As a child, I thought it was weird that spaceships didn't land... supported by science fiction covers showing them landing. e.g. Tintin https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/The_Adventure...

I mean, a regular ship doesn't discard part of itself to set sail... as a child, I didn't understand the need for multi-stage rockets.

That image is totally iconic for me. Rocket equation be damned, I still think there should be SSTO (Single Stage to Orbit) ships.

Either move to a smaller planet, or invest heavily in nuclear propulsion.

Your backyard is a forest? Looks awesome :)

btw, I suggest disabling sharing geo location of photos (https://photos.google.com/settings - Remove geo location in items shared by link).

Yeah, it's pretty awesome (I actually grew up in the house across the street, and that large wooded area is a big part of why we picked this neighborhood when looking to buy a house).

Fair point about the geo location (I actually assumed Google would have stripped all metadata by default, like any real image sharing service...), I'm not super concerned about it though. I use my real name on HN, my employer and other details are pretty trivial to find. If someone wanted to find me, they wouldn't have to work too terribly hard as it is. If they do... well, I'm an American who likes to spend time in the woods. Draw whatever conclusions from that you will...

Awesome answer.

It made me smile.

My daughters have watched almost all Falcon 9 launches with me, and we still cheer when they land and stay upright. Some fathers watch basketball with their kids who then grow up and aspire to be a basketball star. I hope that your daughter meets my children in the engineering lab!

Priceless :)

I was 4 when the Apollo launches happened and I still remember them today, they're probably my oldest memories (others I can't date so accurately so that may be off by a bit).

Very beautiful picture, thank you for posting.

Wow. That's my first memory too. I was almost 3.

Kudos for Doing Parenting Right.

So many 'parents' dump their kids in front of Cartoon Network, and ignore them for 18 years.

We are very fortunate to be in a position where we have the opportunity to invest in our kids. I don't have a commute, and make enough that my wife is able to focus her efforts on our household full time. However, I am quite proud of the fact that if someone asks her what she wants to be when she's older, half the time it's "a ballerina", and the other half it's "a mommy scientist". If she grows up continuing to believe both of those are valid courses to pursue, _then_ I'll agree we did something right.

Also, Stavros is right, the twins were playing in the other room with Caspar Babypants YouTube videos playing. ;)

You sound like you're living the life my wife and I aim for. We'd like to homeschool full time as well to get the best possible education when we start having little ones.

I'm still in the very early stage of my career (web developer currently), but I'm lucky enough to work remotely most of the time and live in a beautiful forested area of NC. What general field do you work in? If software, where within that?

I'm a senior developer for Silent Circle.

Not shown in the photo: The twins watching Cartoon Network.

Heh, the dangers of an inside joke on a public forum...

For those downvoting, Stavros is a friend, and based on the number of kids songs videos I send him on IM, he is pretty well informed about what my kids watch ;)

Relatedly... Elmo and Ricky Gervais make a great comic pair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc20vMz0V7Q