MALIA'S FIRST KITEFLY!

HART FAMILY REUNION

After waiting four years to take Malia to her first Kitefly (Hart Family Reunion), 2009 was finally our year! What a thrill to finally be able to introduce our sweet Malia to her extended family on her Mommy's side. Our annual reunion is a tradition for my family. I remember the excitement I felt as a child for this special weekend ... it might as well have been Christmas!

Malia had a blast ... it was quite obvious. Spencer did, too ... as usual. Here are some fun pics from the weekend ...

Here is my precious family ready to get things started ...

Malia is winking in the following picture - one of her new tricks ...

Here's Malia, Spencer and Papa Dewey in the "Mabel Memorial Pavilion" (my Grandma Mabel always sat in this pavilion during reunions, so my Dad dubbed the phrase) ...

Here's Spencer, getting ready to show his little sister the ropes ...


Our family at the Kitefly ... first time as a family of four!

As usual, Malia found a stick right away to carry around (just like her brother!) ...

Malia's first merry-go-round ride was with a bunch of her distant cousins. They gave her much attention.

Then Daddy and Spencer joined in ...

Miss USA, Malia Jo Lu, finds a patriotic chair to pose in. I'm not exactly sure who it belonged to, but thanks to whoever for allowing us to use it! (Notice the stick!)

Here's Malia on her first teeter-totter ride with Mama Peg and Spencer ...

Not exactly sure what's going on in this next picture, but his cocentration was intense. Oh, to be inside this boy's head sometimes ...

Malia's favorite part of the day seemed to be the water games. I must fill you in on the little fact that water fights have become a tradition with the kids and some adults at our reunions. Even when it's rainy, the kids are outside squirting each other with water pistols and bombing each other with water balloons. You know it's been a good day when the kids are drenched!

This year, my cousin actually incorporated water games. The first was two teams, each with a sheet to throw and catch water balloons. Malia began watching this game from the sidelines, but was anxious to jump right in to be a part of the action. Rick had to watch her closely so she wouldn't get accidently stepped on.

Then they moved on to a water sponge relay race. To Malia's excitement, they used a huge bucket full of water.

I LOVE the following picture. Malia is listening so intently to the instructions for the game even though she wasn't able to participate in this one. Probably just tucking it away for the day she's big enough to play.

However, she was there to give her moral support. Notice that each of the following three pictures have different girls squeezing sponges. Malia refused to leave her post!

Finally ... she got her hand on that sponge!

Then, we geared up for the annual egg toss competition. Most of the adults and older kids participate in this one.

Rick was on the winning team this year, along with my cousin's youngest son, Christopher. Way to go, guys!

Carrying on with activities - here is Malia taking her turn at the coin grab bag. All kids ten and under were given the opportunity to pull out one handful of money from the bag.

And, the pinata is an annual tradition as well. Even though the candy was too much for a toddler, Malia had fun swinging the bat! And since she was the youngest this year, she got to go first!

What a great Kitefly! We love you, Hart Family!