Balloon Festival

Over the weekend, we made a big family trek out to the Plano Hot Air Balloon Festival.  Our teenager kept asking to go and I had always wanted to go, but we'd never had the time.  Of course, I didn't realize it was a big ploy by our teenager to have a date with his girlfriend! Yes, I feel VERY old saying our teenage son has a girlfriend...Mr. Fantastic was traveling for work this week so we decided to go on Saturday morning to view the sunrise launch before he had to leave to the airport in the afternoon.  The wake up call was at 5:30 and I was shocked (and a tad embarrassed) when my sister in law and her daughter showed up promptly at 5:30 and we were all still stumbling around in the dark.  But we made it! We picked up the girlfriend and my father in law met up with us and it was wonderful!

I don't suggest the sunrise launch for people with children.  When we arrived, there were two balloons assembled for what is called the "glow" and even though the website stated that the launch was at 7AM, it was well after 7 before the first balloon took off and the others started being assembled.  This caused some restlessness among the kids who were now alert, hungry, and not entertained.

Once the launch was underway, it was incredible!  The cost of hot air balloons must be prohibitive because almost every balloon was sponsored, but the balloons for the kids were fantastic and fun to look at!  The best part was that once all the balloons had launched, everyone was allowed onto the flight field and you could go inside and have a look at the inner workings of the hot air balloons that were not going to launch.

We had a wonderful time and were already at breakfast by 9AM.

What are cool events you recommend for a family with a pre-teen and a teenager?