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…