Rocket Boys and Canaan Valley

Two weeks ago, we took our kids to the Rocket Boys festival in Beckley, West Virginia.

Most people know the rocket boys from the movie, "October Sky".  Of course, before there was a movie, there was the book, Rocket Boys.  And before there was a book, there were the real rocket boys, from Coalwood, West Virginia.  Each year, the rocket boys come back to their home state to host this festival.  They try to instill hope and inspire dreams in the kids of rural West Virginia.  It's a pretty amazing event.

The first thing we attended was a writing workshop taught by Homer Hickam.  Homer is 70 now, and he's published a whole bunch of books.  The workshop was inspiring, informative, and intimate! Only 25 people attended!  Afterward, the kids got their books signed by the author.

Later that day, we were able to attend a little meet-and-greet with all the rocket boys, and then we watched "October Sky" with all of them in attendance!  It was pretty amazing.

The next morning, Matt took the older three kids on a tour of an actual coal mine.  They went all the way down and learned how it really worked.  They said it was very cool and freezing!

Finally, it was time for Joely to participate in the "Aim High Rocket Launch Contest".  Each participant was given a rocket kit to build by themself (with no adult help) and then they launched them!

It had been raining hard all morning, so when they tried to launch Joel's rocket, nothing happened.  Homer Hickam to the rescue!  He started fiddling with the rocket and got it to light.  Joel was just beaming!

What a great event!  Merrody and Joel also entered the "Aim High Essay Writing Contest", but neither placed.  We loved the festival and would definitely do it again!


Last weekend, we took our annual "birthday" camping trip to a cabin in Canaan Valley.  The leaves were at their peak!  It was gorgeous.

We took the ski lift up to the top of Canaan Valley ski resort to have a look at the view.

As usual, I was scared for my life the whole time.  I hate ski lifts.  There are no seat belts!  Also, Henry and Hazel have no respect for how high up they are. 

Back at the cabin, the kids made a huge leaf pile.

"Those mean old kids got me all dirty, Mama."

Matt cooked us a big old pot of spicy chili in the dutch oven.  Henry loved the charcoal and fire starter for some reason.

While we waited for our dinner to cook, we took the kids on a couple of hikes. 

 This first hike was totally surrounded by these flowers:

 Any guesses on what they are?  They were beautiful!

 As you can see, I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.  The kids had a different reaction.

 On the way back, the kids just HAD to have some of these ripe apples.  They were delicious!

On our way back to the cabin, we stopped off for another short hike.  Matt said it was the prettiest hike he had ever been on.