Mother's Day is approaching fast...are you having trouble thinking of a gift that tops last years? How about trying to come up with a gift that really shows mom how much you appreciate her...

...a balloon ride is the perfect way! A hot air balloon ride is on almost everyone's bucket list, and what a special gift to give to your mom on her special day! Get your siblings together and pitch in for a unqiue experience of a life time!

    We can make custom gift certificate's for you to make this Mother's Day a memorable  one.

            Contact us for your today! 518-796-0373 or todd@sunkissballooning.com

    As the snow melts the SunKiss Balloon Team and Monahan Airways are getting excited to start the 2011 ballooning season! 

    Ballooning is starting early this year, and from down under. Todd, Scott and Christina will be traveling to Hamilton, New Zealand to fly the Clown-N-Around hot air balloon in the Balloons Over Waikato Balloon Festival. This is a trip that none of them have made before and they are looking forward to exploring New Zealand.

    This year Todd and Scott with Monahan Airways will be very busy traveling the US, Canada and Mexico with the "Clown-N-Around Balloon" and this seasons newest addition T"he Haunted Mansion". Be sure to check out photos of both at www.monahanairways.com as well as their event calendar to see where you can catch them along their tour.

    In addition to traveling with the special shaped balloons Todd and his SunKiss Team will be hard at work touring the festival circuit with his regular HEAD 105 Balloon "SunBurst" as well as managing the rides here are home. There are still rides available so please be sure to contact us to schedule yours. It is a great gift idea or the perfect way to celebrate a special occasion. Let our team make your special occasion a memorable one! 

    The SunKiss Festival meetings have started as well and there are lots of new and exciting things being planned for this years event. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of this years event we would love to work with you, contact us to find out more about our sponsorship opportunities. For up to date information on the festival please keep checking back to www.sunkissballooning.com/festival for more details.

    Thats our quick update for now. Please be sure to check out our websites, including our calendars to see when we will be in your area, and with which balloon, hope to see you around!!

This year is an exciting year for the Lake George Winter Carnival as they are celebrating their 50th year and the SunKiss Balloon Team is grateful to be apart of it!!

We kicked off this years event with a celebration parade on Feb. 5th down Canada St in Lake George. The wintery weather was in full action as our balloon team and equipment was covered in snow but we entertained the crowd nonetheless. We were a big hit with our mobile heaters as we traveled the parade route blasting our burners for the crowd. This years parade had three times the participants as last year and we were very proud to be asked to participate in it.

Last weekend was just the kick off, there are three more weekends jammed pack full of fun!  This weekend we will return to the ice Saturday and Sunday morning at 7:30 AM in preparation for our morning hot air balloon tethered rides. and will be there every Saturday and Sunday mornings in February. Lake George is a beautiful place to visit, and seeing it from 150 feet above it is even more breath taking.
The Hot Air Balloon tethered ride is just one great reason to visit LG in the winter, they have all kinds of activities going on all month long for everyone, check them out on the web at www.lakegeorgewintercarnival.com

If you are around on Sunday about 1PM come check us out at Shepards Cove as the SunKiss Balloon Team will be participating in the 2011 Tavern Competition. Our pilots and team members will work together to complete a series of relay races while battling the snow and wintery temperatures .

February 19th and 20th will be our annual Winter Fly Off from Lake George. We will invite some of our closest friends and pilots to come visit for the weekend. We plan to take a scenic flight from the ice, flying over the mountains and landing in the farm fields of beautiful Fort Ann. On Saturday night we will return to the ice in the evening for a Moon Glow in coordination with a fireworks display. It should be a lot of fun and offer lots of great photos opportunities. If you have never seen a moon glow it is a must see, so be sure not to miss it.

And don't forget join our crew every Saturday and Sunday morning on the ice near Million Dollar Beach. We look forward to seeing you, so please stop by and introduce yourself!

It’s that time of year again. The temperature changes, the fall foliage that has kept us so busy falls to the ground, it gets darker earlier and earlier, our phones may not be ringing as much, and our chase vehicles may not be getting as many miles put on them. Unfortunately, all good things must come to end. It is now that we are saying good bye to our 2010 flying season and thanking it for a heck of a ride!

This past year has been great. We have traveled a lot and gained lots of new crew that we are so thankful for. It was a great season and we couldn’t have done it without you all, and you know who you are. Even though the flying may have calmed for a bit our crew is still as anxious as ever. Again this year we will be participating in the 2010 GF National Holiday Parade in South Glens Falls on November 21^st. We have lots of new crew, great ideas, and ready hands to make this year’s float happen. This year will be bigger and better than any year before, and we are on the list to be judged, we will be “UP” for the holidays to give you a little hint…so be sure to come check us out!

