after the take down, the glow(eth)

thursday night, after gus took down vader, we went to the glowdeo, which is a nighttime burn of all the special shapes balloons at balloon fiesta. of course, the highlight once again was the dark lord...and he glowethed most mightily. we ran into randy and übermom tammie while gawking at vader; the boys thus proceeded to try and skewer each other with their light sabers for the next hour. it was a fabulous glow!

you cannot get within 100 feet of the vader balloon at balloon fiesta, as he is heavily guarded by storm troopers

burn, vader, burn!

there were other balloons at the glow

i kinda liked the pig

and the dragons

sophie, who had to stay home with daddy, missed what would have been the end-all be-all of her existence: a pinky (panda) balloon!

even from a distance, and even though it is totally black, you gotta love the vader balloon

gus and randy, being gus and randy

the night ended with a fireworks display



but this morning...
on a very, very sad note, the triangular balloon on the right side of this picture went down this morning, killing the pilot and critically injuring the passenger. ballooning is so peaceful and relaxing and so wonderful to experience, yet it can go terribly, terribly wrong. tragic.