Michigan Balloon Challenge - Howell, MI

We went to the 25th Michigan Challenge Balloonfest this past Saturday. It was incredible. This was Scott's first time seeing hot air balloons up close! We sat close enough to see the whole process. Twenty to thirty-some vans and trucks lined up and took their baskets out and unrolled their balloons. There is quite a process that goes with these balloons. The best part was watching them inflate. The balloonists turned the 'start-up' fans on and once they were blown up enough, the unleashed the flames to fill the balloons with hot air. Once they filled up, many of them were smashed together. They just started taking off at random - all of a sudden you'd see a balloon flying right over our heads - they just appeared from behind the first row of balloons we were watching. In fact, the picture of the red color-blocked balloon above, was one of the many that went right over us! It was an incredible sight! Before the balloon fest, we took the kids on some of their first carnival rides...we captured some great videos and photos or their faces - especially Ben's! (There are three videos at the end of this post.)

The first ride was really tame and then we went on from there!

They are in the second car from the front.

This race car ride was hysterical. They would go slowly and then whip around the curves. Emily would basically smash into Ben.