We were excited for the opportunity to make a day trip to Reno, NV to see the hot air balloon races in September 2023.
To accompany this big field trip we read these picture books. Both of these books were very very good. Especially, Flight for Freedom: The Wetzel Family’s Daring Escape from East Germany. We super highly recommend that one.
We borrowed a copy of the dvd, Night Crossing (1982) from the library. It was a good movie, but probably could’ve been rated PG-13 for violence, suspense, and scary scenes. PG-13 didn’t become a rating until 1984, thanks to Steven Spielberg, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, “Gremlins”, and outraged parents. So, any movie rated PG before 1984 has a possibility of more adult themes than you’d expect from a more recent PG rated film.
We listened to The Sheep, the Rooster, and the Duck, a chapter book (with graphic novel type illustrations) on Audible. It was okay, but it isn’t in my top list of books I’d recommend.
We also watched Up on Disney+ which is one of our family’s favorite movies. We love Dug. And the balloons tied to the house are kinda close enough to hot air balloons.
We did this mixed media art project using old dictionary pages, black glue, watercolors, card stock, and oil pastels.
Hot air balloons are very cool, and it was such a treat for us to learn about them and go see some up close!
Until next time friends, adventure awaits!
heavens to betty 
I remember watching that movie when I was a kid! Definitely exciting. I’ve been up in a hot air balloon twice. Once at a Pathfinder Fair, my name was chosen as one of the two kids from my club that got to go up. That hot air balloon was on a tether so we went up and then got pulled back down for the next kids. And the second time was when Caleb and I were dating. His mom wanted to ride in one for a birthday and I got to go along. We did a hot air balloon tour over the Napa valley and that was very fun.
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No way! How fun!
I feel like this is not the first time I have heard a story about your MIL requesting a fun family experience for her birthday! She has such a beautiful philosophy about birthdays which she shared with me at one of your epic birthday parties. 🥳
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Love the mixed media art project!
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Thank you Betty. It took a few days because of all the steps and needing to dry in between them. 🎨
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How wonderful!! They are humungous, up close.
Thanks for sharing your resources about hot air balloons.
The mixed media art project looks great. Nice colors.
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