A New Hobby

Remembering the fun he had as a kid & wanting to share that with Tyler, Ron bought a model rocket for the two of them to build together. The boys spent some quality time putting it together yesterday and they launched it this afternoon. Danielle and I were allowed to tag along and watch.

Ron told Tyler stories about his first rocket and how it didn't take off correctly and smashed back into the ground. Tyler was a little worried, but his first launch was a success. Here is the video proof. I got a little excited when it lifted off and forgot I was taping for a second. My favorite part of the video, though, is listening to Tyler's squeals in the background (and the cheering at the end).

Danielle enjoyed fetching the rocket when it landed.

The boys set it off 3 times, and each time was successful. It really was a lot of fun!

We picked a park with lots of soccer fields surrounded by soybean fields to set the rocket off. While the boys were getting the rocket set up, we heard another blast at a nearby field. Turns out there was a local rocket club there launching a bunch of their rockets, too. They had a lot of custom rockets, and some that were really big. Ron and the kids talked to them for awhile, and that made Tyler all the more enthusiastic about delving into this hobby even more. I think it's a great hobby because it's something the boys can do together, it engages Tyler's interest in building (& exploding things), and is relatively inexpensive at their level.