Happy Birthday X Two!

Jackson and Jeremiah celebrated their birthdays last weekend. We had a small family thing at home but at the end of the month they'll have a couple of their best friends over for a sleep-over party.

Daddy brought home a huge ice cream cake!

Jax and Jem (and Jen) were THRILLED!

Happy Birthday Boys! (I'm actually amazed now that both of these boys were inside of my belly for NINE months! Wow!
Both boys were poised to blow out their candles...but Jen flew in and helped them out (well, actually blew out all of the candles herself! hehe)
So after re-lighting the candles, Jax and Jem gave it a second try! Yay!
Time for Presents! Jem got the RC airplane he wanted!!

Jackson was so excited to receive his new mega monster rocket! He's also working on a rocketry project in 4-H now. So anything to do with rockets and he is there!
Excited about their new binoculars! They also got the Transformer's PS2 game they had been asking for. Talk about happy! What a blast!

Rocket Scientist

Back in December, while Papaw and Nana were here, we all got together and created a workbench and project area in the fourth garage/workshop. Jackson could not have been happier. A place just for he and his brother to create, build and plan whatever their hearts' desire.
Mostly, though, Jackson uses the workbench for cool rocketry projects.

John took the following photos the other day.

Rocket Boy

Jackson has been fascinated with rocketry every since we first read Homer Hickam's book called Rocket Boys: A Memoir, and then watched the movie based on it called October Sky. Interestingly, the title of the paperback released at the same time was changed to the movie title, which is an ANAGRAM of Rocket Boys (take the letters of rocket boys and move them around to spell october sky!). Is that cool, or what?

The book and movie are based upon Homer Hickam's life as a young boy growing up in Coalwood, WV and aspiring to be a rocket scientist. For more info about Homer Hickam and his books and movie, click
Rocket Boys.

So, for the past 2 years, Jackson has been studying and reading about rocketry, watching documentaries and science shows about rocketery, and building and launching rockets.
John is thoroughly enjoying Jackson's interest in rockets and they spend each week involved in rocketry.

Usually we launch smaller rockets at our 3 acre ranch, but with all the trees and tall grasses, it's often difficult to find the rockets after being launched.
So, at least once a week, Jackson and John head to the city to launch rockets at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Park, off Alamada Rd. The park is open to the pubic and allows model airplanes, kites and model rockets. John and Jackson like the large open expanse of grass which makes it easier to find the rockets after being launched.

Last weekend, they went to the park and John took the following pictures. Click for larger views.

Jackson's Rocketry

One of Jackson's favorite hobbies is building rockets and then shooting them off into the sky with his Daddy. Together they seem to really enjoy themselves seeing how far their rockets can fly.

I took these photos from either our loft balcony (in the rear of our house) or the master bedroom balcony (in the front). Ok, I admit it, I was a wimp and didn't want to go tromping in the snow. Hey, it was cold outside! You can see that we still have snow on the ground, and it snowed over a week ago. The snow is that crunchy crisp snow that feels like mummified bones when you walk on it. And at night it freezes solid.

Preparing the rocket for take-off.
The rocket before it was set-off.
The rocket flew at least 300ft high and more than 500 ft wide. It flew from one side of our 3 acre property to the other side of our house (over 1/2 acre surrounding our house, not counting the pastures) and then it landed in our neighbor's field!.
Jackson was very excited not just about the rocket's distance flown, but also that he was able to find it. They have lost several rockets so far, but they were all colors that blended into either the grass or trees or snow. This time, I assisted by using red marker to color it so it stood out better.
It worked!!!
Jackson & Daddy inspecting their rocket together.

Rocketry

Jackson, Jeremiah have taken up a new interest: Rocketry.
They build and assemble rockets and then launch them. They
are learning alot about how rockets work and what rockets can
and cannot do, and how to make rockets do what you want them to.
The boys with their rockets.Jackson preparing the rocket for launching.Rocket: Ready for Take-Off.Lots of noise and smoke!The rocket zoomed upwards about 100-150 ft!Jackson building a rocket.Setting up the model glue.
Some rocketry materials
Oh, yes. Another hobby that both boys and their Daddy are into, as well is Building Model Vehicles.