Suddenly Summer

If memory serves me, summer has never been more punctual than it was this year!

Memorial Day weekend – the unofficial kickoff to summer – arrived on Friday, and with it came 90 degree temperatures for three days straight.

Thunder and pouring rain have since replaced them today, but it's no matter – around here, we all got our first taste of the heat and sun of summer this weekend, and it was awesome.

The kite festival that we'd wanted to attend two weeks ago had been rescheduled for this weekend, so Dave and I headed down to the lakefront to check it out on Saturday.

The sky was blue when we left the apartment, but five minutes later as we walked through Veteran's Park, we could no longer see the sky. A light but significant layer of fog blanketed the entire park, making it hard to see the kites that flew above and impossible to see the tops of many of the surrounding buildings. It was kind of a bummer – but at least it wasn't raining, and the sun still peeked through when it could.



The turnout was good – there was a nice mix of families with their strollers and dogs and little kids and couples with their arms draped over each other; and then there were those who came to fly and show off their humongous kites. We saw some cool ones: airplanes and dragons and trains – and even a measuring tape.



One big part of the park was reserved for the stunt kites and the part closest to the water was for everyone else. We watched the black Chicago Fire stunt kites practice for awhile (their performances would be later on – we didn't stay long enough to see them) and they were really neat, but it was much more amusing to face the other lawn and watch all the regular people try to fly their kites.

A little before noon, the different kite teams and presenters were announced, and then we all rose to our feet and a woman sang the national anthem to kick off the festival. The crowd was silent as we stood facing a giant American flag kite gently floating in front of us – it was quite touching.

At noon it was time for the GRAND LAUNCH. My plan had been to buy a kite and partake in this very exciting moment, but after seeing all the kites around me, I decided I just wanted to watch. I watched as people readied their kites for liftoff and I joined in as the announcer began to count 10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1!!!

At the big moment, my gaze was focused on one man who threw his kite into the air on the count of one and began to run – only to have the kite smash into the ground a second later. I felt bad for him, but it was pretty funny. The grand launch was pretty anticlimactic since it takes awhile – especially for an amateur – to get a kite into the air.

 

The best part about the grand launch was that the speakers blared the song "Let's Go Fly A Kite" as people launched their kites. After a minute or two, quite a few people had theirs in the air and as they ran around the grass and zig-zagged around each other as the happy music played, I felt like I was watching a movie being filmed right in front of my eyes. I couldn’t help but smile the whole time.

We sat on the grass for another 20 minutes or so, just watching the kites fly and the people go by. We saw surrey bikes and rollerbladers and all kinds of dogs, and Dave insisted on taking a picture of the couple who had their kids on leashes. (hey, they won't get lost that way!) People-watching at any event like this is all kinds of fun.



After we left the fest, we checked out the huge fish in the harbor and then hit up Metro Market for a few necessities – and lots of delicious samples. I love that place.



The rest of the weekend was equally low-key. For Memorial Day, I laid out and got some sun, and then Christi and Tara came over and we cooked out hamburgers and hot dogs. The afternoon ended with a rousing game of Taboo (Christi and I scorched Dave and Tara) and then Dave and I spent the rest of the evening recovering from – surprise surprise – too much food.

It's hard to believe that summer is upon us again – it's crazy how it seems to come out of nowhere. BAM! It's summer. The festival season officially kicks off this weekend with RiverSplash! and – hooray! – Jazz in the Park starts this Thursday already, too.

Comments

[Andre]

I can't tell if Dave's face is pissed about getting beat at the game, or if he's thinking, "Christ, another picture".

Looks like it was a good day to get out of the house.

[Dave]

I always get killed in Taboo. Though Erin wasn't taking pictures about 20 minutes before this when I was lighting her up in Trivial Pursuit 90s edition. We've had that for about year and a half now and she's still yet to beat me.

[Christi]

haha yeah, I was waiting for a mention about the smearing in Trivial Pursuit pre-Taboo =)

Are you planning on going to Riversplash this weekend?

[Erin]

Blah to you, Dave - I still beat you at every other game under the sun (Scattergories, Monopoly, Speed, Taboo - shall I go on?)

And Christi, yes I'll be at Riversplash! Though I'm not sure if we'll go on Friday or Saturday night .... You?

Ya know, I've actually never been to Riversplash - I hear it's QUITE the ordeal and I'm excited! :)

[Dave]

Check out that picture of the kid on the leash!!!! I took that one.

[kelly]

kids on leashes are so upsetting to me! seriously, they aren't dogs.