Wow, after a fun filled and busy summer, Carter started 3rd grade on 8/19/09. Carter was having a dilemma because we had FREE Lagoon tickets but they were for 8/19/09, which was the first day of school. I emailed Carter teacher and asked his opinion on Carter skipping the 1st day of school. He said that he was planning something pretty cool, but it wasn't finalized yet, but let Carter decide. So I told Carter and he did the logical thing, he flipped a coin. Well, the coin said that he was going to school and Carter was happy with that. Then, a couple days later I received an email from Carter teacher that said his plans were finalized and that they were going to have a real life HOT AIR BALLOON come to school and take them for rides. It was a secret so we weren't allowed to let the kids know what was going on. The teacher is basing his theme this year off of the movie "UP" and he wants kids to have an adventure and school and to be able to overcome their fears!! Wow, I don't know a better way to do that than to have a hot air balloon ride. They had little baby food jars that had colored water in them along with a fear. As a side note I must mention that you are probably wondering how the school would justify spending money on this during a bad budget shortfall. Well, there is a person they call "Grandpa" that loves to donate money to the class for fun educational experiences such as this. My son is so lucky to have a great school to attend and such a great teacher that would plan something so great!!
When we first arrived the wind was blowing a little to hard to put the balloon up, so we had to wait for it to calm down. The balloon pilot told us about wind currents and fun adventures that he had in the balloon. Then after a 1/2 hour the winds calmed down and they unrolled the balloon and unloaded the basked off of the trailer and started to set up.
I just couldn't believe how big a hot air balloon actually is. We were told that they reach about 10 stories high.
Talk about "full of hot air"!!! It was amazing seeing something that big fill up and become a big balloon.
This is Carter and I before our ride in the balloon. We were in the first group of 8 to go for a ride. The balloon was tethered to the ground so we only went about 30-40 feet in the air, but is was still cooler than any Lagoon ride I have ever been on!!!
This is what Carter was like the whole ride. He stood up for one brief second to look over the edge and was scared. I though it was awesome! I am excited to see Carter's adventurous side grow and to overcome some of his fears this year. I can't believe how high tech his school is. They have computer on their desks, and two kids share one computer. They have an ipod, and they are going to have podcasts(I still don't know what those are). I will continue to let you know Carter fun adventures this year.
When we first arrived the wind was blowing a little to hard to put the balloon up, so we had to wait for it to calm down. The balloon pilot told us about wind currents and fun adventures that he had in the balloon. Then after a 1/2 hour the winds calmed down and they unrolled the balloon and unloaded the basked off of the trailer and started to set up.
I just couldn't believe how big a hot air balloon actually is. We were told that they reach about 10 stories high.
Talk about "full of hot air"!!! It was amazing seeing something that big fill up and become a big balloon.
This is Carter and I before our ride in the balloon. We were in the first group of 8 to go for a ride. The balloon was tethered to the ground so we only went about 30-40 feet in the air, but is was still cooler than any Lagoon ride I have ever been on!!!
This is what Carter was like the whole ride. He stood up for one brief second to look over the edge and was scared. I though it was awesome! I am excited to see Carter's adventurous side grow and to overcome some of his fears this year. I can't believe how high tech his school is. They have computer on their desks, and two kids share one computer. They have an ipod, and they are going to have podcasts(I still don't know what those are). I will continue to let you know Carter fun adventures this year.
