Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Thank you so much for your participation at our annual "excuse to blow something up".
It really wouldn't be that much fun without all of you.
Thanks for coming, for bringing yummy food to eat, and for contributing to the fantastic Fireworks show - that certainly wouldn't be as cool without all of your donations.

Thank you also for sharing this night with your friends and family. It was so fun to see so many of you come and bring new people with you. We are so glad you all came.

It was even a great excuse to feed the missionaries. If they didn't get enough to eat tonight, it was their own fault! :-)

The crowd, waiting in anticipation for the fireworks to start.

One of my children, running through the fire trying to find the right spot to light another one.

Aaaahhhh! The fireworks!
OOOOOhh!
Aaaawwww!
OOOOOOO!

The night wouldn't be complete without the movie. This year The ORIGINAL "Karate Kid" seemed to be a hit.
Though, I apologize for the language, we advertised a "kid friendly" movie, and yet it seemed that our beloved Daniel Larusso has quite a mouth on him. That is one thing that none of us "old folks" remembered about that movie.
I guess it was still good though, even if we did warp some of your small children. Sorry about that!

It seems that every year we try something new. Evidently the Churros weren't necessarily great. They weren't as quick to prepare as they claimed to be. So sorry that some of them were cold. I think that we'll go back to nachos next year.

The rockets seemed to be a hit with the kids, but we would like to know your opinions. Let us know in the comment section, what you like, what you don't like, and what you think we should try next. We are always open to suggestions.

Thanks again for your participation, and your friendship, and we'll see you all again next year!!!!!!!!

It's Tomorrow!!!!

So, the party is near.

At this time tomorrow, we will be working feverishly assembling all of the chaos!!!
(not really, chances are, we'll be sitting on our lawn chairs listening to music in the front yard {grins}).

If you have nothing better to do tomorrow night, please join us for our yearly excuse to blow something up!

See the post below for all of the details!

So, I've been a total flake about posting instructions to build your rocket for tomorrow night. But here is a general overview of how to build a pop-bottle rocket.

1st you take a bottle. (Preferable size is the 16.9 oz size. We would rather avoid 2ltr bottles. With the crowd size, I'm concerned that we could have an injury.) Either way, it needs to have an opening the size of these bottles or it wont fit on the "launch pad". Then you need weight for the bottom of the bottle. I didn't have a tennis ball handy but I think that is our preferred method of weight. Though golf balls, coins and even rocks will work.

Then you need a STRONG tape. Packing tape, duct tape, or even electrical tape. It just has to be more than scotch or masking tape. We want these things to stay together all the way to the ground.

Then attach your weight to the bottom.

Again, coins work too, you just have to make sure that they are nice and stuck to the tape. Them apply several layers of tape over them to keep them in place.

They do attach nicely to the bottom.

Now after this you can decorate the rocket all you want. My kids have honestly found that "what's the point". The object is to see how high up that cool little rocket will go, and the more stuff you add to it, the more stuff that goes flying off as the bottle lands.

However, they are very cool when they have a nose cone and fins on the sides. We have used construction paper for these, but have found that the different color electrical tape twisted around the side of the bottle make really cool looking rockets. Use your imagination to decorate and personalize your rocket.

Then we fill it with water, and attach it to the launch pad (hopefully I will have a 4 or 5 place launcher built by tomorrow. That's been the goal, but it's been a busy week. I'll see what I can do.

They are a BLAST to see go flying. Depending on the weight and the water, and of course the air pressure from the compressor, the rockets fly REALLY HIGH. If you have any other questions about building your rockets, check with my kids. They are really much better at it than I am.
Remember, we will also have things here to help you build a rocket, if you don't have one when you come.

Anyway, We hope you are all getting excited for our
7th annual CUL-DE-SAC of FIRE!

It's Time Once Again!!!!

Well, it is amazing that it has been a year already and it is time to start talking about the Cul-De-Sac of FIRE.

This year we will be holding it on Saturday July 24th.

The grills will be lit at 6:30, so if you would like to cook burgers or something, come then (remember it is bring your own meat - we will provide condiments).

7:00pm The Festivities will begin.

This year (as always) we will be adding a new element to the party.
We will be launching 'Soda-Pop bottle' ROCKETS.

(For those of you who are unsure of what this is, I'll post pictures soon.)

Have your kids start working on their rockets. 16.9ltr bottles are great to use, and they fly better if there is weight added to the top (bottom) of the bottle. Have them decorate them up, add fins and cones to the top. It should be a fun addition (as long as there are no injury's from dropping bottles).
We will also have bottles available for those who would like to make them that night.

9:30 approximately we will have our annual fireworks show. Hopefully this year it will be as great as years past. As always if you would like to donate to the cause you can click on the donate button on the side, drop some money by Stacie or Cindy's house, or you are welcome to bring LEGAL donations that night. Also, with the massive amounts of children present, we try to avoid sparklers as well. We would hate to have someone loose an eye. ; ).

10:00/10:30 After the show, the outdoor movie will begin. We are thinking of the 1st "Karate Kid", but as always we are open to suggestions. So leave a comment if you have a great idea for the movie.

SO, bring your blankets, lawn chairs, lawn games, your family, fireworks and a treat to share. And come join us at the

7th Annual

WJ Cul-De-Sac of FIRE!!!!