What a great couple of days I've enjoyed!
Last night, my girls and I joined a friend and her boys for a trip to the Scobee planetarium. A great show for the money, and very timely as we've been studying space these last few weeks. After the show, we stopped at Cheesy Jane's for a very tasty burger and chocolate-banana malt. Our husbands were good sports to hang out at my house with the "babies" for all those hours, as no one under 4 years old is allowed at the Scobee.
Today, we had plans to have lunch and an afternoon of fellowship with Friends, but it was cancelled this morning when a few of their children woke up struggling with varying degrees of congestion. It was our choice to "beg off," not feeling sure of what kind of illness they had because it was just the first day of symptoms. It was disappointing and I felt bad to ask for a "raincheck," but couldn't help thinking that if I ignored Friend's warning phone call and exposed the girls, it would surely turn out to be a slow-moving storm (flu) or worse yet: the chicken pox. See, the girls don't know it yet, but we've got some pretty big plans coming up! I won't say more, but will surely debrief with a blog post after all is accomplished. If someone should become sick during our plans, I will feel confident that it is the Lord's perfect Will and not my negligence or carelessness!
Anyway, rather than spend this perfectly clear, 70-degree day at my sewing machine laboring over girl's jumpers and skirts, we decided to take One, Two and Three 60 miles north to Johnson City to make and fly kites, compliments of the Texas Parks and Recreation Department. Husband helped the girls decorate and attach their paper-bag kites and cloth-strip tails to the bamboo frames provided by TPRD while I took our $6 Walmart kite to the field. It took me a few tries and about 30 minutes to get the feel for keeping the kite airborne -- I didn't have any idea I would learn something today -- that was kinda fun!
The girls' hand-made kites were pretty heavy and hard to get up, though they gave it a good try with the aid of some chivalrous friends we bumped into while we were there. After another half hour or so, everyone was happy to break open the rest of the Walmart kites and watch them lift off with less effort and more flying time.
One enjoyed learning how to do the job through trial and error; I'm sure she felt a sense of accomplishment and victory taking on the challenge pretty much solo. She couldn't stop thanking Husband and I for the great day. We're so blessed and so happy for her that she has such a grateful heart; she is a joy.
Two had a great time also. She decorated her kite with many stickers and a colorful sash and hung out with Daddy who was learning his skills on-the-job as well (though I'm not sure she knew that -- that information is need-to-know, you know).
Three, by far, was the most free-spirited and gleeful in this new adventure! I lifted off her Elmo kite and handed her the spool, explaining that she needed to hold on tight to it or it might fly away. As I went on to lift-off another kite that had dived and crashed, I found her holding the spool overhead while balancing on tip-toes. After a couple of glances over to find her that way I told her she needn't hold it up high like that, but just be comfortable with it, "Hold it down by your belly, Three."
"Why am I not flying my kite, Mommy?"
"What? Honey, you are flying your kite."
"Why am I not flying my kite?"
"Sweetie. You are. That's as high as it goes."
"Why am I not going high?"
Oh! How I would love to have that one on film. Three thought she was going to go flying with the kite! She was on tip-toe with spool held high overhead, ready for lift-off! Precious. How I wished in that moment that I could have made it happen for her. For the next hour, she better understood what was, (and what wasn't) going to happen with the kite, and she had a super great time flying her Elmo kite and running the field from end to end with all her might.
I can't wait to do it again. Who knew?
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