Let's go fly a kite

Today was so warm it felt more like summer vacation than spring break.  It was also breezy, so we decided to to Expo Park and fly our kites.

The boys rode their bikes.  The girls and I walked.

The pirate kite is the best, so Seth got it our first.  It went right up without any problems.

Seth turned the controls over to James. 

James watched the kite soar way up into the air... 

while Seth and Ryan assembled Jozsh's dragon kite. 

The dragon kite looked great... 

but getting it into the air proved to be a challenge. 

Meanwhile, James kept flying his kite. 

The dragon went up... 

but it didn't stay up! 

Seth, Ryan and Jozsh persisted. 

Meanwhile,  James kept flying his kite.

At times, it really looked like the boys were going to win. 

 The dragon would go up and circle a bit...

 but inevitably, it would come crashing back to earth.

 Meanwhile, James kept flying his kite.

Eventually, Seth and Jozsh gave up.

 Not Ryan.

 He really wanted to see the dragon fly.

 Meanwhile, James was getting pretty bored with flying his kite.

 So bored, he couldn't even stay upright.

Finally, Seth put the dragon away and let Jozsh borrow one of the Buxton kites. 

Hurray! 

That kite went up! 

For a moment it really looked like we had this kite flying thing down pat. 

And then--disaster!  A strong wind whipped James' kite right out of his hands. 

He tried to chase it down but he wasn't fast enough.  Can you see it?

It's way up in the left hand corner near the top cloud. 

Higher and higher.  The string is caught on a tree somewhere but that kite is gone! 

Hours later, I can still see it flying high in the sky over our neighborhood.  I wonder if it will ever come down? 

April 2011