Ferrara Balloon Festival

Catching back up here...  We moved into our apartment about two weeks ago! We're mostly unpacked, but still have some pictures that need to be hung and some general organizing to do, so once we get that done I'll post some pictures.  The first weekend in the apartment was a little crazy with unpacking boxes and trips back and forth to the hotel.  We didn't do much that whole week as we got settled. The next weekend we were still worn out from all the unpacking, so we decided to stay home and hang out in Ferrara for the weekend.  Lucky for us, the annual Ferrara Balloon Festival was just beginning!

We went out the first night--it's set up more like a fair with lots of food tents, games, and activities. The night we were there, there was only one hot air balloon and while it was in the center of the park, it wasn't really a huge part of the rest of the festival.

On obstacle course at the festival. There were also big trampolines, jumping castles, and lots of other stuff.

Of course, we were mostly excited about the balloon part of the balloon festival. A few minutes after we got there, they started blowing up the one hot air balloon that was there that night.  It was fun to watch--they look so much bigger up close! 

Michael was cute--he loved watching the balloon and even though he wanted to crawl around, kept looking back to check on the balloon.

We stayed for a couple of hours and played in the grass while we watched the balloon.

Then Michael started getting a little tired so we went back home.  The festival went on all week, and one morning we woke up and saw this from the balcony:

So we did get to see some balloons!  Later that morning we were driving out of town and they were landing the balloons in a field next to where we were driving.  Then when we got back that evening, they were up (but getting ready to land) again.  It was fun--definitely not as many balloons as I remember there being in Tucson or like Robbie remembers from the Albuquerque festival, but still something unique to Ferrara.