit! (Video courtesy of Orval Choate)
It is lit by using the 'burner' from a balloon (hopper, I believe) and propane.

Day 3 of blogging

Jeff has started complain that I am spending so much time on this computer...which is true. HOWEVER...I'm in the process of learning something and I am craving all the info I can get. After spending literally all day yesterday trying to get my hot air ballooning slide show to feed onto my page, I am surprised I am back on today. :)
This whole thing is addicting and fun!
I added today a cool "Daily Photo of Palm Springs" link-check it out!
I found it via a new friend-Eric, who is from Paris! Literally! He has a "Daily Photos of Paris" blog, http://www.parisdailyphoto.com/ and I thought it would be great to do one for Palm Springs! Eric informed me there is already one- oh well. So enjoy it and let me know if you have any other ideas!
Ciao bella!

Beth Ann