start of our third anniversary

this year, due to work schedules, we didn't plan anything long or far away but we decided to spread the fun over a few weekends. it started on saturday at 4:30 am (that's right!), when we drove to temecula for the annual balloon and wine festival. the clouds were unexpectedly low at the 6:00 am start time, so the coordinated launch scheduled didn't happen as planned. we were still able to see some amazing balloons launch right in front of us and the sky filled with 30-40 hot air balloons.

did you guys see what's over there?

i so wished the sky had been a beautiful blue. the balloons were amazing colors.

we watched one balloon fill up with hot air right in front of us. we weren't sure it was the prettiest balloon because it was all brown, but when it fully inflated, we understood!

smoky the bear :)

after a bit we went to paul's house (my first time). we walked around and admired the beautiful view.

we went for breakfast and then in the car we started teaching aleah some new words. she liked the word "pot" for some reason. daddy started naming everything rhyming with "pot", like "hot", "tot", "cot"...she thought it was hilarious. so funny!

after lunch dale took us to a beautiful lake park. we walked around there for a good bit, taking in the beauty of the day.

we stopped at the park to swing, slide, and ride.

we smelled flowers along the way, and every flower was given the same respect.

we are so happy with the man who makes our lives so complete.

there were fun rocks to sit on and practice balancing on.

daddy got a turn with the camera.

we both loved this one! she was clinging to my legs and i focused in...then picked her up!

after the park we looked at some amazing cows. check out the horns on these animals! i really felt sorry for them actually.

next we went shopping, then we all took a snooze in the car until it was time to head back to the balloon festival. it was very packed with people but we were still up close to all the balloons as they lit up the sky. it was dramatic. what a fun day and night we had :)