This past Saturday was sunny and in the mid 70s, so Amy and I headed to the coast to fly my new kite...Cuttles.  I have been looking forward to this for the last 6 months, which is how long it took for this kite to show up and for the weather to cooperate.  Well, we got to the beach, the clouds had cleared away, and the temperture was perfect...except there was one problem...no wind.  The wind never picked up to more than 5 mph, and sometimes died completely.  On the upside, I did get Cuttles out, reveled in his colors and shear size, and took him for a short walk :)  Oh, and yes, that's me in the picture, he's just that big!

Ya! More pics!

I recently got to take part in my first WSIKF or Washington State International Kite Festival!  Also known in the kiting community as Long Beach, since that's where it takes place, this is one if not the largest kite festivals in North America.  Lasting for a full week, people come from all over the world to fly and talk kites.  Because it lasted the whole week, Amy and I went for the first couple of days, Monday and Tuesday, because the crowds were smaller and Amy's mood was thus brighter :)  Monday was quite foggy, but Tuesday was about as good of weather as one can ask for at a kite festival.  With temps in the 70's and winds picking up throughout the day without ever being too light or too strong really, it was fantastic.  And with the huge beach, it was easy to find a spot for Amy to enjoy the sun and for me to put up a bunch of kites.

more pics

A few weeks ago, my parents came to visit.  Well, they actually came to dump off all my childhood junk, as well as a couple nice pieces of requested furniture, 2 sea kayaks, and a whole lot of plants.  Needless to say, they drove out with a trailer.  Now our house is full, and our gardens are much improved.  While they were here my mom and Amy helped break the record for most people simultaneously knitting socks, and we all spent a couple of relaxing days on the coast in Newport OR.  These photos are from that portion of the trip :)

Now that summer is in full swing here in Oregon, Hillsboro and Portland are sweltering. But while it's in the 90's here, it's in the high 60s, low 70s on the beach, so it's not too hard to convince Amy to head to the coast for some kiting. Last weekend was a little something old, and something new. New was Crabby here, made by Peter Lynn. Although you can't see it here, his feet wiggle about in the wind like he's scuttling... very cute. The Something old was my buggy, which I finally got around to reassembling. When the tide is out you can really get going, though I did learn the hard way that not all puddles are shallow. Needless to say, I was a bit wetter heading home than I'd planned on being.

Click me!

Lincoln City is about 2.5 hrs south on the Oregon Coast from us, and every year they have several kite festivals: Summer, Fall, and a winter one held indoors. A couple of weekends ago was there summer festival. The sun was out, the temp was perfect (about 70), and the winds were blowing! And when I say blowing, I mean hard. By the end of the festival only a couple kites were still in the air, most having either crashed, or taken down for safety reasons. I still have a rope burn on my leg from when I was helping take down someone elses big piece. Overall though it was a lot of fun, and I can't wait for their next festival in the fall :)