Each Labor Day Weekend, Colorado Springs holds a hot air balloon festival. It's a lot of fun to take the kids, pack a bunch of donuts, and watch them all take off... at 6am!

Here's some memories from a few of those events.

And the cow jumped over the... Peak!

The unsuspecting
crowd gathers...

But something lurks...

And it flies!!

Some of the more daring pilots will take a little dip in nearby Prospect Lake.

Each morning kicks off with a little balloon glow.

This may not look like an especially interesting photo, but it's actually one of my favorites simply because of the sheer luck of it all. I had been walking across the grass when the sprinklers started, so I was running for cover. Then I noticed that the sun coming through the water was making a rainbow in the spray. And at exactly that moment a rainbow-patterned balloon was quickly rising through the trees. I didn't even think -- I just instantly snapped a couple of pictures and hoped for the best.

I call this "The Twin Rainbows".