Balloon Launch

Well today we have got the balloon launch that we have been organising for the last couple of weeks.  The day started with Chris in the kitchen baking some bread, scones and cakes.  This was all in preparation for the snacks are offering our guests this afternoon.  Once he has baked the scones and done the mixture for the fairy cakes, I help him to put the mixture into the cake cases.  They are now baked and ready for icing this afternoon.
Dad arrived at just after 10:30 with the helium, so this is where all the hard work starts.  I leave Chris and dad blowing the balloons to go to get a few last minute items from the shop.Getting stuck in traffic coming out of the supermarket car park gets me really flustered and panicky.  It takes me 40 minutes to get home where it normally takes no more than 15. The cars were bumper to bumper and the whole car park was grid locked.  12:30 and I am home finally.
Now time for lunch.  Once we have eaten, it is time to start doing the mammoth task of tying ribbon to all the balloons. (Over 100 balloons). We got into a rhythm of Dad holding the balloons whilst I tied the ribbon on, then I wrote on them before releasing them into the hall or kitchen.  This was being done whilst Chris made sure that the house was spotless: bathrooms were cleaned and entrance hall was cleared. We had done a lot of the balloons before the first of our guests arrived and they started to help tying the ribbon whilst I concentrated on writing the names on them.
Once I had written all the names of the people who weren't there, I passed the pen around those who were there so that they could write their name and message on their own balloon. Whilst this was being done, we received a phone call from one of our guests saying that they were lost.  We tried to figger out where they were but both Chris and I were stumped.  We asked them to find another landmark and ring back where we could possibly help them in directing them to us.  They did ring back and we knew where they were so I drove to find them and so they could follow me back.
Once all the guests had arrived, we had drinks and cakes first before deciding that the time was right for the release of the balloons.  We decided that one person was on photos, two people were filming which left 13 for holding the balloons and releasing them.  Everyone went out the front door and walked around the back where I was passing the balloons out to them in bunches of six or seven each.  Most of us had two hands full of balloons and once we had got all the balloons, we bunched together so they would all get released together. We sent off a tester to make sure we knew which way they were going to go.  Once we had that sorted, we counted down from three to one then we all released them.  They went up and they separated a bit more than they did last year but you could still see them for a couple of minutes. We were all watching them and trying to see what shapes they were making.
We then had lots of fun chatting amongst friends and relaxing. I haven't been able to relax at all today until we released the balloons. So there we have it, we have released over 100 balloons and have raised a rough count up of £350.  This money is going to go towards the Neonatal unit at North Staffordshire Hospital and BLISS. So a huge thank you to everyone who donated and for those who supported us.