Balloons balloons balloons...

Ben wanted to post about this, so here's his contribution:
fhhhhhhhhhhh hhhh hhhh hhhhhhh hhhhh hhhhhhhh hhhhh hhhhh hhhhhh hhhhh hhhh hhhhh hhhhh ggggg
bbbbd ddd ddddd ddd dddd ddd ddddddd ssss ssss ssss ssstt ttt tttttttt tttttttt

We went to see some hot-air balloons yesterday morning. It was the second-last day of the Balloons over Waikato festival - 5 days of hot air! The weather here is generally most stable at this time of year - cool and clear mornings, hence the timing of it.
Mel wanted some kid-free time, so I woke them up slightly early and we headed down to Innes Common next to the lake to watch the cake-grab competition. The idea is that the balloonists attempt to grab a piece of cake from the top of a pole (or get as close as they can to the pole). A few of them got reasonably close (which is fairly impressive considering they don't have any steering!), but 2 metres was the closest.
The kids had lots of fun watching many balloons of different shapes - the special birthday cake balloon, a turtle and a lady beetle, along with all the more "regular" balloons. This morning was supposed to be the final morning of ballooning... but it was very foggy, so I suspect that may have thrown their plans out - just as well we went yesterday!