Great Reno Balloon Race

  Last month we went to The Great Reno Balloon Race. The Race is held for 3 days in a row and it is more of a series of competitions than an actual race to anywhere. We were told by some of the locals that the best part of the event is the morning glow, but that you have to get there really early to get a good spot. The morning glow started at 5am so we wanted to get there about 4 so we had time to walk the half mile to were the balloons were being launched from. In order to do this, we woke everyone up at 3am and got them dressed warm for the morning cool air. Our timing was pretty good, since we only had to wait about 10 min by the time we were seated for the show to start. The kids were pretty excited so they weren't too grumpy when they got woke up. Charles wasn't able to stay awake for even the 20 min drive to the races, but Adahleigh stayed awake until we made it back home.

   

We got a picture of everyone once Keisha woke up for her early morning snack.

   The morning glow consists of a few of the balloons being set up before sunrise and then they put on a light show to music by firing off their burners. The morning glow was definitely worth getting up that early for, even if we were up later the night before than usual because the kids wouldn't go to sleep. The other great thing about the races are they're completely free because of all the local sponsorship they get.
The Allstate balloon was the first up for the morning glow.

  The first set of balloon that were set up didn't actually take off, mainly because it was still to dark to be able see the ground  from the air to be able to land again. The second set of balloons did actually take off. We were able to get some pretty neat pictures durning the morning glow.

   Once the balloons took off we found out that we got one of the best places to sit, since all the balloon went right over our heads.

   Adahleigh thought it was great to see the balloons fly right over top of her.

   She was the only one other than Ash and I to enjoy the morning glow, since Charles and Keisha weren't able to stay awake for it. Charles went out like a light as soon as we got him all wrapped up and warm.

   I was really cool to see all the balloons lit in the sky.

Then watch them float off into the sunrise.

   They also allowed you to go down on the launch field and watch the ballooners set up their balloons and take off. We went out durning the second part of the morning glow show, but the pictures didn't turn out all that great. Between Adahleigh and Charles they got to see an entire balloon set up start to finish, their attention spans wouldn't allow for full set up start to finish. Adahleigh got a little grumpy about half way through from lack of sleep and wanted something to eat so I went and switched them out. The balloon that we watched get completely set up is just getting the basket out in the background.

   Then they added the burners and secured them.

   After the burner is set up, the pull out the envelope.

   And they stretch it out on the ground.

     Once the envelope is connected to the basket, the balloon is ready for cold inflation. This is done by using a large fan just to get the balloon half inflated so they can start using the burners to warm the air.

  This is the point were Charles had woken up and want to go check out what was going on.

   Like every kid when fires envolved, Charles also enjoyed watching the burners go to work and he go a front row seat.

   It didn't take long once they started using the burners to get the balloon upright.

  And here is the final result. All in all it took the crew about an hour to get the balloon upright, but some of that time was just waiting for a space to clear while other ballooners were putting their balloons up.

   After the morning glow and before the actual race started, they sent up a pair of balloons and the U.S. flag for the national anthem.

  It was a good thing it was a really calm morning with having these two balloons tethered together.

   Since it was Sept. 11 they also had an air squadron fly over honoring all the service men and women. The last play breaking away from the others represented soldiers that are MIA.

   I think the kids favorite part of the whole event wasn't the morning glow, but was the main launch. There were well over 50 balloons sent off within 30 min period.

   After being up for five hours (at least in Adahleigh's case) no one was all that interested in pictures anymore.

   Keisha woke up again once we were getting ready to leave and was willing to participate in some pictures, even though she is bundled up really good and you can't see much of her.

We figured that since we didn't put enough pictures in this post we'd throw two more in just to make the post complete.

This last one is on the way back to the car. It was a pretty good hike since most of the park parking was reserved for handicap parking.

