A benefit of living in a large metro area, is having a plethora of things to do.  It’s especially fun when one of those activities are almost in your back yard.

About a block behind our house is a park.  This park has four baseball fields), a play ground, pond, and dog parks.  It sits adjacent to one of the public schools so there is a foot ball field and soccer field as well.

We have spent quite a bit of time at the playground since moving here, but last weekend was a festival which is held annually in the park.  Last year it was cancelled due to weather, but this year the weather cooperated (although it was hot and humid).

It is the Lion’s Club Balloon Festival and was a nice little outing for our family.

They had bounce houses and a little farm animal petting zoo for the kids.  There were several food and merchandise vendors.  Live bands played thru the weekend and there was a little train ride (of sorts) for the kids as well.

It was my first time ever being this close to so many hot air balloons and as the sun went down, the balloons were inflated and put on a light show for spectators.

Since we could easily walk to the festival, it was kind of hard to pass up the opportunity to go and I look forward to going back again next year.