Weekend from Hades

We really haven't had too much going on this past month and I haven't had too much motivation to actually write something either. But this weekend is something to chat about.

First off, Friday morning started the Balloon Festival. I have loved hot air balloons since I was little. Some of my favorite pictures are with my dad when I was younger at the festival. It has been one of the things that my dad and I share. The cool thing about this year's festival was the Darth Vader balloon from Belgium. This balloon was huge and so cool. Michael and I ended up going all three days. But once again, I didn't get any pictures of me with the balloons, but a lot of pictures of the balloons itself. Stink!

Okay, last year Jakob and I were the ones who were the organizers of the fundraiser booth and things went really smooth because of all the planning. This year the booth was kind of taken away from us and the rules changed. It had nothing to do with the festival, it had more to do with the group wanting to change what we had done for the past 2 years. And there was very little organization done this year so Jakob and I decided that we weren't going to do anything with it and enjoy ourselves with the festival and our weekend. Well, that plan didn't work out too well. We arrived the first day at the festival just to walk around and see what was there and we saw that the booth was in shambles. Jakob and I just looked at each other, sighed, and jumped in to rearrange and set straight the booth. We ended up staying there the rest of the evening. We didn't get to see the festival that day at all. (And what stinks is that Jakob and I had planned a date that night since it'll be the last date we have until his show is finished in October.)

Saturday had the balloon festival in the morning and this time Jakob came with us. He loved the balloon and we got to chat with the pilots and see the interior of the balloon. Pretty cool. My mom came this morning as well, and once again, no pictures of me. I really need to start handing over my camera more.

Since I'd gotten about 3 hours of sleep the night before, Jakob and I decided to go home and sleep; which we did but received a phone call that the booth needed help so we went down once again and helped. And once again, we didn't get to see any of the festival. And with all the traffic happening, we didn't get home until midnight.

Sunday was a bit smoother in the start. Since the garrison was going to be marching in the parade the next morning they decided to have a marching practice in the morning before it got too hot, so Jakob went to that and I went along to get some footage. We went home and I crashed yet again. About 3pm we went to my parents and had an indoor BBQ and chilled with my brother for a while playing games and just enjoying being in air conditioning.

After that, Jakob asked if we could stop by the float and see if they needed any help or if they were ready to move the float down to the starting lot. But when we got there about 8pm, there was still a lot that needed to be done so we jumped in and starting working on stuff. We moved the float down to the start at about 10pm (which was a nightmare when we arrived at University Ave where people were camping out for the parade). Jakob and I got home yet again after midnight.

Monday morning started yet again with the balloon festival . . . or what was supposed to be the balloon festival. The weather wasn't cooperating and they weren't going to inflate. The crowd started getting really pushy with the event organizers that they were there to see the vader balloon and they wanted to see it and with all that pushing, they pushed the balloon crew to at least inflate it. Things went wrong from there. After they inflated it, the wind starting picking up and picked up the basket. We had to jump on the basket and started holding it down as the balloon toppled over . . . and snagged on a truck from another balloonist who wouldn't move the truck. The wind continued to pull the balloon and the basket, so many of us let go and let the basket drag sideways as we ran over to untangle the balloon from the truck so it wouldn't rip. They won't know if it ripped until they get to Montana for their next flight. I felt so bad for the balloonists and the crew.

After the balloon fiasco we headed over to the parade. The clouds were still overhead, so it made for a nice start to the parade. The float and the marching troopers won an award from the parade. The "Independence Award for the Most Impressive Entry by a Non-Profit Group". I was surprised. The parade went pretty well. I'm still sore from all the walking/running that I did. I had my camera and I was taking photos and videos, so a lot of movement.

Jakob and I went to my parents to get a quick bite to eat before heading back to the booth because once again they needed help. Yeah, not exactly the weekend I wanted but at least we got through it. After that day I had over 16,000 steps and a little over 7 miles walked. Yes, I'm still sore since I didn't stretch before hand.

Now Jakob has rehearsals every day until the opening of his show (which I'll chat about a little later) so I'm back to trying to find another job for the rest of the summer plus a job for the fall that pays better than what I had this year.