Easter Sunday Hot Air Balloons

Early in the morning, I went to a favorite restaurant

across the street for take-out breakfast. They can get very busy

on any Sunday, but I figured they would get especially busy

on Easter Sunday, and should go early if I wanted a breakfast

from their restaurant.

My true benefit of going to breakfast early

is that I saw the hot air balloons rising near

their location.

There are several hot air balloon businesses here.

They host early morning and evening balloon rides most of the year,

but it turned into a special way to see and celebrate Easter.

My take-out breakfast got cold as I continued

to photograph the balloons in the parking lot

and at home across the street from this launch.

My favorite hot air balloon was the rainbow balloon.
What a beautiful symbol of spring to see the rainbow balloon in the sky

and the leaves growing a tree!

The hot air balloons became my morning connection

with consciousness rising and celebrating Easter

when I don't have children hunting for Easter eggs or receiving

Easter baskets.

I also don't go to church, but believe in the greater

ideas of rising consciousness and awakening with

awareness. The balloons became a beautiful

symbol of Easter for me as someone connecting

with the idea of Easter without baskets, eggs,

and a trip to a church service.

Then, I was sharing my hot air balloon photos on Facebook 

when I saw the photo posted below.

It was posted by a Facebook page called 

"Inhabitants of Burque" (Albuquerque). 

This pretty much explains the connection 

between hot air balloons and Easter Sunday!  

The sun continued to rise, and the hot air balloons

finished their early morning journey through the sky.

Ella has wanted to go outside for several days,

but we have had a lot of gusty winds.

She insisted we go out by mid-morning and not wait

to see if there would be more gusty winds this afternoon.

The bunny and marble egg became a part of her sharing

Easter with her online friends.

As we went through her clothes,
she told me that she would put on her pink shirt,

but she was not going to wear a dress.

Hmm... I don't think she has a complete dress

like a spring or Easter dress.
The pink shirt works for a spring adventure!

We walked around a little more.
The sky is blue and the trees are continuing

to turn green with spring.

Ella enjoyed her walk about with the green grass,

the blue sky, the blue egg,

and her bunny friend.

We wish you all a

Happy Easter!!!!

Okay, what are we going to do with the bunny?

The First Day of Spring!

Tomorrow is the first day of spring!
We are happy to see leaves and flowers growing

on the trees on the property where we live.

There are very few plants and trees that I know the names for,
but this tree was one that Ella and Amaya had played with last summer

as the pods fell to the ground.

Seeing that there is still a process of growth

was an amazing reminder of the process of waking up

and growing again.

The trees that we have stood under

this winter are growing new, green leaves.

There is a second tree like the first one with the pink flowers.

I am curious about what kind of trees they are.

The second tree was small enough that Ella could

sit on the branch with the flowers.

She wanted to stand with the daffodils,

but these daffodils are the back of the planting area,

making it less than ideal in the way I pose her and photograph her.

She said that she is still happy that they are here,

and that she will pose with them when the ones we

can reach bloom.

A bush had red flowers on it

that she was able to show off from lower down.

We enjoyed walking around and seeing that winter

was ending and that spring is arriving!

Happy Spring!

Spring is Coming!

We have been experiencing warmer weather

and the shift toward spring.
On February 23rd, I noticed that the Bradford Pear trees

were starting to bloom.

By the next weekend, the white blossoms had started blooming.

By the middle of the week, the trees were in full bloom.

Since I knew they'd be in bloom for a few weeks,

I waited until the middle of the morning on Saturday, March 5th
to take some sunny pictures.

Ella was happy to get outside and see the trees.

On Sunday, I walked around my apartment complex again.
The trees with pink blossoms are in bloom in the complex
and in the local community.
I believe the pink blossom trees are cherry trees. 

Autumn wanted her turn to go out and see the trees,

so I took her out on Sunday, March 6th.

The branches on this tree are not low enough for her to 

stand on and pose with, but I held her up to photograph

her with the blossoms on the tree.

Autumn noticed the pink blossoms that had blown to the ground.

Can I keep the blossom?

Oops! The wind blew it from my hand!

Why can't I keep it?

She gave up on the question about blossoms

to walk around the tree trunk.

Okay, she is also really cute!

At least we can keep the photos of the tree blossoms.

We walked back around to the Bradford Pear trees
with the white blossoms.

Autumn said that they are beautiful!
They remind her of snow, except they are in the tree.

Autumn enjoyed posing in a tree
where she could stand on a branch.

As a piece of information, Autumn and Ella have now

both posed in this tree, but Autumn can pose on a branch

that I could not safely pose Ella on due to height differences.

Autumn stopped to smell the blossoms before we went in.

Some people don't like the smell, but they only last a few weeks

before the blossoms fall and the green leaves grow back again.

She smiled. She didn't mind the pollen that ended up on her bangs!

After all, spring will soon be here!

Amaya heard Autumn's enthusiasm, and insisted on seeing

what the transition into spring looked like outside

on Monday, March 7th.

The flower stems are growing. The grass is turning green,

and the juniper bush has berries growing on it.

Amaya did not want to pose up on the tree,

but changed her mind once we arrived at the

Bradford Pear tree.

She posed on the branch where Ella had posed on Saturday.
They now have all had a turn to pose in this tree with white blossoms.

But, Amaya's favorite part of her walk

was when she found a small dandelion on the ground.

Being little has its advantages.

We can't wait until it is spring!