Let's! Go! Fly! A kite!

Every month, we do a reading incentive for our first graders. Their homework throughout the month is to read and record 15 books in their reading logs. Students who turn in all their reading logs by the end of the month get to participate in a special party. Past reading incentive parties have included: the "tailgating party" in the fall, the "hot chocolate party" in the winter, and of course this month's party was the "kite-flying party".

Today was said kite-flying party and let me just say...short of a thunderstorm, we could not have picked a worse day. I've been checking the forecast all week. Today was supposed to be mid-70s. Perfect, right? Yeah, only the forecast also called for 20-30 mph winds, with gusts up to over 40 mph. My teaching partner (Lisa) and I decided regardless of the wind, we were going to do it today no matter what. Try telling a bunch of 7-year-olds that it's "too windy" to fly kites. It would not be pretty.

So we did it...and we survived. But just barely. Noteworthy events included:

• One of my little girls (we'll call her "V") is tiny and simply adorable. She is seriously the cutest little girl you'll ever see. Anyway, I was talking to her asking her if she was having fun. All of a sudden a heavy gust of wind came and literally blew her over. She was knocked to her feet. I didn't know things like that actually happened.
• I was in the process of untangled yet another kite when I heard one of my girls, "G", screaming bloody murder. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!" I run over to her and ask her what's wrong. She just points to the sky with a look of horror on her face. Her kite was high in the sky....blocks away....just floating away past the neighborhoods. Apparently the string broke and the wind was blowing so hard it just kept going. The funniest part was that there were roofers on one of the houses it went by and just watched as it passed by. Luckily, it didn't hit any one (that I know of).
• "G" had a pretty rough day. In addition to her losing her kite miles away, she also got sliced in the face with a kite string.

This is dangerous business, people!