Day #60 International Balloon Fiesta and Neil Patrick Harris Siting

The opening day of the fiesta has arrived!

http://www.balloonfiesta.com/event-info 

Out the doors by 5 a.m. to catch the shuttles to the Fiesta fields... lines, lines and more lines. Even so, people were excited and pleasant.

Everyone bundled up... temps dropped 30 degrees overnight and the winds picked up.... not so good for balloons. :(

Lines for hot chocolate and donuts made in a fancy fryer.

The Wounded Warrior booth was staffed and ready.

 http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

 Mounted police monitor the grounds

As close to a balloon ride as I will get this year with Christine!

 Too windy for balloons to fly today. Too many people for me to find my nephew, Jacob Worth, who was there from Sherman, TX ... although we texted several times.

A posing balloon pilot and crew chief

When all else fails, go shopping for souvenirs!

The cancelled launch meant normally easy process to catch the ride back to where our car was parked in the Intel lot was more than an hour of lines, lines, lines. But once again, people were generally agreeable. Weather is out of our control.

Once home I thought I'd nap for a bit... three hours later I emerged. Anneka and I watched a couple of old episodes from The Vampire Diaries and Erik got company.

Kathy, center, and her husband Larry visited on the patio for a long time, sharing stories and many laughs. Kathy is the former personal aide that Erik sent a text to during his speech therapy session earlier this week. She is a family favorite. I have never heard Erik laugh so much. His cognitive growth continues to be astounding. Kathy chided him about his progress with the electric chair and the independence it can give him. She wants to see him driving a car, too, and promised to go out for shots with him when he reaches that goal!

Fleetwood enjoys the warm pavement and afternoon sun.

Road trip in the van... the whole family is going out for dinner!

Statues along the way.... on the right playing children outside of a school and early settlers battling the winds below.

Dinner at the famous El Pinto for New Mexico Mexican

Wow! That's a BIG burrito, Anneka! All of our meals were great, including the salsa, the margaritas, the green chile and the sopas!

Many famous people are pictured on the walls at El Pinto, including Mel Gibson, Katy Perry and these folks:

George and Laura Bush, Barak Obama, John McCain

Once we were seated on a large patio, Anneka commented that we were the only ones there. That did not last long.

As the tables began filling up, Neil Patrick Harris and his family were seated right next to us. He is best known for the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., and the womanizing Barney Stinson in the CBS comedy,  How I Met Your Mother.

The pink and blue balloons were obviously for the fraternal twins, Gideon Scott and Harper Grace, and their second birthday. They came to Neil and his partner, David Burka's life on October 12, 2010, through a surrogate. (Courtesy Wikipedia)

As you can see David Burka saw me take the picture. He was NOT happy and stared at me for some time. I did not take pictures of the children.

David appeared on the second season of How I Met Your Mother, but eventually quit acting to become a chef. He graduated from the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Pasadena in 2009 and is currently running a Los Angeles-based catering company called Gourmet M.D.

That's Neil Patrick in the center just above Gordy's shoulder, and, of course, Erik on the right. We chose not to ask for autographs, letting them enjoy their family celebration in peace....mostly.

Hopefully, we will see balloons going up in the morning. The winds are better this evening. None the less, today was a great day with the Schei's!