Ladybug Flyer

This was a really nice moment, in fact perhaps my favorite of the day today.  Madison and Daddy got the idea of flying a kite on the beach today, and it was just the right day for this sort of thing.  A stormline was sweeping across the Southeast today, due to arrive a little later in the day, maybe around early evening.  So we knew it would be somewhat windy, and yet the temperature was just right outside too.  So the two of us went out there to give it a try, and were in for an hour or so of pure delight!

Here's Madison expertly handling the kite all on her own, keeping it airborne and having such a good time with it that at one point Daddy asked her if she was ready to go swimming.  And if you know Madison, she's always ready to go swimming.  But no, she wasn't ready to put the kite away yet!

We were out there for an hour by that time, and the kite only touched the ground about six or seven times, and each time it just zoomed upwards without any effort at all.  Although at one point, it did a dive bomb and nearly took out Daddy!

This got me to thinking about this year in general, and I just have a feeling of hope about 2019, one that sort of flies in the face of all the news going on of late.

     Have you ever flown a kite before?  It depends on this invisible current, and goes between exhilarating and occasionally really frustrating if there’s not much wind.  Sometimes we overwork just to stay afloat, and we feel useless, without any skill whatsoever.  That kite just won’t fly - it seems the wind is dead, and we’re doing all we can just to pretend like we’re having fun.  That pretty much sums up 2018 for a few of us.

     Yet sometimes we're just lifted up without any effort whatsoever, soaring high, lifted upwards by this powerful force we cannot see.  Today was one of those days where we didn’t have to work at all - the kite soared upward amazingly fast, and we were in high spirits flying that thing for about an hour.  I can’t tell you what that one hour alone did for my spirits!

     I feel a nice breeze coming this year for us.  I’m speaking that over you, and of course for me as well.  In fact, I already feel it start to move in.  I know there were plenty of “downs” in 2018, maybe even a crash landing or two.  But this year upcoming will have many more “ups,” and I can’t wait to see you soar.  We’re praying for a healthy, happy and remarkable year for you and your family!  

     It’s going to be a breeze!

Anyway, it was a nice time there on the beach, and not long after that, the two of us explored the tidal pools again.  Madison triple-dog dared Daddy to sit down fully in a tidal pool, and despite the breach of etiquette there, he relented.  The two of us were sitting, looking for shells, and sort of splashing each other.  Yes, we were doing this in early January, and yes the water was chilly to begin with.  It wasn't like we were doing a Polar Bear Plunge or anything, although technically, we were jumping into water outside in January.  But it really wasn't that bad. 

We did go back inside to use the indoor pool, which seemed like a hot water springs because it was so warm in there.  We had fun swimming around, playing "Yes or No" and "Marco Polo," and then sneaking over to the jacuzzi to sit there for a bit.  It was nice!

Check out all the seagulls stirring fast the palm tree.  It's not dust or debris, each of those black spots is a seagull in the wind.  The breeze starting picking up, and the rain starting to come in to the north.  Daytona Beach was dark, cars with their headlights on the beach.  Meanwhile, it was still just sunny enough here.

It's a pretty spot, and nice to just sit out on the balcony and watch for dolphins and dive bombing pelicans.  The dolphins have been here every day, today jumping out of the water, breaching and flipping their tails around.  One brief shower brought a rainbow over the ocean, which is always nice to see.

Today we did quite a bit of relaxing, with Mommy helping Ba-Ba with ancestry research, and Madison showing Daddy how to play "Exploding Kittens."  We had spaghetti for dessert, and ice cream afterwards, of course.  Nana and Ba-Ba have had the kitchen stocked with enough ice cream to feed a small squadron of soldiers.  Or, perhaps just Madison in one week!

Daddy and Madison continued reading "X-Men" comics, unraveling the mystery of why there are two Psylockes, with Madison meeting the Silver Samurai for the first time.  We hadn't read the comics in a while, but this week we've picked that up, along with the other reading too, of course.  We're still reading "Peter and the Shadow Thieves," and Madison is hanging on every word, at the end of each chapter telling Daddy, "Read one more please!  Please!"

We played dominoes with Nana and Ba-Ba again tonight, a mandatory tradition by now.  Nana won, as did Mommy and Madison.  Madison pointed out tonight that the "girls ruled!"

And after that, it was time for "The End."  We've finally reached the end of the binge-watching of "A Series of Unfortunate Events."  In some ways, the television show was better and in other ways the book series was better, but both were enjoyable to the three of us.  I think if anything, the television show was a great supplement to the book series, which ended with some fairly big questions that weren't answered with the precision that we'd like.  The television show did what the book series did not do, ironically:  it spelled things out.  What was in the sugar bowl?  What happened at the opera?  Did Quigley reunite with his family?  What about Captain Widdershins and his family?  And so on.  It was enjoyable, and I'll go ahead and say that we're probably going to watch the entire series from start to finish now that it is complete, so this won't be the last time it is mentioned.  Also, the television series was great to include "The Beatrice Letters" in the story as well.  Having just read all this, the three of us were really into the series and thought they did a great job honoring the original source material, despite some slight deviations.  

Tonight, it was time for bed earlier - we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.  But it was a great day today, thanks to a kite it was one I won't ever forget.