Oh Dear...

atobias1

is there anything new on this? Still not found? Are they using dogs to stry to sniff him out?

[Deleted User]

I think I remember seeing this family on Wife Swap. The dad was really weird and made a song for the wife. It made me uncomfortable when he sang it.

salt78

I'm pretty glad my parents aren't mad scientists.

wadingmoose

Good point Salt.  I think we all need to hug our parents for not being these parents.

mwhitson14

Well it's fall break here, so that may be why the kids aren't in school. Anyway, awfulness!

salt78

I think sending my mom and dad a "thanks for not being a mad scientist" e-card may be in order.

alixzafiris

So hopefully it all turns out okay but I just had the funniest train of thought and had to share.Can you imagine this kid as a teenager? "Well, this one time... when I was six... The national guard thought I'd piloted a homemade hot air balloon to 7,000 feet. But really I was in my treehouse the whole time."

salt78

WTF is fall break?

[Deleted User]

I'm going to send my parents an e-card that says thanks for not being idiots.

lyndausvi

Salt - It never ceases to amaze me how much time kids get off of school.  We see kids all year long down here.  There is always a school on break somewhere in the country

alixzafiris

^ what Salt said. Did they not just start school like a month ago? I know for universities up here it's reading week but for little kids?

missy68

They've got the kid's picture up on msnbc, and he just looks so cute.Not like the little demon child I was picturing in my head. OH - there IS a missing pod from the balloon - that is a new detail.

kikibaby

The county they live in has a parent-teacher day tomorrow, so maybe they took an extra day off or got out early.

alixzafiris

Okay, next question.What the f*ck was the dad building a homemade, tin-foil hot air balloon with escape pods for?

salt78

My brothers are all still in school this week. I've never even heard of fall break. There is the 4 day break around Thanksgiving, but that's obviously not for awhile. I never got fall break when I was a kid!! I feel so railroaded!!

J&K10910

For the aliens to monitor the weather.

atobias1

It's a version of a weather balloons, intended to go in to the eye of a major storm

atobias1

also the dad is apparently saying there was another little box/compartment thing that was missing when it landed. But it wasn't on the whole time the thing was being filmed, so they think it fell off early, and the boy may be in the additional box

kschwedic

Just seeing and reading how dumb these people are makes my brain hurt.

bombtones

I didn't read the whole thread sorry, but that family is full of wackadoodles! Did anyone else see them on Wife Swap? I'm not surprised...

mwhitson14

Our school is on a year round schedule. School starts in early august, and ends early may. We go 9 weeks, get out two weeks, go 9 weeks, a month for christmas break (mid-dec to mid-jan), 9 weeks, 2 weeks of spring break, 9 weeks, then 8 weeks of summer. The first week is called intersession, and kids that are lagging behind or have bad grades can attend for extra help or to improve their grades.

lyndausvi

Where I went to school gets 2 days off in early October of (normally the week before Columbus day) for our town's country fair.  The used the school for the fair.Jersey schools get the week election and vetern's day off.  So they just give them the whole week since they fall around the same time of year.Down here the kids get off for Columbus/ Puerto Rico appreciation day,  Hurricane Thanksgiving Day, Veteren's day, D. Hamliton Jackson day, VI transfer Day, Organic Act day, Children's Parade Day, Adult's parade day (which they get friday off even though it's on a Saturday), Three kings day in addition to the normal holidays of Xmas, MLK, etc.

bombtones

FAIL! SOrry, that was totally mentioned on the first page. The neighbor was talking saying they were interesting scientists and storm chasers and in my head I was thinking "That sounds like that  crazy family on Wife Swap."... 2 seconds later they said that.

Kati0105

Ok I saw this on Twitter and had to share, even though it is in poor taste:"Hold on #balloonboy, imma let u finish, but Amelia Earhart had one of the best disappearances from a flight OF ALL TIME!"

kschwedic

omg Kati---shame on me, but I just laughed my head off at that.

TheSaltyPeanut

Kati I laughed out loud at that!

thesuninherhead

Did he fall out? That's what I heard as the possibility on the radio this morning. WTF are parents doing making an air balloon anyway? FFS.

thesuninherhead

If you are a scientist, you know to take due precautions in assembling things like this. You don't just leave an air balloon ready to go hanging out in your yard.

kate51485

uh, so he's home now.

kate51485

He was sleeping in a box in the attic.