After the parade we will do our traditional Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot flight and after party. I have heard that the “turkey football” has been repaired and is ready for this year’s event. Our ballooning teams have become one big family, and holidays are all about family…so we start Thanksgiving out with a flight with ours. It is always a great time; contact us for more details if you would like to join us.

Don’t worry, we won’t be putting the balloons away for hibernation…Todd couldn’t do that, he would go crazy without any ballooning. We have the Lake George Winter Carnival! Come join us every Saturday and Sunday in February on Lake George…and we mean on it, literally. Join our team as we provide tether rides (for a fee) on the ice of Lake George. Experience a taste of what a balloon ride is like with the mountainous views of Lake George region covered in snow caps…a sight to see, don’t miss it! Oh and that’s not all, typically the third weekend in February we do our Snow Bird event. We bring all of our ballooning friends out of hibernation for a winter fly off and moon glow from Lake George. It is a tricking flight that can only happen so many times a year, don’t miss it. That same weekend we will join the Lake George Winter Carnival teams at their bon fire where we will display our balloons at a moon glow just in time for the fireworks over the lake.

So we won’t be soaring through the skies 5-8 times a week, going over our cell phone minutes, or having (as many) weekend tailgates but we will give you some reasons to come out of the house this winter, and we’ll be looking for you, so see you soon!

This year’s Festival was better than we could’ve ever imagined.  We had approximately 30 balloons in attendance with 4 special shapes, “Annie” the Lady Bug, “Gus T Guppy”, “American Flag” (sponsored by NBT Bank) and our very own “Clown-N-Around.”  

Friday’s launch at SUNY Adirondack was a great success. The evening started with a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce, representative from SUNY Adirondack, Todd and his team members, twin Scott and girlfriend Christina. The ribbon was cut, the cameras flashed, and the ribbon was presented to the team as a keepsake for success for years to come. What once seemed to be a dream of a little boy wasn’t a dream anymore…

That dream became a reality the evening of Friday September 10^th as Todd inflated his balloon, “SunBurst” on the grounds of the SUNY Adirondack campus, where he once watched the balloons launched himself as a child. He was the first of many to fly off commencing the start of the weekend activities. As he drifted away with the winds he looked back at the campus to see all his fellow pilots inflate and launch with him. He could see SUNY Adirondack’s student government’s merchandise stand selling his branded t-shirts to spectators that were there to watch his team’s event and could see his father on the ground looking up telling spectators around him, “that’s my son.” All the hard work that had been going on throughout the year seemed at times overwhelming, but that moment made it all worth it. Todd had set out to do his own thing several years ago, and never thought it would’ve grown to what it is today in such a short period of time. The college was excited to have the event back and the community seemed to be just as supportive. Hopefully that evening was just the beginning to a long relationship over the years.

Saturday morning the festivities continued but were moved to Kingswood Golf Course in Hudson Falls, NY. The Kent family has been great supporters of ballooning and without them that weekend wouldn’t have been possible. The news must have caught on because there was already a line of cars filled with spectators hoping to park soon to ensure they could get a good spot to watch the launch before the sun had even risen. SUNY Adirondack’s merchandise stand was up and ready to raise money for their yearly events. There were vendors lined up alongside the roadway, selling hot air balloon rides, festival remembrance items, face painting, airbrush tattoos by the Artbucket, taking canned goods as donations for the local food pantry, a full fledged concession stand by Ostrander Concessions, fresh squeezed lemonade and kettle corn too! At first the fogged seemed as though it might ground the launch but as the morning went on and the sun started to heat up the fog was lifted and the launch went on as scheduled. During the day there was a Bounce House supplied by SunKiss Ballooning, live radio from FROGGY 107.1 and helicopter rides by Heli Flights. The grounds of the golf course were packed with people as they lingered around for the evening launch. The SunKiss Team went about doing their busy day not noticing that the size of the crowd had nearly triple since the morning launch. A brief glance at the parking lot showed it packed full with cars and trail of even more up the roadside for as far as the eye could see. The evening launch went on without a glitch and the crowd roared as the balloons launched. The American Flag, sponsored by NBT Bank, launched after its musical introduction of God Bless America provided by Premier Sound. Later that evening, back at the Land Mark Motor Inn, the pilots were presented with a private musical performance by Richie Ortiz.  It was a great way to end a very long day.

