If anyone would have seen us last weekend, they would have thought “Ahhh, what a cute little family going to fly a kite on a windy day.” But if they would have listened in a very different story unfolded.
We requested kites for Christmas two years ago. And being ambitious, we didn’t just ask for any kite, but expensive stunt kites. You know–the kind that thrillingly pierce the sky as they whip and whirl under the command of their master. It was our first time taking them out to the field in front of our house. And possibly the last.
It’s been many years since I’ve flown a kite but a distant memory that permeates my mind is simply throwing the kite up, catching wind, and then blissfully standing there as the kite does all the work while you give it the occasional tug.
Our experience was very different. For those unfamiliar with stunt kites, they are considerably more complicated. They have two different lines to manoeuvre and figuring out which line to pull at the exact moment the wind takes it is about as easy as passing college physics (hence the reason why I took it three times).
Every time we’d toss it in the air, it would crash almost instantly. Haddie, who was initially excited for our outing, looked up at us expectedly each time, as if to say “That’s the best you can do?” It got really exciting when we finally got the kite airborne for 20 seconds, only to have it dive-bomb, barely missing Haddie. I could just imagine defending our actions to child services about how it wasn’t really our fault….the kite just attacked!
After an hour of witnessing the kite’s suicide attempts and a memorable timeout with tantruming Haddie because we wouldn’t let her play with the passing cars in the street, we called it quits. The highlight was when we were winding up the string and Hadley went over to our kite, sang her version of “Ring Around the Rosy”…and well, you all know the drill. I just never knew that they fell down on $100 kites. That’s one pricey Rosy.
Next week, we’re going over to Target and buying a $5 one…with no strings attached.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 