Mike Hernandez's Blog (11)

I am dedicating the rest of our Festival Tour to my mother, Linda, who passed away this past Thursday after a two and a half year long battle with cancer. My mother loved to come out and watch us fly and loved seeing our pictures and videos that we took and made over the past couple of years. The Carried Away Balloon Team will be rolling out the Carried Away For Linda Tour starting this coming weekend at the Mid Hudson Festival in Poughkeepsie, NY. The remaining tour dates are below: 7/24-7/26… Continue

I am coming to you at a time of serious need within our community. > Some of you may know about this young lady and for those of you who do > not, let me take this opportunity to speak with you about her.* > > *12 year old Abigail, who is a student at Queensbury Central School, > went to the nurse one day a couple weeks ago complaining of a bad > headache. Within minutes she had passed out in the nurses’ office and > was rushed to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a… Continue

Our balloon and team were invited to participate in the Annual Ice Breaker Festival which takes place the first couple weeks in February in a couple of small eastern Washington County hamlets in New York. The event is co sponsored by the Rice Mansion B&B in Cambridge and they put together the ballooning part of the Festival as well as put on a very nice after flight breakfast for the balloon crews. This was our first year to be a part of the flying aspect as we crewed for a team 2 years ago.… Continue

I gotta say, some of the most interesting flying comes on a downright cold ass day where the temperature at the bank displays 0 degrees F and the sky is perfectly clear. This is how we started to think that Sunday, January 4th would be a good day to fly. On Friday when checking weather forecasts I saw where there could be an opportunity on Sunday morning but it looked like something that could go away as quickly as we have been witnessing since November. The early forecast showed winds on the su… Continue

The following news articles from The Post Star online newspaper in Glens Falls, NY shows how bad the organizers of the Adirondack Balloon Festival wishes to keep a small group of balloonists from working with The City of Glens Falls to do a special flight from downtown Glens Falls during their annual Downtown Festival. The first article will state that the balloons are coming and then the 2nd article followed 24 hours later showing the City needing to speak with the ADK Festival organizers and t… Continue

The weather was ominous with rain and t-storms threatening but the Rally For Codey Benefit went off none the less and was a HUGE success thanks to everyone who not only attended the event but to all of our balloonist friends from around the globe who sent ballooning items for this young boy. Your support helps to give hope for this family as they deal with this crisis day by day. The smile that Codey had was absolutely PRICELESS! There were stories told, tears shed and laughter all around. Let's… Continue

Three weeks ago I started talking about this benefit and it has grown by leaps and bounds! Items from around the world have been landing via UPS on my front porch and continue to arrive each day. Thank you so much to everyone who has given so graciously. The pins, hats, shirts, cards, etc. will mean the world to not only Cody but his family also. I need to personally thank Phil Whittington for everything you have done for this benefit. Phil, I do not know what to say except thank you so very muc… Continue

Hello to all of our ballooning friends! Our group of balloonists in the Adirondack Region is asking for your help. There is a young 10 year old boy by the name of Cody Pulver who has recently undergone 6 surgeries to remove a cancerous brain tumor. He has one more round of chemotherapy and 6 weeks of radiation treatments to follow. This young man began this battle during his April Spring Break and is a pure fighter! Cody is the son of one of our wonderful landowners where we routinely fly from… Continue

Man this makes me feel old but.... My oldest daughter, Amanda, is graduating from High School this weekend and will begin her college career at SUNY Potsdam on August 22nd. Mom and I are extremely proud of her and are thrilled that she is able to attend the college that was her 1st choice. It seems like only yesterday when she was getting on her first school bus ride to kindergarten while her mom and I watched with tears in our eyes. I write this with tears in my eyes as I have had the pleasure… Continue

The Black Sheep Squadron teamed up with the Americade Motorcycle Rally for the 2nd year of Ameri Glow. The winds were calm and I would have to say that around 300 people showed up to enjoy a Moon Glow performance to music by the balloon teams of Friendship Too, Sunkiss Ballooning and Carried Away. I was fortunate enough to have local pilot BJ Sullivan do the honors as pilot for Team Carried Away so I could be the Master of Ceremonies and do the announcing for the evening. After inflation all 3 p… Continue

Our team has a very healthy Event schedule this year. We have decided to go to the Festivals scheduled and then when the season winds down my wife and I will make decisions based on how things went this year. Hopefully the Festivals that we will attend will offer exactly what we are hoping for. June 20-22nd: Camp Waubeeka Rally in Copake, NY July 10th-13th: Kinsmen Lift Off in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada July 25th-27th: Quick Chek Festival in Readington, NJ August 8th-17th: International Festival… Continue