September 29, 2010

The Christianville Spirit: What I Learned From The Balloonists

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Inspires You

September 29, 2010- TCS # 218


When I wrote about crewing for The Plano Balloon Festival last week, there was something that I didn’t mention in it, The things I learned about the balloonists that I didn’t know. I already told you about how hard the work was and how fun it was. But, I didn’t mention the interesting things that they do. So, This week I figured that I would write it as a Part 2 of My Hot Air Balloon Adventure. One thing that I learned by one of the other balloonists, David, that He and His Wife along with our Pilot, Rick and his wife Carol, do something called GeoCaching. You See, one time I was talking to My Brother’s Friend, Spencer and he told me about GeoCaching but, didn’t really explain it in detail like David. Now, for those of you who don’t know, GeoCaching is like an internet and GPS powered Treasure Hunt. What you do is you go online to a GeoCaching website and find where little things such as Postal Stamps or other little trinkets are and then, you plug in Geographical Coordinates (it’s location) and it’ll take you to where it is. According to David and Spencer, there are hundreds of GeoCaches in your town alone and trillions of them around the world. He also says that you can buy these devices called Travel Bugs and then, send them out. Next thing you know, it’ll make it’s way around the world. He told us that one of Rick’s travelled across Norway and across other European Countries. I think that is really awesome. The next thing I learned was a lot about the Albuquerque Balloon Festival (in Albuquerque it’s called the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.) Anyway, Chris told us that because it’s the largest and most known balloon festival in the world that it lasts 10 Days. Now, before you freak out, they only do one session a day and two if they decide to Glow. The thing that amazed me the most was that they have to get up at 3:30 in the morning to get on the field because there is so much traffic on the road to the field, between The Balloonists and The Spectators. What was amazing was the fact that Chris told me that there are up to 800 Balloons at the festival. Which was really amazing to hear considering how big the balloons are and how long the Crown Line is. I wondering more about how you prevent your Crown Line and others from overlapping. Along with the interesting things you learn, there’s also the important stuff about ballooning like the fact that they don’t care to fly in winds higher than 10 MPH. Another Thing is, you have to be careful about flying over Cattle and Cows because some cows don’t like it when they hear the balloon overhead and other cows will come up and sniff the basket. The Next Thing is, you have to figure out what direction the wind is blowing so, they can plan out where to land. One More Thing is, according to Rick, they have a 3 Strikes Your Out Policy which means that if you can find 3 things wrong with putting a balloon in the air, like not having a radio, not enough propane, or having any wind problems, then you don’t fly or you land. All in all, it was quite a learning and unique experience. I would love to thank all the Balloonists(including Rick, Pete, Carol, Chris, and David) for taking us in and letting us do this experience.




Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. I enjoyed being taught something new, Embrace Education.

