Paper Airplane Day

A couple of Sundays ago, Grandpa Richards took the grandkids over to the high school's football field to fly his new R/C airplane. They all had a blast, but Jer just couldn't get enough. By the end of the next day, he had built a 3-foot airplane model out of a turning stick from an extra set of window blinds and some cardboard. Since then, he's built three or four more amazing creations.

This last Thursday, Jer's class had "paper airplane day". In preparation, Jer built an airplane:



Yup. He informed me that he had cleared this particular model's design with his teacher. It was, indeed, made of paper...and Tinkertoys (which are made of wood which is what paper is made of...) and blue painter's tape, also a paper product. I LOVE his teacher, who totally supported him. Wednesday night, I found Jeremy outside on the hill behind our neighbor's home with a whole group of neighborhood kids, doing a test flight! The flight was successful, and the airplane was a hit the next day at school.

This week's model (he's already moved on) is made entirely of MDF. Jer took a sheet of it and a permanent marker and drew all needed pieces, labeled them with letters to show which attached to which, and asked Dad to cut them out at the shop. He was so excited for Mike to bring them home tonight! As soon as he arrived, Jeremy pulled them out of the truck and started gluing. He's informed me he still needs to paint his aircraft, but here's a peek at the unfinished product: