The Montreal Jazz Festival

Last year we took MiniM.E. to the Montreal Jazz Festival right after she started crawling when she was   8 1/2 months old.  Remember this post?  I was terrified to take her to a hotel in Montreal, but we all had a great time.

I was a little less apprehensive this time around, though I was a little worried MiniM.E. would be bored to tears, require us to carry her all over Montreal, and would only be happy doing things like climbing stairs or playing in mulch.  

Just like last year, MiniM.E. was a fantastic traveler and my worrying was for nothing.  We all had a great time.

Last year, MiniM.E. loved the hotel.  I have to say, between petting the fuzzy ropes at the check-in desk, climbing the stairs in the lobby and taking everything off the shelves in the gift shop, I'm pretty sure it was still her favorite part of the trip.

2012: Loves the bed

2013: Still loves the bed!

MiniM.E. enjoyed the festival a lot more than last year because she did a lot less napping and a lot more running, playing, listening, climbing, and jumping this year.  

The Festival had a really cute play area for kids that MiniM.E. LOVED and asked to go to the whole time we were there (we stupidly brought her there pretty early on the first day... from then on, it was "play the piano" and "go to the sandbox")

When we weren't at the kids' area, we saw a few concerts and walked around a lot.

2012 transport

2013 transport

We went to see a Canada Day Parade (which lasted more than 2 hours.... we lasted about 90 minutes...)

Played on the benches

Ate lots of snacks

Threw pennies in the fountain

And had some down time in the hotel

Even though there was so much to do outside, MiniM.E. still wanted to swim in the pool... multiple times a day...

2012: swimming with daddy

2013: swimming with daddy

And of course, the best part of the Festival was getting wet in the fountains.

2012

If this was an indication of a successful trip last year:

We succeeded again:

The Balloon Festival

This past weekend was the Adirondack Balloon Festival.  It sounded like it was going to be pretty awesome, my mom was visiting and usually I just put her to work and she deserved a break, so we decided to go.  It was a four day event and we picked Friday evening.

We arrived at the airport in Queensbury and waited anxiously for the balloons to take off.  The website promised 80+ balloons at 5:00 pm.  We spread out a blanket and waited...

And waited...

Finally at 5:30 some balloons inflated...

but it was too windy for them to take off.  After dragging a baby there we were pretty disappointed.  But oddly intrigued.  A few of the balloonists suggested that the next morning they would take off.  AND it might be foggy, which (contrary to what one might think) would be ideal balloon viewing conditions.

What the hay, we decided.  And woke up at 5:30 to be at the airfield at 6:30 to see the balloons take off.

Things I wish I'd considered:

-It always takes longer than usual to get a baby ready when you have to be somewhere.  We didn't leave until 6:15.

-Contrary to my thinking, hundreds of people chose to wake up ridiculously early on a Saturday to take their families to the airport.  There was a HUGE line of cars.

-We probably should have tried to find a back way to the airport.  The HUGE line hardly moved.

-We might have considered leaving earlier... as we were still in traffic 2 miles from the airport at 6:30 when the balloons were supposed to start.

-Much earlier... we were still a mile away when the balloons floated over our car.

We did finally get to park after sitting in the car for two hours.

There were still a few balloons inflated that weren't going to take off, and MiniM.E. seemed to have a good time.

Especially when we walked through the craft fair and stopped for a while at the kite stand.  She liked it so much that she cried when we left.  And so begins the "crying-and-flailing-when-it's-time-to-go-phase".

So... we decided since we'd already put so much effort in, we would try one last time on Sunday.  Sadly, my mom was back at home after two failed balloon sighting events.  Sorry Mom!

We got up earlier (at 4:30... though we still left later than we planned), found a back way to the airport, avoided the traffic and were waiting on the airfield at 6:00am.  Other than the fact that I have not experienced 50 degree weather in a while and assumed a light sweatshirt would be adequate clothing, it was worth getting up early to see.

AND next year, we'll be pros.