Way To Go CARDS!!!

2011 World Champions

 

What a history making season they had this year and in last night’s amazing game last night.  I was very impressed by the Ranger’s defensive fielding skills, but we came through at the end to get our 11th World Series title!

Circassian Circles

   The video below shows two different versions of this very fun dance-the first is from last night and the second is from one of the dance practices this spring.

 

   I would liked to of had a few of last night’s videos posted, but I acted like an imbecile on the way home last night.  On the way home we dropped our van off at the repair shop and I left my SD card with the close up footage of the dance (and also my audio source.)  Therefore, it may be a few days or a week before I’ll be able to get my card-I guess it depends on how long it’ll be before the car’s repaired.

    From what I saw of the footage last night it looks like these camera angles will turn out very well.  I had a little more time this week to get everything setup to my liking.

Some Outdoor Fun

   This tree was approx. 15 feet around at its base!

Scuba Diving

 

   This evening we had the fantastic opportunity to try out scuba diving at a special lesson here in St. Louis!

   Our Mom was curious to know whether we’d like scuba diving  and might want to peruse being certified and getting some gear.

   The teacher was great and he gave a quick talk in the classroom before we hopped in their salt water pool.  There were only us and one other family in the class, so we were able to ask any questions we might have.

   Taking our first breath into the regulator underwater was little unnerving, I could easily see how someone who was claustrophobic could freak out, but we did our testing in 4ft of water so if there was a problem we could stand up.

   Then we learned a few other skills like learning how to take out the regulator, clearing it and breathing out of it again and we also learned how to clear our masks of water…while underwater. 

   After we had tried doing these things in the shallow water we put on our flippers and swam into the deeper end of the pool that was 10ft deep.  We had to be careful not to descend too quickly without adjusting the pressure in our ears to the pressure of the water.  It was a bit of a problem with me at first, but we got used to the higher pressure and began a game of catch with water torpedoes.  It was really neat to be able to stay underwater for such a long period of time and I wish that I would’ve had a waterproof camera with me.

    We all had on a Buoyancy Control Device (BCD) that is an awesome vest that can fill up with air until it’s puffed up very large and can then be deflated…I wonder if you could fill them up with helium?

    We were in the water for about two hours and we repeatedly tested various diving skills and learning to use the flippers alone for swimming.   Our instructor was very thorough and we talked with him before we left about how we could pursue diving and what equipment would be necessary.

   This was a fantastic opportunity and my brothers and I had a great time!

Replacing Kate’s Wiper Motor

Still no hair cut!

   It’s a good thing we replaced the motor last night because this morning it rained on the way to work.

Yes, More Dancing Videos II

 

Flowers of Edinburgh

(Thanks for the title Luke, I never would’ve remembered it)

    It was a real bummer that I didn’t have my second camera setup from above for this dance.  A girl’s head blocks this camera’s view and it would’ve been neat to see the figure eights from above (like in Mr. Ramsey’s video below.)

Duke of Kent’s Waltz

   One of our favorite dances…this version isn’t particularly the most elegant .

Jefferson & Liberty

   This dance is growing on me .  I originally didn’t care for it because the moves didn’t seem as unique as some of the other dances.

The Scottish

   The Scottish is another dance we did last Friday night.  This is a very fast, exhausting, long, twirling, polka-ing dance that also happens to be a lot of fun.  I haven’t really learned it yet, but I went ahead and tried it in the second dance.  The group was too big to have everyone polkaing [oh, that’s actually a word?  Spell Check doesn’t have a problem with it.], so we were split in half and did the dance twice.

First Dance

 

Second Dance

 

  Note: One of my cameras died towards the end of the second dance.

    Oct 7 2011

Four Wheelers: Both Fun & Useful

(More fun than useful)

 

Noah comes up with a lot of ideas.  Some work and some…don’t.

   In this video Noah uses his leaf blower to clear the road of leaves using the four wheeler.  Aaron’s the one driving. They also tried getting some air on a steep hill.