I think Uncle Dan may have started a new Christmas tradition this year when he bought a rocket "for Aunt Shelley's birthday" that he and the kids could put together and launch. I can assure you that Dan and the kids were much more excited about this rocket than Shelley. :)
Phil and I were also pretty excited about this activity because it meant hours of uncle supervised "quiet" time as they (ok, Dan) worked to assemble the rocket.
The weather was pretty rainy (but warm!) most of our trip, so it was tricky finding a good day for the launch. The rain finally did let up, and everyone headed to the field. Here, Dan is checking for the direction of the wind. We all came out to witness the launch and advised them to keep moving to the left in the field, as the wind was blowing right. We had a little bit of the Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation light experience as we loudly counted down and nothing happened.
After deciding the launch failure was likely due to a decades old "new battery" we'd found in the drawer at mom and dad's and a subsequent trip up to the gas station to buy a new one, we were good to go with round 2.
This time it took off without a hitch. However, it turns out our advice on the wind direction wasn't very helpful because the wind stopped right at our countdown, and the rocket zoomed left, over the neighbor's house, and got stuck in a tree. So much for reusable rockets. ;) Avery loved loved it though.! He loved the countdown, pushing the launch button, and the hunt for the rocket after the "landing."
They had so much fun, Dan decided to buy another rocket, in hopes that they'd be able to retrieve this one to use again. Sadly, it came to the same fate...lost in a tree. Lost rocket or not, I can now see the guys building these as a new tradition, and I know what Avery will want to do with Uncle Dan every time they're together.
Can you spot the rocket??
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