Sunday, March 30, 2008

Well... Mr. Fishy Kite was adorable...

However, he was not quite the aerodynamic masterpiece I was hoping he'd be. Sadly, he spent most of his time here:


He was more of a mudsucker fishy, hoping along the ground, than he was the glorious flying fish that I was going for. Mr. Fishy was a huge hit with the crowd anyway. We had lots of people come up to us and tell us how much they liked our kite! And, in the end, we did learn some important lessons for the kite we make next year. Mistakes not to repeat:
1) Don't use such heavy fabric. Maybe invest in some nylon.
2) Don't use duck taped hangers as the frame. They are not sturdy, bending a surprising amount, and are very heavy. Perhaps a plastic frame next year?
3) Don't wait until the day of the festival to try your kite out.

At the end of the day, though, I had fun just running around in circles trying to get Mr. Fishy off the ground.


And posing in various pictures with him.


And of course we spent some quality time admiring the cherry blossoms!


Erin's so silly! She wanted a stereotypical Asian picture with the cherry blossoms. She'd make the cutest little geisha, wouldn't she?


I had heard people say to stay away from the Cherry Blossom festival because it is such a tourist trap, but sometimes it's nice to be a tourist in your own city. That's kind of the whole point of Search for J Street. There is so much available in DC. (And most of its free!) Every time I get out there and visit something special in my city, it makes me want to see more. I only get to live next to national treasures for so long. Yea, it's true that I did have to deal with a lot of people during the festival (and kids - icky), but it seems worth it in the end. I got out of the house on a Saturday morning, saw the national monuments, poked around a sculpture garden, and generally enjoyed life in my city!

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