Sunday morning the excitement still went on with the morning launch. It was the last hurrah for the weekend with rain in the forecast. The flight was slow, calm and peaceful…the perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

The SunKiss Team was very proud of their event and can’t thank the supporters of it enough. The team took a little boy’s dream, added some elbow grease, teamwork, community support and made that dream come true…

Keep your eyes and ears open for 2011…you never know what we will come up with next! Check out our media exposure links below:

http://poststar.com/news/local/article_492ad55c-bd48-11df-9028-001cc4c03286.html

http://poststar.com/news/local/article_58788e82-aa42-11df-829c-001cc4c002e0.html

http://poststar.com/image_7f81bfca-04f3-514c-97e1-45a19dec0315.html

http://poststar.com/image_3774cbf5-2191-5955-8ec3-306693bd16f6.html

http://poststar.com/image_9d2e0e9e-069a-504d-a9aa-3a48560ecd71.html

http://poststar.com/image_693e023d-5253-5485-b5b3-1e890a1ee354.html

http://poststar.com/image_a2431786-7861-5117-87f4-aeb5df69faae.html

http://poststar.com/image_22f60d33-624f-5b5b-ac45-0aa7d0953ab2.html

http://poststar.com/image_4030a027-6481-55b4-8906-0b317df34c91.html

http://poststar.com/image_21d9ec1f-f2bc-5294-8b5c-087d6bd12400.html

http://poststar.com/image_35b480d3-4e07-5b5d-a224-471675c0e628.html

http://poststar.com/news/local/article_2861a526-bb81-11df-b9fa-001cc4c002e0.html

The SunKiss Balloon Team has been very busy in 2010. This year’s season has brought us all over the USA and into Canada…lets recap our season thus far…

We started out in Pennsylvania with our second annual trip to Eagles Peak campground. The event was laid back and as fun as it usually is. The weather was relatively good to us and the company there is always great.  Our most recent news is that we will be organizing this event from now on! Our good friend Steve Tuttle has decided to hand over the reins to the festival in PA and we are very excited, be sure to mark it on your calendar, June 3-5^th 2011! (http://abeaglespeak.com/)

Our adventure then led us to Camp Waubeeka in Copake NY, another campground rally organized by Steve Tuttle. We were blessed with great weather and some really beautiful flights. We got to spend some quality time with our fellow pilots from home as well as a few visitors, including the “Sky God” Eric Hodges from New Mexico/Vermont. We all flew as a group and stayed close together, and a few of us even practiced our road landings ; ) Scott and Christina were able to sneak in a few lessons during this event and are very excited to continue their training. (http://morganrvresorts.com/pages/waubeeka_homepage)

Onward to Canada we made our way to Cornwall Ontario. This event is beautiful with daily launches alongside the St. Lawrence River. “SunBurst” and “Clown-N-Around” made this trip together. The flying time was shared between the both of them. As always flights were great and the adventure even better…this was the first time we can say we were retrieved from a field by a flat bed trailer being towed by a tractor…thank heavens for great landowners, they will be drinking champagne for some time! (http://www.lift-off.ca/)

Another annual event brought us to Quick Chek Festival in New Jersey. This event featured both “SunBurst” and “Clown-N-Around” flying the skies alongside each other every flight.  Our trusted friend Eric Hodges from New Mexico/Vermont was there to clown around for us as we were spending some quality time with the Mary and the PNC group with “SunBurst.”  This event is a challenging and enjoyable event that we look forward to every year…this is where we had the first glimpse of the “Haunted House”…but we will get to that later…watch for future blogs J. (http://www.balloonfestival.com/)

After a long nine hour drive we arrived in Canton, OH for the Hall of Fame Rally. This was a first year event from us, and we only brought “Clown-N-Around” along for this adventure. This was a strong competition based event, but we still managed to clown around and have a great time. Our good friend “Annie-The Lady Bug” made this trip with us and we managed to sneak in a little sightseeing as well. (http://www.profootballhoffestival.com/events/index.asp)

We then head back up into Canada to the Quebec City event. This trip was also only made with “Clown-N-Around” and our friend Neil Freedman from Albuquerque, NM.  The weather wasn’t great but we were still able to get a flight in. This was the event that the baby bee was premiered at, and we were glad we could be a part of it. (http://www.festivent.net/)

The longest annual event for “SunBurst” is the St. Jean sur Richelieu event. The SunKiss Balloon team gets in nine days of flying, tailgating, and visiting with friends from all over the states. St. Jean wouldn’t be complete without a few visits to MIKES, Boston Pizza and Manneken Pis . This is always a rewarding event that the team looks forward to every year.

Labor Day weekend brought us to Gatineau Balloon Festival in Quebec. This was our first time at this event, and our first chance to see the new special shape Super FMG. The area was beautiful and the festival is well put together. The weather wasn’t very cooperative this year but we still had a great time. Our friend Neil Freedman from New Mexico and Chris Liberti from Colorado were there with Don Edwards, “Patty” balloon. Rain and wind limited the amount of flying we were able to do but we got to spend some quality time with friends and become well acquainted with the St. Hubert’s Chicken! http://www.montgolfieresgatineau.com/anglais/accueil2010_en.htm)

It was a busy yet fun summer…this leads us up to our rally…which we have so much to tell you about…keep your eyes open for the festival blog coming out soon! Stay tuned…

HAPPYHOLIDAY

THANK YOU EVERYONE IN MY LIFE!!!!