Reno Temple

  About a month ago Adahleigh came home from church asking to go to the temple. When asked why she said "So I can get married." We then asked her who she was going to marry there and she said "My friends". We figured that they must of had a lesson in nursery about what temples are for and they must have discussed that they are for getting married in. We figured that her desires to go visit the temple would be forgotten by the next day, but for a week straight she continued to ask to visit the temple so she could marry her friends, so about a week later we took the fam. there to walk the grounds and get some pictures taken. She was ecstatic when she found out, and got more excited the days leading up to the visit. Unfortunately, we couldn't fulfill all her wants so she wasn't able to get married on our visit.

  Here are some of the better pictures we were able to get. Charles is ever watching Adahleigh in all she does, so he has decided to start making faces when we take pics. He hasn't quite figured it out though.

   Adahleigh loved having her picture taken there and was glad to just get to see what she had been taught about in nursery.

   We did have some trouble keeping them from climbing on everything and throwing the rocks in the flower beds (we did manage to keep them from picking the plants though, which is usually a preferred activity). Charles is of course trying to climb up on the wall to walk along it too.

   Here's the great view of Reno you get from the back of the temple.

Hot August Nights (Part Two)

   After the car show and taking the kids swimming at the marina, we went to get one more dose of classic cars at the cruise-in. The main reason we did this was there was a fireworks show scheduled after the cruise-in got over, since the kids loved the fireworks from the fourth of July (that we saw from miles away). It also gave us a chance to walk the strip by all the casinos, since none of us had had the chance to do that yet.

   We figured it would be really crowded and we wouldn't be able to get around very easy with the kids in a stroller, but surprisingly it wasn't over crowded.We were even able to get their picture under the reno sign without too much trouble.

   Lately, Adahleigh has enjoyed making faces when we tell her we want to take her picture or to smile. This is her famous face right now.

   The kids enjoyed looking at the lights on the buildings, and got scared a few times from the cars loud exhaust, but was a fun time for all. The kids even got some candy from some of the cars driving by. Adahleigh even got a mardi gras necklace that one car threw out (she didn't even have to show any skin for it).

   While walking around there were even a couple cops handing out badge stickers, and since the kids love stickers so much we grabbed them a couple. Of course, Charles lost his within the first 5 min. of getting it. We did manage to find it when we packed the stroller up in the van, it was stuck to one of the wheels.

   We almost didn't get to see the fireworks show. It was scheduled for 10pm and didn't start till almost 10:30. The kids had gotten tired from all the days activities and there was a possibility of the show being canceled due to wind, so by 10:15 we almost just went home but we ended up sticking around a little longer and lucked out. The Eldorado and Silver Legacy Hotels sponsored the show, so the fireworks were shot off the top of their buildings. We got on top of the parking garage of the Eldorado (10 stories up, so Ash was a little scared; especially going up the glass elevators) to get the best view possible.

   The show was a little loud at first, so Charles covered his eyes to hide from it till we showed him it was okay to look.

   Adahleigh loved the whole show and Keisha didn't mind it. 

   She even tried to help Charles get a better view, by helping remove his hands from his eyes.

Hot August Nights (Part One)

   Hot August Nights is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) event that happens in Northwestern Nevada. It starts in Lake Tahoe and continues down into Reno the last couple days of July and the first week of August. People bring their cars from all around to put them in the different car shows held by all the casinos.

   We didn't get to as many shows as I would have liked to go to (between rotation and limited interest of others). We made it to one of the larger shows and I was granted the privilege of looking around for about an hour, before the natives became completely restless and wanted to go do something else. Here are some of the cars that we saw (at least the ones I thought were most picture worthy).

   The kids were somewhat interested in looking at the cars at first. We just were worried about them touching them. Adahleigh was even willing to get her photo taken.

   Out of al the cars that I saw this '57 Chevy probably had the most custom work done to it (at least the interior) while still looking original on the outside.

   Then there were a couple of other cars that hardly resembled what the originals were. This first one has actual machine guns mounted to it.

  This pick-up looked somewhat original, but had a lot of extra custom work done to it, both inside and out. The fish scale fenders and bumpers looked really good.

   After looking at the cars we took the kids to the marina to swim while we were waiting for the street cruise-in to start, so we could go hear some of the cars and see the fireworks show afterward (post to come).