2013 Kite Festival....This year with actual kite flying!

Once again we went down to the National Mall with my brand new kite that I got for Christmas!

This year, we managed to get the kite up into the air! If you recall from LAST YEAR we had some trouble getting the kite up. Granted, I think that part of the problem was that we had bought a lousy kite, but the day also wasn't that windy. This year was gorgeous out, AND we had some heavy windy moments!

We got the kite up so high!

Dad helped me get it up by using his patented method of finessing the string once we got it up there!

Once he got it up in the air, he handed me the string, and I got to fly the kite myself!

We had it so far up, that it was a little scary, and I was sometimes worried, but ultimately I had a lot of fun flying it!

Next up, Mom got in on the action, and she also did a really good job of getting the kite up there, too!

We were both flying it when it was way up in the air, and even though there were a lot of other kites around, we did a pretty good job at not bumping into anyone else!

We had a lot of fun flying the kite together, and whenever the wind died down...

...it was my job to go and grab the kite and bring it back so that Mom could relaunch it again.

I even helped her relaunch it! It wasn't easy, but once I got the hang of it...

...we were back in business, and I ran around to get out of the way.

Once Mom had the kite settled nice and high against the gorgeous backdrop of that perfect sky, with the Capitol in the background....

She nudged it even higher!

I could barely keep track of it, since it was so high up!

She handed me the string again, and I can't tell you how exhilarating it was to be in control of it, flying it around the sky, and working so hard to keep it up there. It was nice when the wind settled into a nice pattern, and you could just minimally nudge the string to make sure it was kept up there...

Sometimes I got so worried because of how high up it was, but the fun always overwhelmed the feelings of stress that I had...

Even though I was having lots of fun, inevitably I got bored and started running around the Mall.

Dad caught me a few times, and we hung out together so we could rest...

...but only long enough for me to get back up and have him chase me again!

Thanks so much for my kite gift (I think my Great Aunt may have given it to me) and thanks for taking me out to fly a kite, Mom and Dad!