Ice Skating and Hot Air Balloons

Saturday Emma was invited to an ice skating birthday party for one of her friends. She was so excited! I woke up that morning not feeling really well, but we had already promised Emma that we would take her. Jody had convinced her sisters to give ice skating a whirl too, even though I was reluctant. I had already decided Lizzy was way too small and would just sit down and watch...that of course lasted about 2 minutes before she was yelling "Kate, Kate, Kate"! I sat on the benches and was the "transitioner" when adult backs had to take a break...Lizzy absolutely loved Ice Skating and pitched enormous fits when she had to take a break and let someone else have a turn! They all made me really nervous with the sharp skates on, but no one got hurt and the girls had a blast! We had to leave early because I still wasn't feeling really well, but I did get a shot of Anna & Lizzy with Ms. Becky before we left!

After the party we headed directly to Babies'R'Us where I bought another sturdier maternity belt that has worked much better than the last. As we headed home, from Raleigh towards the "country" we spotted 2 hot air balloons way off in the distance. Where we live we often see hot air balloons, but as we got closer to home the balloons got closer to the ground and we were pretty sure they were going to land. The girls had so much fun watching the balloons and Jody had so much fun "chasing" them. At one point they were very close to us and I even talked with the balloon operator and passengers overhead! I got a lot of pictures, this one directly over our head! I had never seen a hot air balloon up close or land and we wanted to see what happened after it landed. They rolled it up tucked it in a bag and strapped the basket on the back of a 15 passenger van and off they went. Amazing, even though I am scared to death to get in one!