Rocket Fever

To the "I never would have done it if I hadn't become a mother...." list, I can now add "launch a rocket."

A few weeks ago Paul spotted some rockets at Michael's and announced that he really wanted to fly one. This amazed and confused me since I knew nothing at all about rockets and didn't think Paul did either. But Paul took some of his money and bought a couple of rocket fuel packs and talked about rockets at home and on the next trip to Michael's we used a 50% off coupon to buy a rocket kit. Making that rocket took Ben's help and it took time. Too much time, so this weekend as a treat I bought him a "ready to fly" rocket.

He and Ben and I went out in our field yesterday and launched it. It was thrilling to see it soar up, up, up into the sky....but then disappeared! While the guys tried to find where it had landed, I got on the Internet and found out the problem of recovering your rocket is made worse by launching it on a windy day (yup, we had done that!), by using a big fuel pack so it will soar higher and therefore farther away (yup, we had done that!), and by launching it in a area that is not clear of trees and other obstacles (yup, guilty on that account, too!)

Having learned our lesson, this morning we went across the street to the big soccer field with Paul's friend, Adam, and launched the second rocket, which Adam and Paul had finished building. There were three launches, two with a small fuel pack, and the last with a big pack. All three were thrilling to watch, but the rocket went so high on the third launch that we couldn't spot it and it disappeared.

Clearly rocket launching is an expensive little hobby. But it sure is a fun one!