'Jon & Kate Plus Eight' recap: Playtime

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Fortunately, the rocket was soon soaring through the air. Satisfied that he had at last conquered the sky, Jon led the kids in a water balloon fight. We didn't get to see too much of the fight, but I assume that Joel cried and Cara pwned everybody.

That brings up an important point: this week's episode continued the trend of barely paying attention to the kids. When she took her trio on a hot air balloon ride, Kate gave us a nonstop charm offensive. She told us how hot it was in the balloon, and how hard it was to wake up early, and how silly she was for her choice of footwear. ''I had heels on,'' said our gal. ''It doesn't surprise me, I really only pack heels.''

Tee-hee! That's real cute, Kate! But save it for your talk show! Meantime, the cameras practically didn't notice her three children. I mean, come on! They had to wake up at dawn! They went a billion miles up in the air! In the old days, this would have garnered some fun moments, or a great Alexis line, at least. Instead, the camera paid so much attention to Kate's (fake?) self-deprecation vamping that we didn't even see which of the girls said, loudly, ''It's not fun! At all!''

This isn't just a problem with Kate: Jon's last few segments have basically been him playing with matches while the kids watch in awe. But just because the parents are paying less attention to their kids doesn't mean the show should ignore them, too.

All that said, I thought the end of the episode, with Jon teaching his kids how to swing a baseball bat, was pretty moving. Like all guys, I always cry over the combination of fathers and baseball.

Best Sextuplet Malapropism: ''Going in an air hot, air hot balloon.''

Worst Moment for Kate the Scientist: ''Whatever causes the thing to fly, it's hot!'' said Kate, regarding the hot air balloon.

Best Moment for Kate the Scientist: ''To keep up that many butterflies,'' Kate informed us, ''There has to be this lab, where there's gazillions of chrysalises.'' Another great punk rock band! And perhaps the title of Kate's autobiography?

I'll leave it to you to decide which parent came off worse last night. (I realize that Jon never necessarily comes off well, so it's really a question of whether Kate came off bad enough to make Jon look good.) But you have to admit: Butterflies, bottle rockets, balloon fights, balloon* rides and baseball? Those are all pretty fun.

*Yes, I think it's weird that both parents' segments involved some kind of balloon so soon after the brief wondrous life of Balloon Boy, but TLC wouldn't have cobbled this episode together at the last minute to take advantage of that. Would they?