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As a member of the baby boomer generation, I have so many memories of kites and kite flying. When I was a kid, I remember seeing people flying lovely kites in the air and it seemed so easy. Then I would try and build and fly my own kites. I got so frustrated with them breaking, falling, not going up, always going down…. I REALLY didn’t like them! Twenty years later, I tried them again with my kids. It was a frustrating rerun of my childhood memories and I ended up leaving the kite flying “fun” to my husband who loved working with wood of all kinds – including the wood pieces on a kite.
Now that it’s 30 years later and I have grandkids, I’ve managed to successfully avoid any kite flying activities…until last week. One of my sweet grandkids spotted some in Walmart and thought flying kites would be fun! I tried to switch his focus to something much easier but to no avail. And with those sweet little eyes looking at me like, “Of COURSE you can fly kites – you’re grandma!” my cart ended up with four new (CHEAP) kites in it!
Guess what I discovered! It’s a brand new ball game when it comes to kite flying – to mix my metaphors! I was delighted to find that kites have “come a long way, baby!” All we had to do was:
- Snap two plastic rods together to make the cross bow (the long rod down the kite was already installed).
- Snap the string clip on the “string reel” to the string circle on the front of the kite. (Make sure you don’t accidentally clip it to the inside of the kite – yup, I figured that one out the hard way. 🙂 ).
- Unroll the two ribbons that make up the tail.
- Make sure you have some wind – we had PLENTY! Hooray!
- HAVE FUN!
After 15-30 minutes of practicing, all of the grandkids were flying their kites beautifully. Even I was able to keep these easy kites for the kids up in the air. Hooray! It was a total kite-flying success – the first I’d ever enjoyed. Oh, we did have a couple of issues. Strings getting tangled with each other and two kites lost to the kite-eating trees. But that was just plain funny. And fun that we even GOT that far. (Can you tell I was REALLY kite-challenged for the past 50-something years! 🙂 ).
We had so much fun, we even went back to flying kites one more time the same day and again, a few days later in the midst of another windy day. So, how about you and your grandkids? Are you as kite-challenged as me or regular kite-flying pros? We’d love to hear.
P.S. For those of you who are kite flying-proficient and looking for even more fun challenging activities with your grandkids, check out Kites: Flying Skills and Techniques, from Basic Toys to Sport Kites. It had an excellent review by another kite-flying grandma.
P.P.S. For that matter, if you’re really brave (much braver than this Sandwich Generation grandmother, I should add) there is also Kites for Everyone: How to Make and Fly Them. Click here to take a peek at it.
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With the wind we HAVE BEEN HAVING THIS WEEK, YOUR KITE WOULD HAVE BLOWN AWAY. A FUN WAY TO SPEND TIME.
Hi Kaye, I am so glad it worked out for you this time. Third time’s a charm! We always flew kites at the beach when the children were little and had some gorgeous large kites. They are still out in the shed. Maybe it’s time to bring them out. Making pinwheels with the grandchildren would be a fun afternoon project too. Lots of tutorials online on how to make them. Mine weren’t the spinning kind but you can easily remedy that with brads. HPS
How fun! 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Chubskulit 🙂
Lovely pink you have this week!
My PINK please come and see when you have time. Have a safe and happy weekend!
What fun!!! I will have to fly some kites with our grands one day soon, too!! I always enjoyed that as a kiddo, too!
Happy Pink Saturday!
dana
Dad and I could never seem to get a kite to fly. We went to Griffith Park in Los Angeles and ran and ran and did more running until we were exhausted. I guess we needed more wind. So, then we woud hike over to the fern garden and on the hill paths and finally head for home. It was a wonderful day though. Happy Memories of kite flying.
Such a beautiful kite you posted here this Saturday and such a blue, blue sky. Just a lovely day.
Joyce M
Oh my – tho I must say LaVoice – we had almost that much ourselves. I kept feeling like I would be heading “over the rainbow” any minute 🙂 Did you get your problems solved on Blogspot? I did put a couple of tips for issues I found at SandwichINK for the Sandwich Generation at Blogspot. 🙂
Good Morning Kaye Sweetie…
Oh my gosh what a precious share this morning. I am so LOL reading along with your trials of kite flying. When your grandson you could do it, you were a grandma, I almost fell out of my chair. They sure know how to get us don’t they? You know what? We fall for it every time.
Looks like you had a wonderful time and made memories to last a lifetime. The kids will be telling their kids one day. Just priceless sweetie. I love seeing this experience through you eyes. A wonderful write.
I too, am kite challenged. I have never had to much luck, but maybe I need to try again. You have inspired me. Now if we could only get a little wind in this darn desert I might be inspired a little more.
Have a glorious weekend sweet friend. Many hugs and much love, Sherry
Kaye, this kite story is delightful. I’m glad you had a kite flying happy ending. The time with your grands is the best time ever. You are a kite flying grandma. I think that’s great.
Happy sunny days to you and yours.
xo Jeanne