Is it a bird? A plane? No, it's Haku!

Or maybe it's just a really long balloon up in the sky and we've got really long overactive imaginations. Either way, Dominic's new game has the kids in a permanent state of hilarity. Some friends (the family of the man in the green shirt in the 8th picture down) gave him these balloons for his birthday last summer. At the time they were very fun, but they also spent a lot of time weeeeeeeeezzzzziing around the house, getting in my way as I slaved buying Dairy Queen cakes making sure the twins had lots of lovely sugary junk for their birthday. And what with all the people to play with and all the water to swim in and all the places to bike to, they were set aside until we came home from our holidays.

They came out once or twice in the fall, then the other day he hauled them out again. And set them off into the sky. The first time he did, I was in the back yard, digging and raking. Something fast and blue caught the corner of the eye, snaking high above the rooftops and over the trees. Then it dropped like a stone. Now, either my distance vision isn't so great or I do, as Richard contends, live in a little world of make-believe I have a really overactive imagination, but at the time I thought it was a large blue flying snake, so I raced into the front yard, to see where it had fallen. I know, I know, it sounds mildly idiotic now, but that's the way my mind works: anything is possible.

I ran into the front yard, still holding my shovel, where I was confronted with Dominic and FDPG, both in fits of hysterics. They were pointing to the Garry oak across the street, where something skinny, blue, and very latex was dangling limply from a branch. "Look! The balloon went higher than all the trees!" they both shrieked.

I didn't like to admit that I'd thought it was alive, so I merely nodded, and said "Wow. Cool."

Then I remembered why I thought it was alive. I thought it was Haku. Streaking across the sky.
Here's Dominic setting one off in the back yard.












And there it is vanishing over the rooftops.


















Look carefully. Now tell me, doesn't that look like Haku?