Getting Up With the Balloons

Charlie, Spencer, Pierce—watching the balloons. Wearing their colors.

Nearly every year for a stretch there, we got up in the dark on Labor Day, dragged the kids out of bed, and headed for Memorial Park to watch the hot air balloon launch. It became one of our family traditions, plus it was a great free family fun idea. Besides the balloon launch, we also went to ​the Night Glow, a really cool ​event that is also Labor Day Weekend, where the balloons park downtown on a city street at night, and when it gets dark, they all blow their flames and light up the night. It’s like a hundred fire breathing dragons suddenly exhale hot, bright, fuel-scented roaring fire at the same moment. And it’s pretty too.

It’s important to establish family traditions for kids when they’re young. It’s part of what they’ll look back on as their foundation, their story, and the legacy of their original family. And it doesn’t have to be a trip to Disney every year, or cost anything at all. An annual hike, the light parade or live nativity at Christmas time, a monthly game night, making pizza together and watching a movie every Friday night, autumn canning, cooking—these are some ideas that a family can [affordably] build relationship with, establish traditions, and use to have fun together.

​I hope you have a good day off for Labor Day (if you in fact get to be off work). I’ll be back tomorrow with a regular-sized post. Today I’ll add a few more photos of balloon days in place of more words. I’m going to try to do a little less work myself today.