The other day while Clove was playing his “Video Game”, I was sharing with him how much I had not explored this great city and surrounding area in my childhood. So, we decided let's make this summer all about the chirrens (children, inside joke) and in some way, now that I think about it while writing this, I think I was also fulfilling my inner child with this great family outing. I was really deprived of doing cool things as a kid and my parents were not the typo to plan activities with us, they we're too busy running a business, chasing the dream and you know that immigrant parents goes HAM & HARD plus even include their kids in their plan, but that is another story for another day. Since the age of zero to 14 years old I remember going to La Ronde once, seeing fireworks once, never going to a zoo or aquarium… you get the picture.

We've been living here back in MTL from Edmonton for about 4 years now and every summer, anywhere I go on or offline by mid-July, I would start to see promo's or signs of a hot air balloon festival Mongolfières Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, which got me thinking, I have never seen a hot air balloon up close ever in my life.

Since the focus this summer was about having fun this year, we finally made the plan to check out this festival. For the super details you'll have to listen to the podcast when we are back online live Sept.10,2014 via @Spreecast (plug, wink!) but for now i'll keep it short and sweet.

So how was it, well, first and foremost it was a nice surprise to drive in and see Cessna planes right by the action, up close. Parking was very organized everyone knew when an area was filled and professional volunteers would direct you to an available spot which was convenient and save a lot of time. As soon as we entered we are greeted by inflatable balloons which is the largest park structures and inflatable games in the world, I mean they are everywhere. We did arrive with an empty stomach but as soon as the girls saw all the giant, shapely balloons how can they resist. Forget our bellies, let get jumping to Planet Balloon!

The great thing I find about this festival is the amount of things to do, see, or be entertained by, I mean it was sensory overload which for me as an extrovert is awesome. For the gaming strategist in you there was giant checkers or chessboard. While we finally got some food in the middle of our meal there was the Parachute Team of the Canadian Armed Forces the Skyhawks , who jumped above the site. For the audio feens there is music and comedy from Kid Cudi (super sad I miss that performance) and Marie-Mai (pass the torch celine dion people LOVE her here in Quebec) to the joking styles of Adib Alkhalidey and Pierre Hébert (he, Pierre that is, was lively, i'd hear 'em any where on festival ground). If you love speed and you're all about that giving your own heart a wake up call the rides are very cool, Ronin and I tried the Extreme and I was floating off my seat which was AWESOME! Lida and I tried this dark room trailer haunted house thing and to be honest that was way to short of a thrill, it made me question giving away my tickets but hey, what's important Princess liked it.

Just to go back on the food court by the entrance thinking to myself, is this it, where is the ice cream, is there halal meat around here (I'm not Muslim but halal meat taste super fresh to me). I'd like other choices other than hot dog or poutine… where is the rest of the food, well as you walk deeper in the festival passed the rides a massive food court was there which I think they should have kept all food related kiosk in one area. There is so much more to share but again you'll have to hear on the podcast.

Now the question is how was the hot air balloons? Well, I'm sad to say that I did not get to fill my inner child to seeing my first hot air balloon up close and personal, our family missed the action due to mother nature, it was very cloudy that day & the organizers decided to cancel all flights for safety reason plus on top of that it's was the last day of the festival so we'll just have to go back next year during the week of August 8th to August 16 2015, hope to see you there.

P.S. If you are planning to ride a balloon, make sure to book in advance, when in advance, I'll have to find out in March or something.