Oct 2008

We were lucky enough to make it home just in time for mom’s kite festival. Coming through Jackson, we knew we were home the moment we saw the Tetons. Although Minnesota definitely has its beauty; I’ve realized that growing up surrounded by mountains makes me crave them and comforted when I see them.

On to the kite festival – this is the second annual event, and it’s grown. It got some wonderful publicity from the local newspaper, local NBC station, local ABC station, and the local CBS station. This year, there was NO SNOW! Woohoo! Although, yeah, there was rain… Oh well – we had much more good than bad. No Tom this year, but there were new experts that were great at kiting and just plain old groovy folks from all over Idaho and even Utah. Even though we weren’t able to stay for the entire festival, we did get in on a few workshops (sled, fighter, Chrysler) and some flys. The first workshop started at the Portneuf Library with a ton of energetic kids. I had forgotten just how much energy kids have, it’s really something to be jealous of – their energy, their imagination, their ability to focus only on what is present.

The first day with a fly scheduled was spent in the morning at the scheduled venue before they came out to say that we needed to leave, apparently all necessary paperwork was at the office but not in the correct hands. So, we said AMF to that place, and jogged on over to another park.

Cujo has found a new hobby – fighter kites! He was able to figure it out pretty quickly, long before I had given up trying to be coordinated enough to do it right. He ended up with it out so far though, that it had to be retrieved from two blocks away in someone’s yard. Hehe, I was stunned he managed to find it.

The kite festival continued Saturday, after a rainy morning, as we left Pocatello. Great job Mom, we are very proud of you and can’t wait for next year!

On a sad and serious note, our thoughts are with my mom’s neighbor family, who were the unfortunate victims of a house fire.