Cars, Planes and butterflies.....

So your asking what do Cars, Planes and Butterflies have in common? Yeah, I asked myself that SAME question, that is until I hoped on a little airplane, a 3 person airplane that is!  This past weekend was filled with loads of fun up in Albany, Oregon where their annual Art and Air show was happening.  Months before all of this, a good friend of mine told me about this "Hot Air balloon" festival at the end of August.  Well with any Photographer....I was ready to take on the experience of photographing these beautiful balloons.  Yes, my husband thought I was crazy, but what he didn't know was that "I" was dragging him right along with me! HA.

So the planning began.  The night before I made sure everything on my camera was set to go.  Bags were packed, kids bathed and the car keys on the table.  Yes, I have this HORRIBLE habit of losing my car keys, especially when I need them the MOST!

My alarm was set to go off at 4:45 and I found myself tossing and turning so much (out of excitement I think) so for ONCE in my life I was up before the alarm! Did I happen to mention I was up 45mins before my alarm? Everyone knows I am NOT a morning person unless shopping or picture taking is involved! LOL

We got up to Albany around 6am with kids in tote and VERY tired, but hey....couldn't miss the excitement and I could NOT wait to see the looks on their faces when they encountered those beautiful balloons being aired up.  Well, unfortunately they weren't all that thrilled.  My kids have finally moved to the stage where their nice warm bed is WAY better than something exciting! 

I was so excited to capture this event on photos, although the sky was not cooperating all that well.  Would have been even MORE magnificent with blue sky, but hey.... I can't complain, I had my family willing to get up at the crack of dawn, and they did it for me!  So after about an hour of walking around watching all the beautiful colors fill the sky, they all set off as a happily ever after story.  So we packed up and moved on to the next event.  AIRPLANES!

Yes, this is where the butterflies come in.  After all this was the Art and AIR festival and it wouldn't have been the same without the aide of some nice airplane rides right? And did they say Free? Even better! Well, it didn't exactly happen that way.  There seems to always be a catch to those "free" things things in life.  But along with everyone else.... we waited in this long line, and waited and waited until we finally came to where we could jump on a plane! Wrong answer.  This line is to take names, add them to a class time, come back, take the class THEN get back in line after your class and go up in the air for 5 Min's and back down.  Wrong answer! Oh and did I happen to mention.... it was for kids only over the age of 8years old? NOT a chance was I going to put my child on a little itsy bitsy plane all by himself while I sign a little piece of paper handing over my rights in case the plane crashed and burned! RIIIGHT!

Disappointment set deep in 3 sets of eyeballs as my son, Cameron brought a friend (a 7 year old friend) and my 6 year old daughter.  As we walked away I decided to go into the Aviation office to get a flier on prices for a future ride in the sky.  We walked out of there with 3 tickets to get a 1/2 hour plane ride for myself and the 2 boys (Cameron and his friend) for a pretty reasonable fee, which made more sense and if I would have known this before hand.... yeah, you can bet I wouldn't have stood in that line FOREVER!

So those butterflies I mentioned many times earlier?!? Yep.... they were setting in.  I had never been on a small plane before.  And I only agreed to it for the sake of my son wanting to go up in the air.  I certainly was not going to let the plane crash and burn without me... right? Well, as bad as I make it sound? It went pretty smooth and was totally awesome! My picture taking wasn't anything compared to the picture I have in my head of my son's first expressions when the plane took off in the air.  Priceless! We had such a great time! He was all eyes and smiles, but secretly those butterflies never went away for me! And I want to skydive next? LOL 

After our nice plane ride around the city and into Corvallis a bit, we came to a safe landing and exited the plane with everything in tact.  On to the next event.  Car show, park time and a nice lunch at a pizza parlor then a quick stop at the Orchards for some farm fresh fruit and home!  It was a great time with the family, we have decided to make it our yearly adventure.