Balloon Fiesta and Family in town

This year my parents along with my aunt Lez and cousin Shauri came down for Balloon Fiesta. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this time of year. It is like an early Christmas for me. I am running around trying to look at all the balloons and I am totally giddy, love it:)

I get to watch this for about a week at work and l am like a little kid.

 Then mom and dad along with Lez and Shauri came down, love them so much! Here are some pics from the zoo.

 One of the zoo workers brought out their porky pines. Neat to be able to see up close.

 The wind that day really picked up and these branch flew into my face. It gave me a pretty good scratch on the nose and I had a headache afterwards:)

 Lez and mom having a good laugh.

 Found this chair and naturally we all had our pictures taken while sitting on it.

 Later that day we stopped at Old Town in ABQ. This was the only picture I took. I have a slight obsession for red chile's:)

 The next day we drove the Turquoise Trail up to Santa Fe and came across this art exhibit outside. Man these statues were being sold for thousands of dollars!

 The square in Santa Fe

 Getting ready for the balloon glow. Glad we experienced this grand event but once is enough for me. Once it was dark and with the mass of people walking around and mothers trying to push their stollers...it was a little bit of a nightmare. Note to self: Never ever ever ever bring a stroller to the balloon fiesta.

 Now begins the big ascensions! The weather wasn't being the kindest so a lot of the balloons didn't take off....sad but it was a good thing. They played the national anthem while this went off.

My dad counted a little over 100 balloons going up that day. Lots of fun! But I do have to say the highlight of the trip was the 6 of us going to McCall's pumpkin patch and going through the haunted barn. So hilarious!!!!! If only we had pictures of  us going through that awful place. You would have seen my mom leading the group while she dragged my dad behind her. Then poor Ty trying to keep us going while I was holding onto him, Shauri holding onto me, and then Lez holding onto Shauri. We were quite the group! I hate those stupid haunted house things BUT I would go again with this crew:) Thanks Mom, Dad, Lez, and Shauri for coming down!!!!!

Graduate!

This is so long past over due.... better late than never right? Ty graduated!!!! He was accepted into the WIP (Weapons Intern Program) along with a few selected others. People from all over the nation apply to get in this to learn more about weapons and the facilities and how they work etc. It is smashed into a year, before it took two years for them to complete, and it is a lot of work. For the first 6 months they are in classes and are being lectured by those who did the weapons and different stuff. These people are retired and come back to pass on their knowledge to the WIP program. Pretty cool. During these months they are also traveling lots....lots! They traveled to different sites in the weapon dept. Anywho glad its done and that he graduated from it. Way to go sweet cheeks!

 The group graduating

 All the people in his class....Ty is the bearded one in case you can't find him.

 Sweet cheeks receiving his award.

 Ty shaking the hands of the retired folks who taught him. Very nice guys.

 The group for one last picture.