Cherry Blossom Festival

March 17th we went down to Macon, GA to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival.  Matt and I last went to the festival in 1999 just before we got engaged.  We had a fun time at the festival, but what we loved was the hot air balloon festival they had at a local college.  When we went (granted, it was 13 years prior) we went in the afternoon and watched all the hot air balloons setup and take off--it was amazing to see the sky filled with hot air balloons.  I've been trying to go for the last 3 years and we never could make it, so I was excited to go this year and knew the kids would love it.

Aaron was excited--practically the first thing we saw was a train!

Caroline, Carter and Alex tried a fun activity where they got in huge air-filled balls and ran around in a pool.  Aaron really wanted to try, but he was too little.

Since Aaron didn't get to go in the bubbles he chose to ride on a little train.

We took a picture in a Chery Tree (unfortunately this spring was unusually warm and the cherry trees were on the downhill side of blooming).

Aaron can't pass a train--he was pretty upset that there was a fence around it

They had camel rides and the kids really wanted to ride.  They were pretty cheap and we figured we would let them (how often do you have a chance to ride on a camel?).  The kids loved it.

We hadn't expected March to feel like July--but it was HOT and humid and we were tired so we stopped at Subway and had dinner in the nice, air conditioned restaurant. 

The festival was a little different this year (imagine--after 13 years things had changed)!  None of the balloons flew off--they were all tethered to the ground, but it was fun to see them light up at night.

We brought blankets and we had a great time playing and laying down and watching the balloons.

This guy let everyone climb in and out of his balloon and take pictures.  Alex was in line to take one, but the balloonist did a burn just as Alex was approaching the balloon and Alex decided that was as close as he was going to get.

We had a great time, and we would go back and do it again....but we might wait a few years before we try it again.