Don’t you think a balloon festival should have balloons?  Let me explain.

Last Sunday, we met up with my sister and BIL at the 2009 Quickchek Balloon Festival.  Officially, it was the 27th Annual Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning, but I shall refer to it as “the balloon festival.” Maybe it was the 11-year-old in me, but I was imagining a big festival with 50 or more hot air balloons, festival attendees gawking, going up on rides, chocolate lamp posts, and rose-colored glasses and fried dough for everyone.  Not quite what I was expecting.

1. It was $25 per ticket for adults, and $10 for kids 4 and over.  That only included admission to the festival grounds at the Thor Solberg airport in Readington, NJ.  All the festival food and activities were at normal price-gouging levels.
2. There were so many people, we ended up parking on a grassy field that was extremely muddy.  Try pushing two strollers through the squishy mud.
3. It was hot.  It was so hot, the sun was beating down like it was the desert.  The sweat was dripping so much into our eyes, it burned.
4. There was no place to sit that wasn’t crowded.
5. Did I mention the price-gouging?
6. There were no balloons!  That’s right, no balloons.  They are only inflated at 6:30am and again at 6:30pm.

I had hoped to see some balloons, so we did what we could to pass the time. We waited on lines for freebies from PNC Bank and QuickChek. We took Josh on some kiddie rides.  Around 5pm, a heavy thunderstorm came into the area.  We’re talking rain, lots of lightning, and high winds.  I got separated from everyone, and then the wind and rain really hit.  Festival organizers recommended to folks to head to the safety of their cars around the same time a tent blew down.

A hot air balloon at the Quick Chek Balloon Festival

Somehow, we made it all back to our car, and the storm finally passed.  However, we were pretty beat, and weren’t waiting around any more hours for the balloons, so we hightailed it out of there.  We met up at a nearby diner for dinner and to decompress.

Would we do it again next year?  I have no clue.

Today, my wife was working, so she missed all the fun.  I took the kids to Philadelphia to spend a few hours at the Please Touch Museum. My wife first told me about it, and I think she had heard about it from her coworkers.  Ironically, the day we finally take the kids there, she’s gotta work.  Sucks.

Robbie & Joshua at the Please Touch Museum

In the morning, we got them ready, and off we went.  First I took the kids to Dunkin Donuts to get some donuts to go.  I didn’t want to unstrap the kids, so I opted for my first ever trip through the drive-thru.  Dunkin Donuts is currently running a promotion for 6 donuts for just $3.  Sounds nice, but you know what? I don’t want 6 donuts, I just want 3 donuts.  I’m sitting at the drive-thru, no menu of all the donuts to choose from, and the guy tries to convince me to get a half-dozen, as it’s the same price.  I figure what the hell, sure.  I start trying to rattle off a few types that I could remember, and they don’t have it.  What’s the point if they didn’t have any selection today?  I ended up getting the ONLY two glazed they had, one boston creme, and three chocoloate donuts.  We ate in the car, and Josh was covered in chocolate crumbs.

We met up with my sister and her husband at their place, and I drove the five of us to Philly.  The museum was very nice, and certainly a higher quality than the Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill we visited a while back. Lots of exhibits for the kids to see and interact with.  We had lunch around 2:30pm, and wrapped up around 5pm.  We’ll have to go back sometime.

My son’s birthday is this weekend.  I’m not sure how it happened, we are celebrating it over the course of the entire weekend.  On Friday, we had a party with cake, clown, grab bags, balloons and everything else in his classroom Friday afternoon.  In the evening, we went out for shopping in Edison, and dinner at Bombay Talk (hmmm, dosa.)

We hired a clown for his party	Nums & Joshua
That's a big dosa for a big boy.

My son’s birthday is this weekend.  I’m not sure how it happened, we are celebrating it over the course of the entire weekend.  On Friday, we had a party with cake, clown, grab bags, balloons and everything else in his classroom Friday afternoon.  In the evening, we went out for shopping in Edison, and dinner at Bombay Talk (hmmm, dosa.)

