Go Fly A Kite

It's been pretty windy lately, which sparked the idea in Nathan that we need to go fly a kite. So... we loaded everyone in the car this past Sunday afternoon and headed to the park with his Elmo kite. There's just nothing that scares the poop out of birds like running into a big, red, flying Elmo! (which can be dangerous for those below without a hat) We stopped along the way to pick up some snacks and more string. It's not that we didn't have any string, it's just that I learned to fly a kite from my dad, who believed if you could still make out the picture on the kite, you didn't have it high enough, really. So, I bought two more spools of string.

Now, the problem with flying a kite in a park (even a smaller, less poulated one) is that there are other things to do there. I remember flying my kite in a large, open field with nothing else around to do. At this park, there were slides, swings, field lights, bleachers, squeaky gates, trash on the ground, and a host of other distractions for two and four-year-old boys. Which left the older boy (me) with the kite. Thankfully, Laura was with us, or else I may have completely lost track of the boys.

Note: For those of you thinking, "Hey! This is supposed to be about the boys, not you! After all, it's the "Peck Boys Report", isn't it?", let me just say that I can shut this blog down in a heartbeat, so just give me a little latitude here! After all, there are three Peck Boys in our home!

After Nathan helped me launch it, I flew my (Nathan's) little Elmo kite as high as those three spools of string tied together would let me. I chased off birds, wowed little kids (and their parents), fought off shifting and dying winds, and lived to tell the tale, my friends! I managed to pull out of a near fatal down swoop, and salvaged a hard slam into a light tower (over the baseball diamond). I even let Nathan "steer" for a short while, until something else was "cooler" than flying a kite (like climbing to the top of the bleachers). Evan was busy picking up the trash that litterers had left on the ground and depositing it in the garbage can (a novel idea), so he really never engaged the kite except to look up and exclaim, "Look Mommy! Look dat Elmo kite!" He may not be able to clean up the world, but he sure cleaned up that little park!

The down side to all that string is that you have to reel it all back in. Unless, of course, you just cut the string and run! Don't worry, Elmo is safe at home (although I may have developed mild carpal tunnel syndrome).

More on the younger Peck Boys tomorrow...