Go Fly a Kite!

I absolutely LOVE this photo. Can you tell we were having fun?

My attempts at organizing are finally paying off, little by little. I have a drawer in one of my two upstairs filing cabinets (I bought the cabinets at the thrift store for ten dollars each) where I store little surprises for rainy days...or in this case, windy days.

Shhh...don't tell the kids. They don't know about it.

Our first successful liftoff...

We woke up the other day to cloudy skies and crisp, blustery breezes, but that did not deter the Three Amigos from having sunny, happy attitudes. Ladybug saw the blowing tree branches and the ruffled feathers of the free-ranging chickens, and piped up, "It's a beautiful day for flying a kite. Maybe we should make some." Hmmm.

What a cutie-patootie. She loves her Dora kite,  flying or not.

Well, we have done that in the past, with little success. Lack of success is to be expected when you use sticks from the yard for cross-bars, construction paper for the kite material, and yarn for the string. The kids had fun making and decorating the kites though, and since they were younger, they didn't mind simply running around the yard, dragging their "kites" behind them, enjoying the moments when their creations actually took to the air for a milisecond or two.

Thankfully, since it was "one of those days" (read that to mean mom has a migraine due to the the changing weather), I actually had a back up alternative to a drawn out art project with little promise of real kite flying success. There were REAL kites, waiting in my surprise drawer for almost a year now, that could finally make their appearance!

Life lesson for the day: If I have learned nothing else, I have learned in my twelve plus years of homeschooling (and nineteen plus of parenting) that when you have an opportunity to fly kites with your kids, you should take it...planned or not. 

Lollipops and flying kites. What could be more fun?

Isn't homeschooling grand?

So, I gave the kids instructions to "suit up," and disappeared upstairs mysteriously. You should have seen their faces glow when about ten minutes later (I had to assemble the kites) I reappeared bearing not just one, but THREE kites...a Princesses kite for Ladybug, a Dora kite for Firefly, and a Blue Angels kite for Cowboy. Hip Hip Hooray! (and thanks to Daddy for picking those up at Walmart on sale!)

Look Ma, two kites up in the air at the same time!

I have done many challenging things in my lifetime, but up to this point I had not yet attempted to help three young children get their kites airborne and fly them simultaneously all by myself (Tex was at my folks' house visiting). Uh, yeah. Needless to say, it was challenging.

Cowboy flying his kite BEFORE the corn stalk experiment

I will spare you the frustrating moments...like when Cowboy got tired of holding his successfully flying kite steady and tried to take a break by hanging the string holder on a broken corn stalk...it worked great for about half a minute, then the wind picked it up and flew it straight into...you guessed it...a kite-eating tree. Thankfully, God used the wind to help us get the kite out of the tree, and Cowboy was back to flying his kite (and holding more tightly on to it) in no time.

Look at me...I can do it myself!
Bella offers encouragement.

Little Firefly was thrilled to pieces with her Dora kite and so proud of her ability to keep it aloft, albeit not quite as high as her siblings' kites flew. She was tickled that she could do it herself, and even when it would flutter (or crash) to the ground, she was bouncy and happy and patient until it was her turn to be helped by poor, overwhelmed (with pleasure at seeing her kids have so much fun) Mommy.

The wind eventually started eddying like crazy, causing everyone's kites to twirl in circles (which thrilled Cowboy to no end) and CRASH to the ground with exasperating frequency. Finally, I had to call a stop to the fun, promising we'd try again another day.

 The kites just won't stay steady at this point.

Here's the kite.                             Here's its tail.

I couldn't get the whole thing in one picture!

All in all, it was a marvelous, memorable day...one I would not trade for anything.

Thank you, kids, for getting your schlumpy old mommy outside on this not-actually-that-sunshiny, but in the end, absolutely wonderful day. Your happiness is contagious.

I love you. I hope you had fun, too.

Hey folks, go fly a kite!! Take my word for it...it's a lot of fun!

Blessings,

Heather