The Great Forest Park Balloon Race

We spent a recent weekend at a hot air balloon race. We used to go when I was younger, and I'm so glad we got to take Natalie. I'm hoping this will be an annual thing for us, because Natalie had so.much.fun. It really was a great, but totally exhausting, weekend.

There was a children's area sponsored by Purina. I definitely don't remember that being there when I was younger, but it seemed like all the kids (and parents, too) were having a great time. There were inflatable bounce houses and obstacle courses, pony rides, a petting zoo, and a Purina Incredible Dog Team show.

The "race" is not based on speed. The Energizer Bunny is the mascot, I guess you could say, for this race, and a big ol' "X" is placed in a chosen location, and each balloon has to find the "X" and drop a bag of rice. The person who drops the bag of rice closest to the center of the "X" is the winner. When I was younger, I remember there was an actually "Hot Hare Balloon" that would go up, but this year, we got this:

And some of the balloons who participated in the race:

And mi familia: