Air Baboons.
We've seen a lot of air baboons this week.
What?
What's that?
You don't know what an air baboon is?
You must not have a three-year-old.
These are air baboons:
Last night, on a whim, Greg and I decided to take the kids to Balloon Glow in Forest Park. In the past few days, Ethan has seen a number of balloons gearing up for the Great Forest Park Race, and keeps talking about them whenever we go outside. It seemed only natural to take him up there. We tried this a few years ago with Laurel and sat in traffic for a good hour just trying to get into Forest Park. Once we got in, there was nowhere to park so we were only able to drive through.
My spirits were buoyed this year to see the race website provided directions from Metrolink. Any time I can take the train to easily get where I'm going, I do. Plus, bonus! Ethan loves trains. We gathered up the kids, the stroller, and our courage to face crowds and headed downtown.
When we disembarked from the train we were faced with construction at Barnes Hospital. Lots of construction. We sallied forth around it, followed the crowd, and crossed Kingshighway amid hundreds of honking cars at a standstill to enter the relative serenity (choke) that is Forest Park.
And that, friends, is why public transit is such a gem. Forget the weirdos and drunks and all that -- I'll put up with kooks and freaks in order to avoid sitting in a car for an hour.
Anyway.
We got there, walked, walked, and walked some more to get around orange construction fencing. They were just beginning to inflate the balloons when we arrived, as you can see in the photo above.
It didn't take long for the balloons to be full and ready to go. Darkness loomed, the pilots fired their burners, and the colors came alive:
Some balloons are perennial favorites, being oddly shaped, like the Energizer Bunny (this is the balloon the other balloons chase in the race -- and it has twice the number of burners), the Wehrenberg Theatres Popcorn Bag, the Pepsi Can and United Van Lines:
While we were walking around, Laurel spotted some people sporting glowing necklaces. She really wanted one but the grounds were SO crowded and we had no idea where to get them. I told her to go ask a young, college-aged couple where they got theirs. They were so nice, they gave theirs to our kids in spite of my insistence that we didn't want to take theirs, we were just looking for more. I told Greg that's the kind of thing that restores my faith in humanity when my tank is about empty.
The kids had a wonderful time and were completely worn out when we got home. And I was reminded yet again why it is that I love....
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