Kites

A few weeks ago, Jonathan and I were standing on the doorstep of his school in the morning, waiting to go in. Before knocking, he looked up, surprised, turned to me and asked, "What's that good smell?"

I breathed in deeply and said, "Isn't it wonderful? That is the smell of spring!"

Technically, I think it was the smell of mud. Mud smells wonderful after a winter.

...

Saturday, I took Jonathan and a friend up to a local park to fly kites. There wasn't much wind, but enough to keep the kite up if you ran with it into the light breeze. Since our park had a very large running field, the boys could keep their kites up for a good five minutes or so as they jogged from one end to the other.

To get them started, I would hold up the kite and tell them to start running, and cheer as it lifted into the sky. At the end of the field, where they could no longer hear me, the kite would sink, the boy would sit and rest for a minute, and then slowly drag it back.

When they reached me again after their long walk, I would ask, "Do you want to stop? Are you ready for a break?"

"No!" said Jonathan each time. "This is too much fun!"

His friend looked a little more weary.

"Do you want to stop?"

"No... I'm just going to sit down for a minute."

They kept it up for two hours! Running the length of the field, collapsing, dragging the kite back, and starting over.

Who says kids don't get enough exercise?