Leapfest

This is going to be a very quick post with LOTS of pictures of where I took Than yesterday. It was absolute heaven for a three year old boy totally obsessed with helicopters. I am only going to give the most basic description of what was going on, so I recommend going to http://www.leapfest.com/ to get a better description of the whole thing and how the contest really works. We will definitely be going again next year. Than wants to go everyday...so I'm having a hard time getting him to understand that it will be a while before we can go again.

So basic overview: Leapfest is an annual international competition that just happens to be held right around the corner from us. The drop zone and target were behind West Kingston Elementary and Pickup (Landing and Take off for the helicopters) was at URI. Teams of 4 are dropped from the helicopters and have to try to get to a target as quickly as possible. They make several jumps and the lowest combined total time wins.

A team that has just been dropped.

Where the contestants can go to get their gear ready for the next jump and get checked by a medic if need be.

Trying to remove a parachute from a tree. Getting close to the target wasn't easy.

Best shot of a landing and the target. The target is the bit of orange to the right. He was one of the few to land fairly close (and gently). Most landed much further away and had to run as fast as they could to the target to stop the time, dragging their parachute the whole way.

Dragging his gear back to get ready for the next jump.

The unfortunate ones had to race to the target against the wind, struggling against the parachute.

Being at the drop zone was way more fun for Than than I expected. I knew he would love the helicopters and like seeing the parachutes, but thought his favorite part would be going over to the landing zone where he could see the helicopters much closer. However the drop zone was at the elementary school which had a very nice playground. From the playground you couldn't see the target or landing area, but for much of the time we were there the helicopters were dropping them right over the playground. So the little kids were thrilled! They could play and watch the helicopters.

I was so happy to get a shot of them actually jumping out the back.

After about an hour we left and went over the the pick up zone at URI. It was easy to find, with plenty of parking and yet no one was there other than the people competing. We were able to get fairly close, so it was a really good view of the helicopters.

We stayed for 45 minutes or so. Long enough to see 4 or 5 helicopters take off and land, plus the ones that were dropping teams circled above constantly. I was slightly surprised to see exactly how many of them were loaded onto each helicopter.

It was a fantastic day for Than. Of course he would have enjoyed it more if Daddy was there to tell him all about what kind of helicopters they were and all the details Mom doesn't know, but hopefully next year. The only disappointment for Than was that he desperately wanted to go on the helicopters, and thought the jumping out looked pretty fun too. I had to tell him he would have to wait until he was much bigger.