Sunday Balloons

It was still cold and dark on an early Sunday morning when Mama and Daddy took Kecil from her comfortable, warm bed to travel the hour's drive required to get to the next civilization center. But as you can see from Kecil's expression, she did not seem to mind, despite her preference for waking up somewhat later in the day. Wonder what was going on?

Well... actually last weekend was the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival here in the Philippines. The venue was in the city of Clark, and having heard some good things about it, we decided to go and see what the hullaballoo was all about.
Obviously, there were plenty of hot air balloons involved,

And hand-gliders

And fires on top of gondolas!

Even cute feet on dried grass!

But basically it was all about hot air balloons (birthday cake shaped! Can you see the birthday cake one?)

And more balloons (ice cream shaped!)

And even more balloons 

Due to the long queues, we actually did not go into the carnival grounds itself.

Which is why most of the photos feature the wire fence, haha....

Many people are pretty much settled for the day watching all the flying stuff, bringing their tents, food and all kinds of stuff,

Too bad we were not so prepared,

But still we managed to take some good pics..

Ahem, correction, of course. KECIL did managed to take quite a few good pics.

Here she was, patiently waiting for the perfect moment for the shot...

Shouting encouragements in the hope that the balloons would finally take their position for THE shot...

Even giggled beatifically when she finally got THE shot.

Oh, she's going to be a good photographer all right.

We really have to thank the ever-so-patient Daddy who had carried the not-so-light-anymore would be photographer.

On a more adult's perspective, the whole thing was pretty close to a fiasco. Just for starter, we ended up spending 2 hours (!) lining up for toilet at the nearby petrol station. And to think that we only spent about an hour looking at the balloons!

Not to mention the fact that we did not even get into the grounds due to the long lines.

Am still not sure if we are coming back again next year, but after looking through the photos....

Yes... I guess we did have a good time. Especially Kecil.

So here's hoping that you had a similarly fun weekend last Sunday....

And wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day as well!

As usual, this ended up being the only photo with Mama's face. Will check the other camera later and see if there is more of Mama's face there. Until then!