Oh, go fly a kite!
posted in City life, Holidays and Festivals, OmegaDotter |
Spring has definitely sprung in Small Mountain University Town. This weekend was the annual kite festival, so I took the dotter off to fly a kite.
There were stiltwalkers. There was a kiddy carnival–complete with games such as “knock the bowling pins off the table with a ball”, and the classic “fishing game”, and the one where you toss beanbags through holes.
The weather was flawless, except for just one thing: there was hardly any wind. So those of us who had brought kites to fly were rather disappointed.
But first, there were bubble wands to wave through the air with a trail of lovely shimmering bubbles…there was food to be had…
While I was in line trying to get my $2.50 burrito (this took forever because the burrito seller’s microwave broke), who should we run into but One And Only True Love and his mother! So OAOTL’s mom purchased him some shaved ice while I was waiting, and the dotter went to sit with him and share the shaved ice.
Then off to the kiddy carnival area, where first the two spent an inordinate amount of time in the bouncy houses (a first! The dotter has refused to do bouncy houses until now!), and then it was time for mommy to camp out in the line for getting faces painted while the dotter and OAOTL went running like madmen through the grass, encountering yet more kids we all knew. It’s one of the delights of living in a smallish city–go to an event and you will always run into people you know.
Finally, the dotter was able to get her face painted–this is supposedly a horse. It looks more like a cat to me, but, hey, what do I know? The dotter was delighted.
We wandered on to the grassy area where people were supposed to fly their kites. But first we stopped at the “Geology for Kids” booth, where a splendid fellow was inviting children to smash rocks with hammers. He obviously had stocked himself with a goodly supply of fossil-rich limestone, because every kid who smashed a rock got a performance of this gent eyeing the split pieces and finding shells and snails and–best of all, for kids!–crab poop!
Then it was time to wrestle the kites out of their bags, put them together, and try flying them.
Bah.
 We have a couple of lovely dragon kites, purchased from Sam’s, that do wonderfully when the wind is up. Unfortunately, when the wind is not up, a great deal of running can get the kite up into the sky for a few moments, after which it takes an ungainly dive to the ground, narrowly missing other families out trying to fly their kites.
When we finally decided it was an exercise in futility, and frustrating to boot, the fair was winding down and it was time to go. The dotter, hot and tired and thirsty, slumped and whined on the way back up the hill to where we had parked the car, and then fell fast asleep on the way home.
So. I have a vivid sunburn, and the dotter still has remnants of her horsie face. A good day.
