Celebrating the Fourth

Our town has a cool festival every year and we were so excited to take Benjamin for the second year in a row! {That's luck and we're thankful a million times over.} We parked at a nearby parking lot and were shuttled in by a school bus. First school bus experience for the kiddo. He loved it, despite his serious look in the photo below.

Loving the bounce house (2nd time in one, and he was definitely standing a bunch!) and characters he saw.

We took a break in the middle of the festival to visit our water park that was located across the street. We go about 4-5 times a week and this was Benjamin's first time in the sand pit. He loved it, of course.

The festival is unique because it has about 15-20 hot air balloons that you can actually ride, depending on the weather. A month before we were engaged, in May of 2007, we took a hot air balloon ride over Temecula, CA, dropping us down into orange groves to pick oranges... and then had champagne afterwards. That same champagne (Wilson Creek Winery) was served at our wedding for the toast. It also helps we're Wilsons... the namesake didn't hurt the choice.

While we don't care to go inside the hot air balloon again (you're stuffed like sardines!), it was a cool experience and being around hot air balloons takes us back to that special weekend. And did I mention the guy who was to propose with a fancy engagement ring the following month gifted me with diamond earrings, also princess cut? Said he was testing out the shape to make sure I liked it. And I've been rocking the same on my hand ever since June 15, 2007. And I wear those earrings every single day.

Let's take a trip down memory lane... shall we?

We look 17. But really, 24. Proof that grief ages you FAST. Any Californians know the band sweatshirt I'm wearing?

Helping the balloon process & packed in like sardines (see?). How romantic. Hah!

Orange groves they dropped us into (we picked 3 oranges!), halo above the clouds...happy couple (still happy).

Wearing my new sparkly diamonds, but a bit hard to see with the hair...

So needless to say, we kind of like hot air balloons. And it's kind of cool that they're like 2 miles from our house at this festival every year for a little nostalgia and exploring. We hope Benjamin is just as adventurous.

We're definitely those parents to keep our kids up late to watch fireworks. Life's too short to worry about missing sleep. And, he slept in until 10:15 the next morning. Which means, so did we. They probably would've kept him awake anyway...

A little flashback from last year. That balloon is called the "Andy" balloon, and obviously that's really special to us. Benjamin was just 4 months last year in front of the Andy balloon and this year he's 16 crazy toddler months and in front of the same balloon. I asked the owners about the Andy character, as I was sad to see it gone. They told us it had a long life and over time, the balloon must be replaced. The majority of the bottom half was replaced, and the Andy character went along with it. While sad to see it go, they still call it the Andy balloon and announce it as such. I hope they come every year so I can take a balloon picture of my boys in front of it to honor and remember our very own Andy.

Impressive that the husband still has (and wears) that hat, right? I've told you before, but he loses hats like they're disposable! (Wrote that post 6 months to the day before Andrew died. I hate the 5th. Of every month.)

But the 4th? It's all good.