WSIKF
Aug/23/10 20:52
WSIKF
stands for the Washington State International Kite
Festival, which takes place every August in Long Beach,
Washington. While not exactly close by, 2.5 hrs or so,
I would still call this my home field since I fly here
more than anywhere else nearby. It’s just a great
location to fly! That said, this weekend I didn’t fly
anything of my own, but rather enjoyed watching
everyone else fly their kites. It was, as Amy
wonderfully described it, a perfect beach day. It
started off a bit cloudy, but cleared off for a sunny
warm afternoon. Oh, and the winds were a bit
weak...which is why I didn’t bother flying anything
myself. One fun thing to watch was the group of flyers
trying to set the record for most number of revolution
kites flying in formation together. They got 60 up the
day we were there, but actually set the record on
Thursday with 64. This is a really amazing feat given
that each kite has 4 lines. That’s 240 kite lines all
flying in essentially the same space! Overall, a very
fun day, and Amy only had a good natured sit down
strike at the very end as we were heading back to the
car. Lucky you can drive on the beach, since I brought
the car to her :)
Comments
Kiting in the fog
Aug/23/10 20:24
A
couple of weekends ago it was obscenely hot in
Hillsboro, so we headed to the coast. It was supposed
to be perfect beach weather, 80’s and sunny, with winds
oddly out of the Northeast. Well, that was the forecast
at least. It was beautiful when we arrived, but the
winds were actually coming out of the Southwest, and
they blew up some mighty fog. The winds were nice
though, and while it was a bit chilly, it was still
better than the 103 F temps back home. The real fun,
though, was drying everything out in the backyard the
next day.
A Pretty Pregnant Amy
Aug/23/10 20:21
People
have been asking for some pregnant Amy photos for a
while now. So earlier this month we got out in the yard
on a sunny day, and I got some approved photos :)
 |
| Pretty Pregnant Amy |
A brief glimpse of summer
Jun/19/10 19:20
For a brief moment last weekend, summer decided to grace Oregon. Not only that, but there was wind! So with my mom in town to see a pregnant Amy, we all three headed to Long Beach to fly some kites. For the first time since I received my Peter Lynn Cuttlefish last year, there was finally enough wind to get him off the ground. It probably only needs about 7-10 mph, but even that had been asking too much of the Oregon coast in the fall and winter. Now we had 15 mph, and on his initial flight I realized I’d underestimated his pull as I watched his sandbag, probably 75 lbs, get pulled out of its hole and start dragging down the beach! I quickly jumped on the bag, dug in my heels, and stopped his travels. After a couple attempts we got it right, two big bags deeply buried. Luckily I’d brought the full size shovel. With Cuddles in the air, and stabilized with a lifter, I got to work putting up some other kites while Amy and my mom enjoyed the sun and beach. One thing about flying kites of this size is that they always attract a crowd. In this case, not only did it stop traffic on the beach, both foot and car, but it even brought people out of their homes and rentals on the other side of the dunes to see what was going on down at the beach! At the end of the day the winds hadn’t died down, so it took both my mom’s and my combined weight to walk down Cuddle’s line. We packed up, had dinner at our favorite restaurant in town (The Depot), and headed back home. It was a very full day of kites and sun, and it sure felt nice after a long winter.
Baby Shower
Jun/02/10 22:10
We
recently made it out to the East coast for one last
quick vacation before travel becomes much more
complicated. We were only out for a long weekend, but
we had a pretty busy schedule between Amy’s friend
Liz’s wedding and a baby shower Amy’s sister, Lisa, was
throwing for us. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but it
was a welcome break from work and the dreary weather in
the Northwest.