Balloons in my Backyard

The official end of summer used to mean the Greek Festival for me but with my Dad gone, my Mom and I can't bring ourselves to go. The Greek Festival was a hoot--ouzo, lots of music and learning to do the Greek dances, tons of food and buttery cookies to bring home. So now I look to other events to wrap up summer, aside from the usual cooling trends and leaf color changes. A new(er) annual event for us is the balloon races. I make a ton of chocolate chip cookies and we head out at the crack of dawn to watch the mass ascension. They have a solid four days of balloonacy (I couldn't resist). Ruby and I will be baking fiends as soon as she's up from her nap. (And yes, I just realized I talked about this a couple of posts back)

We've had quite the day so far: some balloon watching in the morning and then up to the lake for a swim and lunch with my Mama. It feels like the bittersweet end of vacation--I won't be needing to take 'daycare days' off anymore since she'll be back to it next week so I'm trying to make the most of it. Have a nice weekend basking in the late summer sun and dreaming of falling leaves and cocoa. Sounds cheesy but good, eh?