He's comes for the popcorn, but stays for the circus.

On Saturday, my sister and her husband came over early in the morning to babysit our daughter.  Josh, my wife, and I drove to the Prudential Center to see Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus perform.  We bought tickets way back in December, and have been waiting all this time to surprise Joshua.  He was pretty excited.  I still remember back in 1985 (or 1986?) when my parents took my sister and I to see the Ringling Bros. circus perform at Madison Square Garden.  I think the souvenir pennant is still somewhere in a box  at my parents’ house.  We’ve come full circle, as I took my son to see the same circus.

Apart from the pricey concessions ($12 for cotton candy?), it was a great show.  We even got there in time to catch the end of the All Access Pre-Show down on the floor.  Joshua’s favorite part of the show were the tigers.  The Prudential Center is brand new and very nice.  I’d love to go back there.

Pictures will be up Monday.  We’ve got a fun-filled weekend, so I don’t think I’ll be uploading for another day or two.

My sister and brother-in-law hung out the rest of the day with us, and stayed for dinner too.  It was a really nice afternoon evening, chatting, playing at the playground, and enjoying the balmy 70-degree weather.

I’ve uploaded a slew of September 2008 photos, and you will also soon see new photos for October 2008 from Julie & Robbie’s housewarming (coming soon, keep checking.)  New September photos include Sai and Karthik’s chaat party, random family shots, and our anniversary dinner.

This morning, we did some driving around Central Jersey, buying clothes for the kids — they’re quicky growing out of their current wardrobe. We had a nice lunch together at a McDonald’s in Bridgewater, believe it or not.  Strange as it may sound, we all sat together, ate lunch, and felt no pressure to hurry off to the next task.  You could almost call it “quality family time.”

In the evening, we went to the aforementioned housewarming at my sister’s place.

I don’t know how I missed it.  Well, sure I do — I’ve been busy with work and family life to keep track of major announcements in the gaming industry, but Blizzard announced the upcoming release of Diablo 3.  Diablo 3!  Oh, if only I had a fast enough PC to play it.  And the free time that would be required.  I never purchased or played Diablo 2, and the reviews were mediocre, if memory serves me.  The sequel’s gameplay strategy was summed up as, “Click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click.  Reload game.”  The video/picture quality and screen detail made it feel very authentic too.  See the sample screen captures posted below [warning: very large.]

I do have a soft spot in my heart for Blizzard games like the Starcraft/Warcraft/Diablo franchises.  Excellent gameplay, great music, fun stories.  I remember many a late night I was playing the original Diablo at home, with the spooky music, and the even spookier screaming-in-agony voices you would hear in the background.  It was only a game, but you had to think twice before turning the corner, or wondering what was waiting for you behind the door.

This morning, I took Joshua to his Saturday morning gym class.  Afterwards, we all met up with my sister and her husband to visit our pastor at the church in preparations for the baptism next month.  We later got lunch at a diner in Princeton, where I finally had a decent pastrami sandwich in NJ.  Now, if they could just stuff more pastrami in the actual sandwich, I’d be happy.

Speaking of food, a London restaurant was serving up Thursday what it hopes will be confirmed as the world’s hottest curry, with even the chef admitting it is “too extreme” to keep on the menu. Vivek Singh at The Cinnamon Club grabbed some of the hottest chilli peppers known to man to create the Bollywood Burner, a lamb-based dish with a fierce kick. The curry is so hot that diners are asked to sign a disclaimer confirming they are aware of the risks involved before daring to eat it.

It reminds me of the time in April 2006 when I was on a business trip to Toronto, CA, and I had spicy chicken vindaloo and naan for dinner one night.  The vindaloo was so spicy, I spent the entire dinner dipping my naan into the curry, eating it, then drinking water to cool my mouth down.  Gosh, that was a good dinner.