Tearing It Up at Manatee Park

Saturday was an especially windy day- great weather for kiteboarding!  J had heard that Discovery HD was filming a show about kiteboarding in the Banana River near Manatee Park in Cape Canaveral and wanted to check it out.  Since I was fresh out of photography class I was excited to take a few shots with my 300 mm lens.

So, the boys and I tagged along for this extreme sport field trip.  And a few shots turned into over 300…  Thank you, burst mode 🙂

Cutie Pie and Wildman had fun collecting rocks to skip in the river and checking out all of the colorful kites at the park while J set up his gear and I set up mine.

Manatee Park has lots of open, grassy areas that make launching kites a breeze (pun intended, ha!)

J’s kiting glasses kind of make him look like a cyborg or something but I think this shot looks like he should be in a magazine.

I found a spot along the bank of the river so I could catch J cruising by and doing tricks.  It was really cool!  The boys were hooting and hollering for him.

Eventually the boys grew bored with watching J and asked to go to a playground.  The strong wind made it especially chilly outside so I was thankful to retreat to the warmth of the car for a ride over to a park with a jungle gym.  J went on to kite further out in the river near a sandbar.  He also got to see the film crew on a boat.  I’ll be interested to see the show to see if J made it into the footage somehow.  Not sure when it airs though…

Of his afternoon kite session, J said it was one of the best ever!

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Snow Day

It is COLD here!  Cold enough to sleet.  I seriously had sleet on my car today.  And I got to wear that stylin’ ski hat that’s been accumulating dust over the past 6 years…

The boys got to see snow for the first time today too.  It was man-made snow but snow nonetheless.  Wildman was totally excited!

Cutie Pie was too cold to care.

J got a text this morning from one of his kiteboarding friends that said there would be 4 tons of snow at an event this afternoon.  The event was supposed to be a kiteboarding competition but the weather became so bad that they tried to turn it into a snow kiting exhibition.  I say tried because sleet prevented the snow from really accumulating when it hit the ground.

I freaking can’t believe that it was sleeting here!  SLEET!  Tiny balls of ice were bouncing off of my car.  What?!

Anyway, when we arrived (in the sleet) at the park we saw a massive snow machine cranking out powder in full force.  Ice went in the top, snow came out the side.  The machine looked like a giant wood chipper really.

J, Wildman and I all took turns darting out from underneath our protective umbrella to play in the snow.  Wildman was all about starting a snowball fight!  It was such fun.  Cutie Pie just clung to J and I.  His little body was shivering despite being bundled in multiple layers, gloves and fleece.

We did not stay out in the cold for very long.  Just long enough for Wildman to get his fill of playing in the small patch of quickly melting snow.

We hurried from the park to the protection and warmth of my car.  From there, we watched some of the kiteboarders try to kite across the snow.  It was a good try but the wind just was not cooperating and there just was not enough snow.

It was a unique experience for us that we won’t soon forget.  Snow and sleet in Central Florida!  Who knew?!