A Lesson In Rocketeering

This blog has been ever so quiet since the birth of Faith, but I assure you, we are still schooling! Sometimes there is only so much you can write about learning how to read and write. But THIS was really fun!

Ken has been working on an idea to bring dads and their children together for some recreational learning. The first outing schedule is for rocket launches. Naturally, the guys are loving this and having just as much fun as the kids with the planning and ordering. Jack, Grace, and Ken all painted and worked on constructing their own rockets. It has been a great project for the three of them to sit down, paint and build.

Last Saturday, we thought we would get some practice launches in before the official big day. We immediately realized it was really difficult to find enough open space for recovery. Most of the football fields around us have "No Trespassing" signs, and many parks have too many people or not enough open space. We ended up getting approval from a Veterans facility that had a decent amount of land and was located next to a park.

After a few false starts, the kids had their first success! All I can say is, rockets are pretty dog-on cool, and the launch just sounds neat. Our highest launch was estimated at 900 ft. All three of the rockets were recovered without injury, but we found that the hardest part was simply trying to chase them down to their final landing spot. (It was also the most humorous.)

One rocket landed in someone's backyard and when Ken went through some bushes to retrieve it, a large dog was there to greet him and remind him that he was not welcome. Ken and Jack later knocked on the door to obtain that rocket.

Another rocket was armed with a parachute rather than a streamer and it seemed like it was never going to land. Ken took off running and disappeared over the hill towards the little league ball fields at the park. A good number of minutes later he came back winded and with an odd amused look on his face. The rocket had landed in the middle of a baseball field with a little league game in full play. He mentioned he thought there might have been a moment there when a number of over hyped little league dads could have done him in. We had a good laugh over that one.

So the search is on for an even better launch location, as some dads have rockets that will launch up to 2000 ft!