Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, 2009

I must paint the picture that occurred at our house today; first of all we got home pretty late last night from Kristin's birthday party. When we got home it was climb into bed ASAP. When the morning rolled around Ruth let me sleep in until about 9:30. Then she brought me the newspaper and a cup of coffee and then we both stayed in bed, read the paper and had our coffee. Next she made me a wonderful breakfast of eggs, waffles, bacon and orange juice. We sat out on the front patio and enjoyed the beautiful morning and had breakfast. It was great because there were so many people that were walking by and either stopped to enjoy the roses or wanted to "talk" to Chica, our African Grey parrot. Next I texted a few kiters that the wind was coming up and I started packing my cart for the trip down to the beach.

As I approached the beach I heard a loud cacophony of drums, bongos and congas coming from the center of the beach. It sounded very fun and tribal. There was a "Water/Earth/Love" type of event happening near the LaVern parking lot. This drew a lot of people. Thank you.

As I arrived I noticed smiling Mitch in the tower. I went over and said "Hello", exchanges niceties and then headed to the camp. There were a number of kiters pumping and getting ready to go out. I really wanted to wait until Rijk or Dan arrived to go out with them, but that didn't happen. I rigged and went out.

At first I didn't intend on going on an adventure but once up by the pier I thought I saw Gabor out by the breakwater so naturally I wanted to go out and say hi to him too. I did get out there but never had contact with him. "Hi Gabor, how was Lake Isabella?"
One interesting thing about today, the wind was quite solid, and my adventure unfolded I noticed the water was pretty rough on the back of Chaffee Island. The only area that was really nice and smooth was the leeward side of White Island, after I passed the pier. Now that water was smooth...but not much wind. You can't have everything

Once I got back on the beach I noticed that there was some sort of huge water baptism going on near station #8. I walk towards the event but couldn't really understand what was going on. The kiter on the extreme left is my son Dan. He was curious too.

I got a fun group shot that includes; Aaron, Rosemary, Darron, Steve Lee (in back), Steve Price (in foreground) and Dan.

This one I've titled "Father, Son and Holy Jorge." I don't know if Jorge is really holy, but his wife Pilar says he walks on water. I think that means he's holy....don't you???? On the left is Al Navas and his son Jason, who came down to take some pictures. Check out that camera.

Dan and Kyle were trading secrets about back rolls. One of these days I'm going to get it.

We really have an international group; this is just the tip of the iceberg. Rijk is from Holland, Yuri is from the Ukraine, Matt from Poland and Steve from Korea. And they all kite great.

And on Father's Day we have girls too!!! Ruth is on the left, Rosemary's in the center and Matt's wife Alexandra is on the right. Just to let you know Rosemary was getting up on her board and Aaron was at her side giving her a hand and coaching her. I think Aaron zigged or zagged wrong because the next thing he was in the back of the lifeguard truck going to get his foot put in water. Yes the stingrays are BACK. Duh, duhh, duh, duhh. Think the Jaws music.

Thanks to Omar Nazif and his camera toting girlfriend Bonnie, there are some additional shots of today.

How cool is this, the beach camp from above. Like someone is looking down on us.

Here's the ground level shot of the camp.

A happy father is .....what? Taking a moment to liquefy my self. Thanks Raul.

This is the end of the day shot. I hope one of these days I get a picture from the middle of the bay to capture the huge array of kiters and kite colors. It it truly beautiful to see.

The next stop was dinner. Here Rijk is turning over the ribs. Sorry Rijk I didn't frame it very well. Really that's at least Rijk's arm.

Here is that all important "Family Photo." NOT!! When you double click on this one you will notice Dan forgot to wash off his sun block. Does anyone know how to use Photoshop????

See you on the beach...Jim and Ruth