September 22, 2010

The Christianville Spirit: My Hot Air Balloon Adventure


The Crew hard at Work during Friday Morning Session


The Crew of Friday Morning Session sitting on The Balloon Bag



The First View of the Hot Air Balloon Sunrise



View of The Festival during Flight, Saturday Morning Session


Me getting ready to fly in The Hot Air Balloon, Saturday Morning Session




The Unforgettable Sunrise from The Hot Air Balloon, Saturday Morning Session


The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Inspires You

September 22, 2010- TCS # 217


Do you remember when I told you about me getting to be on The Crew for The Hot Air Balloon Festival 2 weeks ago? Well, this past weekend was the Plano Hot Air Balloon Festival and my chance to be on the crew. All of this excitement began Thursday Night. You See, I was thinking that we were doing our first crewing part, which I called “Sessions” on Friday Night since that was when it started, little did I know that, in fact, our first session was in the morning on Friday. Now, the surprise of this was that it wasn’t just in the morning; it meant we had to get up at 5:00 IN THE MORNING so we could meet at the Southfork Hotel, where all the pilots and crew had to meet. So, on Friday Morning at 5 AM, My Mom and I get up and head to Southfork Hotel. Once we got there, we had to find our pilot, Rick, so we could drive to the field. When we met Rick on that fateful day, 2 weeks ago, he told us to go to the Volunteer Crew Booth to register our names, but they didn’t have our names. So, the first thing they asked “Are You Part of The Media” and of course, My Mom jokingly replied, “Sure, which channel do you want me to be for, WFAA?” anyway, it turned out we didn’t need to sign in, we just have to find Rick and It just took a minute to remember what he looked like. After we found him, we met our crew for the day, of course there was Rick, his son Chris who was assigned to be Crew Chief, and their mom Carol who was in charge in Balloon Operations. After we all met, we drove down to field where the festival was. Now, I have to say that it was really awesome to not see many spectators there, the only other people besides The Other Balloonists where The Media. After finding our spot to set up, the hard work began which included pulling the Basket out of the trailer, setting up the poles and the heating element, pulling the balloon out of it’s bag, and inflating the balloon. Inflating the Balloon was done in 2 parts, the first part was using a fan and the 2nd part was using The Heating Element. During the inflating, 2 People had to be on the back side of the Balloon to hold the rope that attached to the top of the balloon or in Balloonist Terms, The crown. Once the balloon was up, you had to hold the “Crown Line” to make sure that the balloon didn’t sway and move over in different directions. Now, as I told My Brother and others about getting up that early to do this hard work, there are many times when it’s worth it, like seeing the sunrise, seeing the balloon stand up, and then, watching it lift off whether you are in the basket or on the Balloon Chase is a very proud moment because you think of all the work you did to get it ready. So, after watching it lift off it was time to chase the balloon. Now, one thing that I learned about the Chasing part of the work is how they view the spectators. Now, don’t get me wrong, they think that they are wonderful but, the spectators can be annoying sometimes because, as Chris pointed out, there are 4 things they do, they either walk in front of you, get in the way when your in a rush, follow you(which again, doesn’t help when your trying to get somewhere), or they just stare at you. Anyway, we chased the balloon down the way from the field and then, they landed. Now, the landing side of being on the crew was another story from getting it ready. After they landed, some of us had to hold on to the basket so, it wouldn’t go back up. The key was to hold it down on the ground, you had hold on to the basket and put your weight on it. Whenever we had to do that, Rick would say, “Weight On”. Also, after they landed a couple people had to hold the “Crown Line” to put the balloon down to help it deflate. After the balloon was down, then we had to get the air out of it and that require people on basket side of the balloon to choke the air to send it toward the crown, where I was. In balloonist Terms, they call it funneling. The people on the “Crown Line” side had to pull the line itself and then, pull the rope attached to the fabric of the balloon outward. Now, I have to say first that our balloon (City of Plano Balloon) like many others, the heating element is powered by propane and let me tell you, it smells like rotten eggs with warmth, it makes you feel like gagging. After the air is out of the balloon, The Funneling, then we stand in a line 3 feet apart from each other, we grab the fabric of the balloon (which is very heavy) and put it into the Balloon Bag. After that, we sit on the Balloon Bag to get the remaining air out of it. Once that is done, we take the pads off the poles and then, put them in their own bag. Then, we put the Balloon Bag and The Basket back in the trailer. After That, we head to a spot where they allow all the balloonists to fill their tanks with Propane and then, head back to our meeting place at The Southfork Hotel. After all that work, My Mom and I went to have breakfast at IHOP and After Breakfast, My Mom turned on the car and she had to chuckle because the clock only said it was 10:30AM. and, Then My Mom “We got up, set up a balloon, got it up, sent it in the air, brought it down, packed it up, ate breakfast, and it’s only 10:30!”. The Friday Morning Session went off without a hitch and it was head home, take a nap, and get ready for The Afternoon Session. Now, The Afternoon Session started off at 4:00 which didn’t go as planned because out of nowhere, came thunderstorms. So, we couldn’t fly that day so, instead things were delayed and we instead just glowed. Now, The Glowing Part was awesome because I got to be on the field and even in the basket to “Weight On” during the glowing. After The Glowing, everyone went to tent that they had set up to eat dinner which was BBQ happened at 9:30 that night which was a really later dinner for me. On Saturday Morning, we again got up at 5 AM and repeated the work process, only this time we were pleasantly surprised that My Mom and I got to fly in The Hot Air Balloon, It was Awesome. And, I have to say that nothing beats seeing a sunrise in a Hot Air Balloon and I also found that riding in one is very peaceful, except for when the Heating Element was used. After all the excitement and the landing side of crewing, Rick invited us to breakfast with all the other balloonists. By the time we were done eating breakfast, we felt like a family with them. on Afternoon Session on Saturday, there are almost too much wind but, They decided to fly again. You See, the rule of ballooning is that you can’t fly in winds higher than 10 MPH and the winds were at 8 MPH. The way they tested the wind was by a small balloon which in Balloonist Terms is a PieBall meaning Pilot Balloon. Chasing The Balloon was a little stressful because it going so fast and some spectators were in the way. That day they landed in a tall grass field which was really hard to work in because the grass and bugs were biting us. When I saw how tall the grass was, I thought, “Are we really going to run our crew procedures HERE?!”. on Sunday Morning, we got up at 5 AM for the final 2 sessions of the year, we did the same process on both sides, and then, all of us went to this nice breakfast place in East Plano. The food there was really good and they had good service, unlike the place went Saturday Morning. on the Sunday Afternoon, they sent the PieBall up to test the wind and it went straight up so, decided to blow the balloon up to have a show. All in all, it was a very productive, fun, and busy weekend.




Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. If you get the opportunity to have you go up in a Hot Balloon, Take it.

September 15, 2010

The Christianville Spirit: Special Needs Week

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Inspires You

September 15, 2010-TCS # 216


So, Yesterday after My Mom came home from Work, she told me something that I didn’t know. As you all know, The Mothers get one day called Mother’s Day, The Father’s get one day of Father’s Day, and of course, there’s the rarely known Grandparents Day this month which is on September 23, I believe. Anyway, did you know that there is something called Special Education Week? Well, neither did I and I can’t believe it. That really makes me feel happy and it feels awesome to have a full week that’s about us people with Special Needs. My Mom found out about this Special Needs Week from a link that My Grandma Honey’s Friend posted onto Facebook which Grandma Honey responded to the link. So, that night I got onto Facebook and read about it, got excited, and thought that I would write about it. I feel that us people with Special Needs should be acknowledged whether it’s a week, a day, or all the time. Please Know that to have Special Needs is not a disease, it’s not contagious, and it’s not a disaster. It’s who we are, it’s the way God made us. So, celebrate all of our unique selves. So, all in all, our Special Needs defines what we have but, it doesn’t define who we are.




Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Cherish the things that make you special.

The Christianville Spirit: Special Needs Week

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Inspires You

September 15, 2010-TCS # 216


So, Yesterday after My Mom came home from Work, she told me something that I didn’t know. As you all know, The Mothers get one day called Mother’s Day, The Father’s get one day of Father’s Day, and of course, there’s the rarely known Grandparents Day this month which is on September 23, I believe. Anyway, did you know that there is something called Special Education Week? Well, neither did I and I can’t believe it. That really makes me feel happy and it feels awesome to have a full week that’s about us people with Special Needs. My Mom found out about this Special Needs Week from a link that My Grandma Honey’s Friend posted onto Facebook which Grandma Honey responded to the link. So, that night I got onto Facebook and read about it, got excited, and thought that I would write about it. I feel that us people with Special Needs should be acknowledged whether it’s a week, a day, or all the time. Please Know that to have Special Needs is not a disease, it’s not contagious, and it’s not a disaster. It’s who we are, it’s the way God made us. So, celebrate all of our unique selves. So, all in all, our Special Needs defines what we have but, it doesn’t define who we are.




Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Cherish the things that make you special.

September 8, 2010

The Christianville Spirit: A Pre-Hot Air Balloon Adventure

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Inspires You

September 8, 2010- TCS # 215


As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter about the Hot Air Balloon Class, I said that I was going to write more about it later. So, as promised, I’m going to tell you. So, My Mom had a student in her class that was on a Hot Air Balloon Crew and asked I would like to join. And, I said “yes”. So, she told My Mom that I would have take a Hot Air Balloon Safety Class, one class on Thursday and then, a trial run on Saturday Morning which both classes were canceled. So, My Mom and I went on with our lives, thinking I wasn’t going to get to do it. That is until a couple days ago. So, My Mom and I decided to go get Ice Cream for an evening snack on a normal day, while we were driving up the road, My Mom spotted 4 Hot Air Balloons in the distance but, we continued our quest to get Ice Cream, watching them as they flew. Anyway, around the time that we got to Braums(where we were getting Ice Cream) I thought about chasing the Hot Air Balloon to see where they landed. So, We decided to chase them even though it wasn’t even the balloon festival yet. We had chased them to a spot farther North that where I thought we would go. So, we watched them land and then watched as the crew pulled the balloon down, then My Mom asked “Do you want to go talk to them?”. I thought that probably not because they looked busy and they would wonder why I was talking to them. So, I decided to go to talk to them and asked if I could help and they said “sure”. After the Hard Work of wrapping the balloon up, a crew member from “The City of Plano Balloon” asked if we would be part of his crew because it was only him and his son. My Mom and I were so excited at that chance even though we didn’t go to the Safety School but, My Mom put it, “We already learned half of it!”. The awesome part about it is that since there are only 2 people on the crew, it gives me an a lot better chance of riding in the balloon. It is exciting because I’ve never ridden in one and it’ll give me a much better view of the roads and the people below, imagine the view of the city from up there. All in all, I can’t wait for the Plano Hot Air Balloon Festival on the weekend of September 17.



Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. When You chase the passion or something that you are after, You just might get it in an unexpected way.

September 1, 2010

The Christianville Spirit: An International Skype Video Call

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Inspires You

September 1, 2010- TCS # 214


So, Last Week I was watching TV at around 3:00PM and My Mom told me that she was talking with one of the PTLS Families which are from Sweden. You see, ever since I found out that there was a Family in Sweden, I’ve been really excited because I’ve been interested in the Scandinavia Region. So, When My Mom told me that he was online, I really wanted to talk to him. but, then I remembered the time difference between Dallas, Texas and Stockholm, Sweden so, I checked my time zone app on my ipod and found that it was almost midnight in Sweden. So, I thought, “I better get on Facebook quick if I want to talk to him” so, I rushed into my room to get my computer and got on Facebook. So, near the end of our conversation, I told him that we should talk earlier next time. So, to pick the time, I downloaded a World Time Zone App. to figure what time on My Time Zone which is Central Time Zone equal to theirs which Central European Time. By the way, the time difference is 8 Hours. Anyway, so I figured that if we talk to 1:00PM My Time it would equal 8:00 in the Evening his time. So, I thought since I had a Hot Air Balloon Class on Saturday Morning (More on that later) I would be around so, that I could talk to them around 1:00 our time. So, Saturday came and I was soo excited to get to talk to him, only this time on Skype. It was awesome to talk to someone on the other side of the world, or the person we were talking to named Stefan put it, 35,000 Kilometers away. Also, they have 2 options on Skype, you can either call them on the phone which costs you or you can Video Chat if you have a web cam. We however talked to him on Video Chat. It was really exciting for both My Mom and I to chat and we hope to do it more often. Something that really awesome was that after we got done chatting there was a Sweden flag in the corner by his name. All in All, talking to Stefan on Video on really awesome. Now, I’m ready to chat with more people with around the world.



Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. With a simple click of a mouse on Skype, You can connect with anyone around the world.