Hot Air Balloon Spooktacular and that day called Halloween

A few weeks ago I snagged a Groupon for a $12 admission for a family of four to a hot air balloon festival.  It was also a Halloween carnival/trick-or-treat kind of thing.  We packed up some dinner (so we wouldn’t spend $$ on over priced food) and headed off on our adventure Friday after Scott got home from work.  The boys got to wear their Harry Potter costumes.  They both insisted on being Harry Potter this year so I had to make a second costume for Boston to wear.  Actually, Boston wanted to be a Dementor…ummm, no, I think not. 

Being Harry Potter is very serious work.

I think this face says, “let’s go trick-or-treating already.”

Ha!  I love this fake, cheesy smile from Stephen.  Boston is just done.

 

On to the festival!

We got to the festival just as the balloons were being inflated.  It was so cool to watch!  There were 30-40 hot air balloons of many shapes and sizes.  There was a butterfly, two bees, a haunted house, a “spider pig,” (from the Simpsons), a clown, etc, etc.  It was impossible to take good pictures of the balloons so here is one from the website. 

There were bouncy slides and a zip line and other kid games, as well as tethered hot air balloon rides if you wanted to pay for the tickets.  We didn’t.  We were content to walk around and look at the hot air balloons and trick-or-treat at the baskets.  How fun is that?  My boys were intimidated by the blasts of flame that would suddenly burst up and they felt it was a little too loud sometimes.  Luckily I came prepared with a pair of ear plugs for Stephen (he doesn’t do well in noisy places). 

We also took a golf cart ride along a “haunted trail” and were surprised by some spookily dressed high school kids who jumped out at us.  It was fine at first – Stephen, who was sitting on the back with Scott, kept saying “I’m not scared.” and then after a while he was found to be staring at the ceiling of the golf cart.  Then, by the end he was curled up against Scott with his face completely hidden.  I am happy to report that he has had no ill effects from his experience.  Boston and I dealt with it by pulling out his wand and casting spells to get rid of the “dementors” and witches.  He was very intense about this job.

 

Over all we had a great time!  We did do a little jack-o-lantern carving and trick-or-treating on Halloween and Stephen informed us that he wanted to go to every house on the street (what kid doesn’t) and then he said that he would like it only if we carried him.  Today as Boston was chowing down on one sucker after another (he likes to lick them a few times and then throw them away and get a fresh one) he informed me in a delighted tone, “I love trick-or-treating!!”

Scott, posing for the yearly “pumpkin gut grimace.”

My sweet boys!