Ottumwa Pro Balloon Race 2011

We were in Ottumwa, IA this past weekend at the Ottumwa Pro Balloon Race. It wasn't a very nice weekend for flying, but we did have fun.

We snuck a flight in Friday evening. It was slow going, but it was a great time to take a wonderful 75 year young lady for her first ever hot air balloon ride.
Kenny's giving Joanie her instruction while John and Joe keep weight on the balloon.

Lookin' good up there, Joanie and Kenny. They were moving super slow!

They did not hit the intended target, which was the park, as the winds shift on them mid flight.

Joanie was a great sport with the traditional champagne on the head toast. We think she has a secret life we don't know about. LOL

We went back to the park and set up again for the evening glow. This sure is an awesome glow balloon!!

Of course, all the balloons looked great. It was a perfect night for a glow.

We had the best crew/sponsors of the weekend. We were sponsored by Hogs 4 Dogs USA. A great organization helping stray and abused pets. John, Tammie, Lori and Joanie were so much fun. We can't wait for next year!!

This weekend we are off to Canton, Mississippi. It's going to be a warm one, but we are hoping to get a lot of flying in.

Until next time,

Soft Landings,

Kenny and Marianne

Show Me Balloon Club Crew Training Flight

There's a new balloon club in the Columbia area, Show Me Balloon Club.

We had a crew training a couple weeks ago, and we even recruited some new crew!

Here they are taking a tour of Tim's basket. Welcome to ballooning, Scott, Drek, April and PJ.
We cold inflated Tim Graham's balloon, Still No Regrets. It was a bit windy that afternoon, but it gave everyone a good overview.

Time to pack up, so we can do it again!

Mai'Ken Dreams and Still No Regrets finally got to take to the skies. So glad the wind died down and it became a nice evening.

Soft Landings,

Kenny and Marianne

Sunday, June 5th Momma Peggy and Sister Jenn, along with Jenn's adorable kids, Faythe and Ethan, came for a visit..and to help fly the balloon!

Isn't Ethan cool in his pink sunglasses??

Joe also joined us to help out. Good job on the crown line, Joe!
Here's Jenn and Peggy holding the mouth open. Great crew!!

Our balloong, along with our friend Layne's new balloon. There were a total of 5 balloons that evening, but i wasn't able to get pictures of all of them.

Kenny and Layne, great photography work, Jenn, thanks for the help!

Kenny landed at the MU golf course, beautiful place to land, horrible place to try to carry a balloon out of!!

Until next time...

Soft Landings,

Kenny and Marianne

Flying over Anchorfest in Centralia, MO

Man, am I behind on blogging, again!

Kenny flew our friend Bob Davis over Anchorfest on June 4th. It was a beautiful evening flight.

We launched from a park on the West side of Centralia so he could fly over downtown, where the Anchorfest was.

They didn't quite make it over the main area where they wanted to, but they had a great flight.

They finally landed in a cornfield, where we had to do some packing to get it out.

Here's Kenny giving Bob the history of ballooning.
While Cherry, Kathy, Val and Matt listen from the sidelines. And then...the champagne bath and mother earth shower.

I think Bob's done this before!

We had a great evening in Centralia with Bob, Kathy, Joe, Val and Matt. Kathy and Bob are ready to come out and crew again!!

Until next time,

Soft Landings,

Kenny and Marianne

Fun Flight over Columbia

Last weekend we got several flights in. Saturday morning started early. Kenny took our friend Austin Hein up for his first ever balloon ride. Austin was a little nervous to begin with, but he had a great time. Here's KB giving Austin the low down on what to expect.

We had a few balloons up that morning, it was a beautiful day!
Austin's sister Ashtin and her friend Erica came out to help too! Cute girls, and fun!

Of course, we had to give the traditional first time toast to Austin, nothing like a champagne bath on a Saturday morning.

He was a great sport about it. We love having the Hein family around!!

Stay tuned for more pictures from the weekend.

Soft Landings,

Kenny and Marianne

Ballooning fun = great friends

Since we began ballooning with our friend Lynn in 2006, we have met some wonderful people. Here we are at the Alabama Jubilee with our friend Tim Billingsly from Georgia. He's a great pilot, a great person and a lot of fun to be around. It's always a good time when we are flying with Tim!
We also get to meet a lot of great crew. Here are Kenny and I with our Columbia crew-member Stacie, and also our Jubilee crew members, Alan and Roger.

Thanks for all the great help, Everyone! I hope you had as much fun as we did!

Soft Landings,

Kenny and Marianne

Alabama Jubilee, Sunday morning flight

Kenny took our crew member Stacie on the competition flight Sunday morning. We launched from a beautiful yard. Our local crew did a great job of getting us to the best yard in the town!

There's nothing like being in the sky and being surrounded by lots of balloons. So beautiful and peaceful!

There's the X! They made it!

And there's the baggie being thrown on the X

He did score on the target; however, not as close as Saturday morning.

We did finish in 16th place, out of 65 balloons! We are very excited as this is our first competition with Kenny as the pilot.

Soft Landings,

Kenny and Marianne

Alabama Jubilee 2011, Saturday evening

Saturday evening at the Alabama Jubilee was supposed to be a fun flight; however, the winds kept us ground. But they did not keep us from glowing! We had a great time and a lot of compliments on both our balloon, and the safety of our pilot. This is one of the pictures that was in the Decatur Daily Sunday edition.

The Alabama Jubilee 2011, Saturday morning

Wow, what a weekend we had in Decatur, Alabama. We kicked off the competition Saturday morning with a Hare and Hound task.
We launched from the park to follow Balloonmeister Mike Wahl across the Tennessee River.

I was so proud of my pilot, he did a great job on his first competitive flight, and first balloon festival.

The scene from the sky is beautiful. Nothing like being surrounded by balloons on all sides of you!

We saw the target, and even scored on it!! Such a great accomplishment for our first festival!

Stay tuned for more photos from the weekend soon.

Soft Landings

Kenny and Marianne Jay