Rockets and Swords

I had a fun evening planned for my Tiger Cubs. We were going to shoot off baking soda rockets, like the kids and I did several weeks ago. I couldn't find the same cork we used before, but thought I'd just grab another one. Yes, we have a collection of corks - at one point we saw a trivet made from corks and thought we might make one - never happened, but we still have a cork collection. It comes in handy when the cork on a bottle of wine breaks, but we haven't finished the bottle. Anyhow, I went to grab another cork and thought it was odd that most of the corks seemed to small for my water bottle, but I found 2 that I thought would work and off we went.
I realized on our way to Scouts that I had forgotten the brick to up-end the bottle in, but figured I could find a substitute, which we did. So, I gathered the kids, set up the "rocket" and we were all set:

Only one problem - cork #1 had a leak - all the vinegar drained out through the corkscrew hole. No problem, I have a second cork, and it doesn't have a hole through it. So, set up the rocket again, and still nothing. This time it appears that cork #2 doesn't fit quite snugly enough - it keeps all the liquid in, but lets the gas escape around the edges of the cork. Sigh.
I guess I need to find a set-up that works here and try it again in a few weeks (not next week as I have a speaker coming in - to tell the boys about life in this area in the past).

Luckily I had a back-up plan. Make balloon swords. The boys helped blow up the balloons with the help of a pump, then we tied them and twisted them into swords, like this:

We had to make each boy several, as they popped if dropped on the grass. I need to remember if we do this again, its better done inside.