gentle breezes

One particularly fun little quirk about our neighborhood is that a local hot air balloon rides company often launches from the park nearby our house. I get ridiculously excited about seeing the hot air balloon, at least as excited as the kids get, if not more. (I also get excited about cement trucks because when I was really little my mom would feign enthusiasm every time she saw one and the effect never wore off on me.) It's just so much fun to see this massive, colorful thing fill up with air and then lift gracefully up into the sky. All summer I've been wanting to see the balloon fill up, but in vain; either it has happened when I'm out for the evening teaching piano, or we don't catch them filling it up in time and just see it floating in the sky above the neighborhood.

But today, finally, all of us got to see the balloon fill up from start to finish. It only takes about 20 minutes once they start running the fan. Supper was late, the kids were tired, and we all got lots of mosquito bites, but I don't care. I saw the balloon, and it made my summer.