Soccer games and Balloons!!

Friday night I finally made it out to watch the Coach Hessers coach a Rio Rancho High School JV game. It was a really nice complex located on the reservation right down the road. The boys won 7-0 against their new rivals, Cleveland HS (a new school that took its students from Rio Rancho). It was fun to watch them play, and we stayed and watched the Varsity boys also dominate their game. The only thing that would have made the night better was if it was slightly warmer- it was soooo cold! :) Going to have to adjust to this desert weather quickly!

The coaches:












The complex with the mountain as a backdrop:


Saturday morning was the start of the 2009 Albuquerque Balloon Festival. The Festival will last until next weekend and the number of hot air balloons that turned out is amazing. Apparently there actually less than normal due to the economy but it's still awesome. There are often one or two hot air balloons in the sky when you wake up in the morning around here, and now I understand why the locals don't get excited- its nothing like during the Balloon Festival.
We woke up early and watched them take off. They have to take off in rows so it takes awhile for all of them to get up in the air. The wind wasn't perfect and they weren't able to stay up very long in the air before they had to descend back down, but luckily for us due to the wind shift, many of them were landing in the neighborhood around us. Each balloon has its own chase car and they drive around, following the balloon, and quickly packing them up once they land. We had a lot of fun "chasing" the chase cars. Apparently some ballooners will even ask for help from nearby spectators. We weren't able to get close enough for that but the week is still young :) Ty got a bit addicted to chasing the balloons, if he decides he doesn't want to do Coastal Engineering, he could always be a professional balloon chaser... Here are some of our favorite pictures from this morning:


Dutch walked with us around the block while we watched the initial ascent of the balloons.

All the balloons in the air! So pretty and colorful!

Starting to land in the neighborhood! There are two on the ground to the right. Ty and his mom are on the left of the picture. And you can see the chase cars going too!

Up close and personal. Landing right by us :)