Stormy Skies

Every afternoon for the past 4 or 5 days this is how the skies have looked around here.  Dark, ominous clouds filled with lightning and the rumble of thunder rolling in from the west or north.  A gust of cool wind blowing in to relieve us from the stifling summer heat.  Torrential downpours usually follow filling the pool to the top and flooding a few streets.  The lashing winds have whipped my poor hibiscus trees sideways in their pots by the garage door.  Even the rack that we use to dry pool towels and swimsuits has been toppled on the back porch.  The power has gone out a couple of times only to return a few seconds later.  The children have hunkered down inside with movies or games waiting the storm out.

I watch the rain fall sideways and in swirls as the wild wind blows, thankful that our drought is over.  Man, I love a good summer thunderstorm!

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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!