Berkeley Kite Festival - 6/25

I can't believe it has been almost a month since we attended the Berkeley Kite Festival. I guess there has been a lot going on, and this post has so many pictures in it, I have been putting it off.This is the second time we have attended this event, the first was years ago just after we moved to California. At that time the event wasn't nearly as big as it is today, but we remembered how fun it was, and were eager to go again and bring Holly.We thought this would be the perfect event for her, wide open spaces in which she can run around and really neat things for her to look at in every direction.Surprisingly though, Holly didn't get to run around as much as we thought she would. When we were viewing the kites we were up on the hill, it was steep and windy, so she stuck around and didn't run too far.Later when we were walking around it was crowded and she wanted mommy to carry her, so she could concentrate on all the interesting things to look at.This is Solo the Octopus. He is the largest Octopus Kite in the World, and it took more the 20 wranglers to lift him up, and here he is landing. It was an amazing sight to see him flying, and the way he lands and flips over was so cool.

Here is a Video of Solo Landing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNyEGSnlTbg


We wanted to make sure we arrived early enough to see this, which happened around Noon, so we got there about 11:00, early for us, there was no traffic and great parking, I heard that later in the day it was a nightmare, We found a great spot on the hill to watch it all.The view of the bay is amazing here, you can see the Bay Bridge and Angel island Here in the distant.Then you can see the San Francisco skyline. It was an over cast day, so it wasn't the most crisp view, but you can see Sutro Tower, and the Trans America Pyramid if you look close.The of course there is the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin. Such an amazing view. It was nice that it was so breezy and not too hot. The flip side of that is that both me and Holly got very sun burned without even realizing the sun was out.After Solo landed they had some kids activities int he Field with a group called Monkey Business. Holly had a lot of fun with this, she enjoys the parachute, and as long as she wasn't spinning on top she was happy to be on the edge and peaking underneath.We had planned on meeting a lot of our friends at the Festival. Unfortunately Cole got sick with a high fever and they couldn't make it. But in the Morning we met with Sarah and Richard. Isabel normally takes Saturday mornings to herself, and had lunch plans with a friend so she couldn't make it.Here is Holly taking a little break. I had my hat on her to keep the sun out of her eyes and a little sweater to keep her warm in the wind.But when she was done with her snack she was ready to take the hat off and let her hair blow in the wind, she really loved the wind.

Here is a video of Holly witht he wind in her hair:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETzYxBdPzcE

This was a cute little fishy kite, I love how it is so three dimensional, part of the fun of the festival was getting to see all of the unique kites and of course the interesting people.I was surprised at how interested Holly was too, she enjoyed watching the kites, but she was starting to get a little hungry and sleepy, so we walked around some and took lots of breaks to eat.These were another set of really neat kits, they were flying dragons. It was fun to point them out to Joel and Holly and find all the different ones.One of the main attractions was the octo-kites. Originally we were sitting to the side back of them But then we took a walk and sat down in the front and looked up at them, it was so cool to watch them flying up above.Joel decided he wanted a kite of his own, and this three dimensional piece was called "Holly" I think she quite enjoyed not only being up in the sky, but also having the wind in her hair.Richard and Sarah walked around and then would find us, and then walk around a little more. here are Holly and Sarah sharing some water.Sarah loved the kites and pointed at different ones and had a blast. She is snacking on some apple here.Holly was getting sleepy which means she was getting antsy, so here Joel is flipping her around on his shoulder and she is flying high with the kites again.On this particular weekend Joel had both a writing contest and a Ludem Dare programming 48 hour mini game contest. So we originally only meant to spend a few short hours there. But then we got a phone call. Sarah and Richard were heading home, and Dave and Tracey called to say they were on the bridge and there way over. By then it was about 12:30, so we of course decided to wait.We hadn't seen them in weeks, so we wanted to hang around and spend time with them, but Holly was pooped, so much so that after a bottle she fell asleep on the hill in my lap.She was such a sweetie We had the hat on to protect her eyes and the sweater over her to keep her warm in the wind. She was so cuddly on my lap.

Eventually though Mommy had to get up and stretch her legs and Holly was gently moved to the quilt. It was wonderful that she stayed asleep with all the noise and action going on around her.Later in the day more of the octo-kites were launched, I loved seeing there arms flying in the wind. The colors are so beautiful it is so fluid and magical.

Here are two Videos of them Flying:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k80PK7IxY7E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvoWq1DZzAQ

And of course there were many eyes looking down on us, it felt almost like an Alien Invasion, it was fun.The traffic on the bridge and in parking was crazy, that it took another 90 minutes before little Lucian Arrived, it was around 2:00. We were so excited to see him, he had gotten so big. We were also excited to get some lunch.Holly woke up refreshed a little after they arrived and shared my food. There were lots of little booths down by the field and I had a Teriyaki bowl. Holly liked the Sweet/Salty Chicken and the Rice. Later we had some Ben and Jerry's and she liked that too. Yum.Here is Joel hanging out with Lucian. There wasn't a lot of space to move and crawl around in up on the hill on our little blanket without worrying about them tumbling down the hill, so they stayed in our arms.It was great that Holly let Tracey pick her up to say hello. She was excited to see Holly, it had been almost 2 months since we had seen each other which is like forever in the growth of a little baby.After lunch we decided to walk around and explore again. The Monkey Business team was doing Hula Hoops this time, and Holly loves playing with these, she likes it when i twirl them and they make cool cylindrical shapes.These ones were really big and heavy so she could lift them but not spin them on her own, they didn't spin so great on the bumpy grassy field, but I was able to get them going a little bit.This was a nice overview of the space, its really hard to see all of the kites flying, but these were all ones flown by attendees rather then professionals, there were 100's in the sky.And of course, around 4:00 when we were starting to think about heading out, we stopped to visit the Octo-Kites again, There were even more of them then ever. It amazed me with all of the strings needed to keep these guys up in the sky that they didn't get tangled and even more could pop up into the sky. We had an amazing time, and although we didn't intend to be there all day long, it was a fun family and friend day.