Our Kingly Expedition: Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2017

Field Trips

We were able to do a number of field trips while in Albuquerque and had a lot of fun! I neglected to get any pictures of the day we visited the Discovery Center tent on the balloon field. A member of our group was volunteering there and she got us in the day before it opened to work out any bugs in the systems! The kids (and adults!) were able to fly a hot air balloon via a simulator, race hot air balloons against each other on a computer, paint and color balloon pictures and more.

Another day we visited the International Balloon Museum and learned all about the history of hot air balloons.

Did you know.............

-hot air balloons were invented in France in 1783?

-the first passengers were a sheep, duck, and rooster?

-record height for a hot air balloon is 68,986 feet?

-the fastest speed ever recorded is 245 miles per hour?

-it was 1978 until a hot air balloon successfully flew across the Atlantic Ocean, a 137 hour flight?!

Dreaming of flying!

Weaving a basket, or gondola.

Ethan loved to push the button and inflate this tiny envelope.

By pushing a button that blew heat into this balloon, we were able to make it rise! To bring it back down we had to press a button that released heat near the top of the envelope.

Finding all the items on our scavenger hunt included hunting outside too!

Explora

One day we took the children to a fantastic science center! We spent hours there and could have been longer except that we were all very hungry and some had the grouchies pretty bad too.

Ethan thought it hilarious to see so many reflections of himself!

So much fun to watch gravity at work!

Emily loved diverting the water flow-and all the water exhibits in general!

Making shaped cloud puffs.

Moving air!

It was super fun to make the balls hover in mid-air!

And he found the sand :).

Making shadows grow and shrink.

Makayla had a lot of fun switching different colored lights on and watching how it changed the colors of objects.

The heat light may have been my favorite!

More color fun!

Of course the music room was a hit for all the children!

This neat exhibit had a solar powered water pump and we could change pipe fittings as many times as we wanted! Ethan was completely soaked until we moved on!

She built this house herself!

Michael loved the conveyor belt.

Huge foam blocks!

Sandia Mountains

One afternoon when the children were exhausted we took the 1 hour drive to the peak of the Sandia Mountains. It's a mile higher then the city of Albuquerque and 2 miles above sea level. The Sandia Peak Scenic Byway was exceedingly curvy but no one got carsick so it ended well :) .