People Magazine interviewed the Barack Obama family for their August 4, 2008 issue, which features the entire Obama family on the cover, publishing some of the interview and photographs online.

Squeezing some family fun between campaign stops, Sen. Barack Obama kicks a soccer ball to his 10-year-old daughter Malia and, with a wink to a reporter on the sidelines, confides one of his wife Michelle’s secret talents: “She is the best Hula-Hooper I know. Once she gets the rhythm going, she can drop to her knees!”

And what about the Democratic presidential nominee? “That is one thing you will never see – me Hula-Hooping. I think that’s clear.”

Also clear: That even on the campaign trail, this is a brood almost like any other, with set routines (chores!), boundaries ($1 allowance!) and playtimes (movie nights!). The Obamas opened up to PEOPLE – first, at the family’s three-story home in Chicago in June, and again on July 4, at a park in Butte, Mont., where the family campaigned and celebrated Malia’s birthday – about the task of raising two girls, including 7-year-old Sasha, under the public eye.

Sasha and Malia Obama, July 4, 2008

PEOPLE: Someone told me today that you don’t do birthday presents.
Michelle: No, because we spend hundreds of dollars on a birthday party and movie tickets and pizza and popcorn …
Barack: That sleepover is enough. We want to teach some limits to them. And their friends bring over presents.
Michelle: They get so much stuff that it just becomes numbing. Malia believes there is still a Santa Claus even though she’s a little wary because some of her friends are non-believers. But Malia says, “Ma, I know there is a Santa because there’s no way you’d buy me all that stuff.” [Laughing]

Barack Obama family, July 4, 2008

So what does a slumber party at the Obama house look like?
Barack: They’re pretty noisy.
Michelle: The older they get, they just talk a lot. But they’re at the age where they’re pretty self-sufficient. [For Malia’s birthday] we’re going to go swimming, see Wall-E, make pizzas, have sundaes.
Barack: I usually go for the swim but this time I want to go to the movie just because Wall-E has gotten great reviews. I find actually that children’s movies are the best movies these days. But I’ll probably, after that, peel off until the cake.
Michelle: [Laughs] “Peel off.”

Source: Barack Obama Gives Daughter $1 Allowance a Week (The interview continues.)

Photo credit:  Top photo: Martin Schoeller; Photos 2-3 David Burnett / Contact Press Images. Remaining photos courtesy of the Obama family.

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Obama family in 2002

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama wedding photo, 1992

Barack Obama Family People Magazine Cover and Photos August 4, 2008