Sunny days are here and I’m so freaking excited to get my little guy out of the house and do some fun stuff. Every month I plan out a calendar of events that are going on around our area. Being right outside of Washington DC we are lucky to have tons of family friendly things to do. Now that Brady is walking and full of energy I have to have some kind of daily activity planned for us or he gets wild and crazy. We have a few toddler classes, park and playground trips and at least twice a week we hit something on our calendar. I’ve found that being organized and following a plan works out much much better and I’m able to avoid the scramble and stress of trying to entertain a high-energy toddler on the fly. Plus it gives me a chance to work on my photo skills.

I found out there was a Hot Air Balloon Festival going on about an hour away in Ellicott City, MD. It’s called the Preakness Ballon Fest , dozens of hot air balloons set-up on a golf course ascending and descending. We got there and as soon as B saw the balloons he went CRAZY! “Bawoon mama, bawoon bawoon bawoon!”

When you get to experience something as amazing as a Hot Air Balloon show, this just means that you are always on the look out for more events that allow you to create more memories with as a family. You can’t beat a nice time at the park on a nice summers day, especially when you can tick something off your bucket list in the process. This will be something I don’t think we will be forgetting anytime soon. I can feel myself becoming obsessed with this. I even went as far to look into something like the Ascension Hot Air Balloon Championship. One day, I would love to witness another Air Balloon show. I’m sure that will be possible in the future.

At the show we visited, they had lots of food trucks parked and a VIP section where you could relax and listen to music, have a glass of wine. A side street was filled with vendors and fair style booths with face painting and fun kid stuff. To the side there was a big hill with lots of families spread out on blankets, kids playing and watching the balloons take off and come back. We headed over to a clear area and watched as all of the balloons made their way up, up and away. Brady squealed and pointed, jumping up and down with delight. I snapped away and got some great pics of him playing between the balloons.

We spread out our blanket by the hill and shared a corndog and lemonade. Sitting there with him on my lap watching those hot air balloons, it was definitely one of those “my life is pretty amazing” moments. I’m lucky, we have those alot. We stayed until dark to watch the Balloon Glow, where all the balloons fired up in a sequence. Brady’s eyes fastened on the fire, he cheered for every single balloon. It was an amazing day. If you have the chance to visit something similar I would highly recommend the hot air balloon show.