Last Friday, we celebrated Jim’s return from a week of traveling by launching model rockets into the big sky. Can you think of a better way to spend the morning as a family?

Each boy had his own rocket to launch.

After assembling the rockets, we all headed to the park.

Bubbie launched his first. Here he is watching it come down.

The rest of his time was spent reenacting the blast-off…

…plugging his ears to keep out the rocket noise…

…and receiving kisses from Molly.

There were a couple of wayward launches throughout the morning which required knocking on neighbors’ doors and asking for permission to retrieve the rockets.

I think Peter had more fun pretending his rocket was a gun than watching it blast off.

But even he had to admit, there is something thrilling about pushing that launch button.

Peter’s rocket (a.k.a. “The Rascal”…fitting, no?) was the smallest of the four. But when paired with a large engine, there’s no telling how far and fast it will go. Unfortunately, it went so far that we lost it. Alas, the Rascal is probably in some kid’s backyard in northwest Indiana right now.

Derek was up next with his red and gold beauty. His was a textbook launch and landing.

Then it was Jake’s turn. Let’s just say Jake’s rocket left this earth with a real kaboom. It was the same rocket he used four years ago, and he wanted to spruce it up by adding some color to it. He chose a shiny metallic gold spray paint…of the flammable sort. Within seconds of launching, the thing exploded into many pieces, never to be seen again. He was a good sport about it, and we all got a good gasp and chuckle.

Even Molly (sporting her beloved Gentle Leader collar) enjoyed the fun.