As I went to make my morning coffee, I casually asked the kids if any balloons were up this morning, knowing the festival was on at the moment. Teeny footsteps padded to the front windows before, “OH WOW! Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it! MUM, come NOW. You gotta see this!”. As I turn my attention to the front of our house, my mouth falls open in a wide smile and my eyes track up. And up. and even further up. From below, we can see a wooden woven basket hanging below a perfectly round, bright orange hot air balloon. It’s so close, we can see the people on board. We “ooh” and “aah” a couple of seconds, then race onto the front deck where we are open to the glory of this thing drifting right over our house. The “whoosh” of the flames sounds like a giant blowing out candles. We are in awe, standing alongside one another and waving to the people on board.
“Look! Look! Another!”, cries our 11-year-old, and sure enough there is a bright, bulging, brilliant blue balloon coming alongside us. With our heads back about as far as they’ll go, I life our youngest onto my chest as she waves and cries out in delight and welcome. When we see these balloons over the house and up, up and away into the distance, we finally notice the other twelve balloons across the Canberra skyline, drifting up into the clouds and down around the city. What a glorious sight on a Wednesday morning.
“Maybe it’s someone’s birthday today”, says Miss Seven.
