Ballooning in Mesquite-and more basketball in Green Bay

We arose early this morning to drive about 30 miles south to the city of Mesquite, Nevada.   We had read about this balloon festival last year when we were here.   We had planned to take the grandkids down to see it, but just didn't know what to expect.   We decided to go this year by ourselves and check it out.   Well, we certainly wish we would have stuck with our plan to have the kids.   In spite of the fact that our normal clear blue sky was not the backdrop we had, it was still a fun and colorful event.

When we got there this whole parking area was filled with balloons laid out on the ground.   Soon they began to inflate them with these giant propane heaters.

When the balloon was fully inflated the "pilots" got themselves in the basket and away they went.   As you can see in the picture to the right, they were so close together in some spots that they were actually touching each other!




It didn't take long for us to get some pretty stiff necks as we watched the beautiful balloons float away across the dessert.

It was a fun couple of hours.   We could not see where the balloons we going to land, but all of their trucks and trailers headed off after their own balloon launched and we assumed they were heading out to "retrieve" them and bring them back to the launch area. 

The last couple pictures were taken as we walked back to where our car was parked.    Neat to see them with the mountains in the background.


Hope all of you are staying warm.   We can even say that to our Texas folks as we hear the cold weather got down as far as Austin and San Antonio and even got to areas in Florida.   We are still getting into the low 60's each day and supposed to hit 70 by next weekend!  

All is well here-except for Bob's mouth!    He started having some pain in a wisdom tooth on Thursday.   By Friday morning it was really bothering him.   Decided to call a local dentist to see what might be done.   Well, lo and behold, within an hour from when we made the call, that pesky tooth had been yanked out!   He was pretty punky yesterday afternoon and evening, but felt well enough to head to the balloon fest this morning.   He has already taken one little nap today and is cozied up on the couch under a blanket watching basketball now.    He says it feels pretty good as long as he takes Tylenol to take the edge off.   Toughest part is trying to figure out what to eat that doesn't take much chewing.   Last night was scrambled eggs.   Lunch today was ramen noodles and yogurt.   I'm thinking soup for supper.


We were happy to hear it was another victory for Emily's basketball team this week.   Although, they are not supposed to keep score (we sort of wonder what is the point) Emily's team won by an unofficial score of about 42-20!   Way to go Martin Elementary! 

 Hugs to all of you.

Stay well and warm.

Bob and Deb