Paquin's Poorly Maintained Blog » Pictures

Rockets!

Chris — Tue, 04 May 2010 22:33:36 +0000

Jacob got a nice rocket kit for Christmas, and we spent some time over the last couple of weeks putting it together and applying a custom paint-job. We needed to buy a launch pad too, and so I got one that had a smaller rocket for the girls and me to put together. Today (the day after Mary Lou and I got back from our ‘grown-up’ vacation), we decided to launch them.

I got a great shot of Rebecca setting hers off. Jacob’s shot didn’t come out as well, but I still think his rocket looks really good. We lost the smaller rocket in the wind – it went VERY high! After we adjusted the launch location to accommodate for the wind, Jacob’s rocket came down in a retrievable location.

This was a fun little craft and science experiment for us, and we’ve already ordered a couple more rockets, and more rocket engines, for use this summer.

Pinewood Derby!

Chris — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:50:08 +0000

This is Jacob’s first year in Cub Scouts, so obviously it’s his first exposure to the Pinewood Derby. What a year to join Scouts! It’s the BSA’s 100th Anniversary, so this year’s PWD is actually being held at the Worcester DCU! There’s lots of other stuff to see, but we’re all excited to see how well our cars perform.

I have fond memories of my own PWD as a kid, but things have definitely changed since then.. it’s much more “high tech” than I remember, and the after-market for car parts, designs, tools, books, etc. is incredible. You can easily spend tons of money (and time!) getting your car built. Anyway, our Pack (Grafton 106) has a separate “Parents and Siblings” race too, so we decided to do cars for Rebecca, Amanda, and me. We did pretty much everything together (I handled all of the dangerous and/or very tricky stuff for them) and had a lot of fun both designing and building the cars. It’s been a very busy few weeks from start to finish! Weigh-in is tonight, and I hope we’ve kept all of them in the neighborhood of 5.0 ounces.

I underestimated the amount of time Amanda’s would take, though, so it’s not pictured above, and I’m not sure she’ll get to race it. But I don’t think she really cares, either – as long as she ends up with a “cool yellow car!” she’ll be happy. When I’m done with it, hopefully by Saturday, I’ll put a picture of it up here.

Happy New Year!

Chris — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:47:03 +0000

Jeez – 3 months since my last update. Very lame. It’s not for lack of content or activity, though – it’s just that we’ve been TOO active lately. My New Year’s Resolution is to post more often! We’ll see how that works out..

Anyway, here are some links to the Christmas Card for 2009 – choose whichever resolution you want:

1920×1200 (widescreen):

1280×1024 (5:4 ratio):

1024×768 (4:3 ratio):

Upton Fishing Derby 2009

Chris — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:48:31 +0000

Thanks to a suggestion by a friend of mine at work (thanks Cliff!) we all headed out to the 20th Annual Upton Police Fishing Derby today. It was at Pratt Pond in Upton, and we were amazed at the amount of people who showed up! We were there early, and got a pretty good spot.

Jacob caught a nice perch early on, and almost placed with it (he was a 1/2″ short). Rebecca caught a catfish, and that was just shy too. But Jacob got his wish of not only a “first bass”, but also a trophy bass! All-in-all, we had a great day, met some really nice folks, and found out about a local bait-and-tackle shop that I’ll be visiting often for minnows. For what it’s worth, I think Rebecca would have gotten a trophy on the first fish she caught, which was a decent sized Bluegill, but I didn’t realize that there was a category for it, and threw it back – ah well!

Upton Police Fishing Derby 2009

Images from our day of fishing in Upton on June 6, 2009. Jacob came away with a trophy!

4 Photos

Rebecca’s First Bass

Chris — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:08:13 +0000

We took the opportunity to go fishing today. It was a gorgeous spring day, and the older two had been bugging me for weeks to get some line wet, so we got some nightcrawlers and headed to a local lake. Everyone got their share of bluegills, but we were all surprised when Rebecca hooked into a largemouth! It was small enough not to give her any trouble reeling it in on her ultralight gear, but it definitely fought more than the other fish she’d caught earlier.

Here’s a snapshot of the moment:

Vacation Pictures

Chris — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:43:05 +0000

Here are the pictures from our 2008 Summer vacation. We went to a whole bunch of different amusement parks, from New Jersey to Virginia, with historical trips snuck in too!

Our 2008 Summer Vacation

Pictures from our nice 2008 summer vacation. Boston --> New York --> New Jersey --> Baltimore --> Washington --> Philadelphia --> Virginia!

49 Photos

The Completed Swingset

Chris — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:13:35 +0000

It only took me 400% longer than the box indicated it would (and only 200% over my original guess), but the swing set is finally all done. Except for sanding, and staining, and mulch.

Anyway, here’s our picture gallery of the whole affair:

The Swing Set Project of 2008

Here are all the images from the Swing Set project of 2008.

17 Photos

By the way, here are my modifed swing beam plans if anyone is interested. The original plans were not satisfactory to me, with the swings much too close together, and also too close to the overall structure.

And here’s the layout diagram with dimensions, etc.