Do what the locals do

I really like finding new things to do in the town we live in. 

Sometimes I hear about something someone did over the weekend, and 

think "Man, I wish I would have known about that!"

I am not in the know on most things but thanks to Facebook, 

my love for Google, and my ability to listen into other people's conversations

(Oh, you know you do it too!) we have found lots of fun things to 

do in the Quad Cities.  

 This past weekend we ventured over to Illinois to go to the Balloon Festival.

I love hot air balloons.  They are so colorful, and I LOVE color!! 

When we lived in Ottumwa, the first weekend we moved into our house was the 

balloon races weekend.  Saturday morning we woke up to start painting and there was a hot air balloon landing in the field behind our house.  How awesome is that! 

 The kids were excited to see the hot air balloons.  

We grabbed some fresh kettle corn and lemonade shakeups from the food vendors and 

plopped ourselves on the grassy field to watch the balloons fill up with air.  

The kids wanted to get a closer look, so we casually walked over to one of the balloons.

This one happened to be my favorite.  

The kids were asking all kinds of questions to the crew there and then one asked if they would like to get in.  Both Bubba and Gigi got to hop in the basket.  

 I was shocked how loud the flame was that fills the balloon up.  

When the sun set, the balloons put on quite a display at the glow. 

There were lots of ooohhhs and aaaahhhs from the kids. 

On Saturday, Hubby and I got away for a date night with friends. 

We tried a new babysitter and she was awesome, and we even tried a 

new date night place, The J Bar.  It's a brand new restaurant in town 

and had a beautiful patio and great ambiance.  

It was a fun night out and have I mentioned we stayed out past midnight?

Yes, midnight people.  I told the babysitter I would definitely be home by midnight, because we never stay out that late.  Then I check my phone at one point and it is 12:15 am.  Yikes! 

Good thing she didn't mind.  

 It was a great and colorful weekend!