around the balloon fest in 2 days!

so.. its still balloon fair time here in hillsboro and with that has come a few visitors to the old Rowe (that is the name of the family who owned/farmed and lived in this old farmhouse for the last 100 years or so) Farmhouse.

there is a chance that Zane's good friend Chad may visit with his son Caden sometime on sunday (too bad Sam is in phoenix or she would come with) - but Bruce and Carol have already come and gone on saturday. along with them they brought one of the best car-seats as a present for the Piggy. here is a little about it....

the Graco Safe-Seat.

according to 'baby bargains' book the safe seat is a new fangled car seat system that can be used as an infant car seat for babies that weigh up to 30 pounds. this outpaces the competition by 8 pounds (which can be quite a lot at that age). the rear-facing design means that the little Piggy will be safer for longer - possibly up to 6 more months depending on how fast it grows. since we dont know if the Pig is a boy or girl we chose a color that should go fine with either gender. another feature that led us to choose the safe seat over the previouse model (the sung ride) is the side-impact protection. in laymans terms the molded plastic and additional fabric cushion are deeper and softer. all of that boils down to a softer, safer ride for the Pig. like most infant car seats the safe-seat has a base that stays in the car while the seat can be removed and used as a carrier so as to 'let sleeping babies lie'. from the picture above you can see that Zane is realy, really happy about the gift.

in other news Ally had been relying on Unisom to help her cope with morning sickness in the morning and night from time to time but recently the Pig as been cooperative in allowing her to go to sleep naturally and stay asleep without worry of waking up with neasua or heartburn. that has marked an important positive change in routine. but, to every action there is a reaction and now it seems that Ally's body is responding to allergic irritants in the air this time of year. perhaps it is the hay that gets farmed on the land around our house, the thunderstorms and any impact they have on air quality or the heat and humidity that comes and goes on a weekly basis.

in spite of the comings and goings of the hot (90's) and humid weather it appears that we might survive the summer without the use of air conditioning. that could dramatically change if Ally becomes 'stuffy' or uncomfortable but as for now it is almost as if we are soaking in the warmth and accepting the climate change better after having endured a windy winter where walls of wood siding and plaster (with probabaly no additional insulation) let in leaky drafts of chilly air last winter. its like one of those - nothing could bas as bad as being cold in the winter - sort of relaity checks; and now that it is warm we bask in the experience.

a little more about Balloon Festival here in historic Hillsborough (hillsboro is the modern spelling). Ally and Zane were not the only ones happy to see Gramps and Grammy Morse visit the farmhouse. our oldest but smallest (and most would say cutest) dog Marly took full advantage of having Gramps around to snuggle with. at one point (its a bit like having kids around already) Marly joined Bruce on a couch that she is normally forbidden to traverse. it is as if she knew that with company she could get away with a bit more than usual - however a cool headed Ally kept Marly in line and set the appropriate limit. In spite of his older sister's antics, the younger and better behaved Kingston was the picture of politeness as he lounged on the 'dog-couch' and kept his paws to himself. the princess-like Marly then figured out a way to use Bruce as the actual 'thing' to climb on (as opposed to the couch) and still get all of the loving that she could from our visitors. after a lunch and a short visit to the small fair-grounds Bruce and Carol were off back to the boston area. then about an hour later the sky filled with about 8 hot-air balloons, 4 of which landed in the hay-fields that surround the farmhouse. after an hour or so of watching them take a short flight and seeing the street in front of our house line bumper to bumper with cars ((as all of the locals came to watch and the balloon teams came to dismantle the balloons for the day) no longer serene) we turned our attention to the movie we rented (Peaceful Warrior - Nick Nolte - a sometimes cheesy but untimately thought provoking, based-on-a-true-story type of movie) when someone cam a-knocking on the front door. lo and behold it was a pilot of one of the balloons. apparently when these hot-air hooligans use your property as a landing pad they bear gifts as a thank-you for allowing them to return to earth. common-courtesey apparently dicatates that these travelers award the residents with a bottle of champagne and raffle ticket where the grand prize is a trip for two in a hot air balloon. after the pioneer pilot paved the way for the other partying ballooners - 4 additional teams brought thier version of the balloon booty... yep, thats 5 bottles of chanpagne now. so, as you can see, this weekend has been quite eventful for the New Hampshire Walsh's. in addition to all of the local activities, Zane sent off his first draft of his Masters Research Project to his Advisor saturday morning as well.

next weekend will be one to behold as the Pig and Mom and Dad travel to Kansas City to visit Momma Walsh, Grandpa Dan and any other relatives who are avaliable to celebrate the Pig's first trip to KC.

we love you all and really enjoy reading all of your comments in response to our updates. keep-em coming and keep reading.