Friday, August 14, 2009

Go fly a kite

When I was growing up, kites came in a kit consisting of thin, diamond shaped paper that you glued on the accompanying thin pine dowels.  You were left to your own devices for the tail, which contemporary wisdom said was necessary for optimum flight. 

Once everything was assembled, we would run down the middle of the street hoping our kite would climb quickly into the sky.  Sometimes it did, often it just dragged behind us, scuffing the wooden dowels and our hopes.

Kite science has come a long way since then.  The lightweight, triangular shaped plastic kites available now (and when my children were experimenting with flight) are much easier to assemble and get airbborne. One of the first things that caught my eye here at the beach in North Carolina (where we are spending a week with our  dear Sprittles, Son #1 The Preacher and Beautiful Mommy, Principessa and Son #2 The Dreamer) was a wonderful, green, three dimensional plane kite. 

A quick trip to the Emporium, a few minutes of assembly, and voila!  Our Sprittles were at the business ends of My Little Pony and 101 Dalmatians kites.

Flying kites at the beach is fun!  All you do is let go, hold on, and watch that puppy (or pony!) soar into the clouds.

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(My Dear Professor as co pilot for Boo's first flight)

The only problem was getting equal time for the Sprittles--the "adults" in the group wanted to fly!

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(Principessa and Son #2 The Dreamer showing Bee how to bust some flight moves.)