Balloon Fiesta Part 4 - Special Shapes (Day 2)

Here's more special shapes (and the final installment in my Balloon Fiesta series)!  The winds on this morning were a little strong, so most of the balloons weren't able to fly.  For the most part, they were able to at least inflate and stay inflated for awhile - which meant more photo time!  As the morning went on, some of the pilots did find it safe enough to fly, so it was very nice to see that not everyone had to be grounded for the morning.  I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the morning! 

What could only be described as UFOs that morning!  These lighted balloon-like things were released into the sky.  It was very interesting as mom and I have no idea what was going on!  The funny thing is that we just saw a commercial on TV and we think it showed us what these were! 

The US flag and the Fiesta lifted off instead of Dawn Patrol.  They took flight in the sunrise to the National Anthem.  It was absolutely beautiful.

My awesome Waddles SnoBird looking great!  It was his first year in the Balloon Fiesta and he's just a baby, he was made this year!  A summery penguin with a camera around his neck - couldn't be any better in my opinion!

I also love that he has a "pin" with a balloon with a Texas flag on it on his camera strap!  It's popular to get pins of the special shape balloons and wear them however you wish!  I got a set of Waddles!  He also has the pins of the boxing kangaroo balloons on the opposite strap! This brings me to...

The Boxing Kangaroos!  Gotta love the little joeys too!

The heat from the burner makes the image in the middle look like it's all warped and almost like it's under water.  I think it's a pretty near effect.  I love the silhouette as well. 

This ladybug found her frog prince and they were smoochin' all morning!

"Arky" is one of the most impressive special shape balloons I think. It is so intricate and elaborate.  It even has a penguin on it too! 

The bees are a popular group too!  The red one and the blue one are the originals.  When these fly and the conditions are right, they can make the bees hold hands and even kiss during flight!  They must have done a lot more than kissing though because now they have a baby bee too!

"Patriot" is the space shuttle balloon.  This thing is ginormous - you can see how it compares to the other balloons nearby.  The yellow one behind it and the large one to the left are on the larger side of the 'regular' shaped balloons.  I looked up online the size of the balloon and (within a few feet) is the same size as the actual space shuttle!  At first the Patriot wasn't even able to inflate because of the winds, but later in the morning, there was success!  It was still breezy enough to swing the shuttle around and the crew with the tethers had to run through the crowd to keep control of the balloon.  It wasn't able to fly, but it was still impressive!

 

 I hope you've all enjoyed my pictures from the International Balloon Fiesta!  I had a blast, and I shot so so many photos.  I hope you like the ones that I picked to represent my trip!