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

Wow!! Is it really spring?

I can't believe it's been over 3 months since my last post. It seems like when I have time to post, there's nothing going on. But once we start flying, I don't have time to post.

We have gotten a couple flights in since my last post. Our last flight started out perfect; however, about half way through the flight, the winds shift. This left our mightly pilot going into a direction that he didn't really want to go into. But being the awesome pilot he is. He had a great, yet tense, landing. He came in over Hulen Lake in Columbia and landed in a very tight back yard.

Here's a picture of his landing spot. We had a large tree on one side, and a tree and power line on the other side. He has become such a great pilot, and I am so proud of him!

Memorial Day weekend we are off to Decatur, Alabama for the Alabama Jubilee. This will be our first festival with Mai'Ken Dreams! We couldn't be more excited! Stay tuned, I will hopefully have pictures posted soon after our return.

Soft Landings
Kenny and Marianne