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Annika's and Joan's Jazz Dances Christine Jones-Meneer SCHOOL OF DANCE The Grammy Awards Student Performances 5-25-2012 ~ Blog #452 (David & Joan)
Please visit this separate page for the write up and 85 photos from Joan's and Annika's performance. (Six teasers below)
When we went to Salt Fork five weeks ago Brigitta scooped up a pail of 20 tadpoles and brought them home. We added some local pond water to their environment and let them do their thing in the protection of the porch. Over the past few days they have begun sprouting legs and a couple have become frogs. Brigitta put a few in our fountain pond today.
....And now ... on to our next performance. The five Halls auditioned for the Tallmadge Dynamics summer musical - Honk, and we all got in! Honk is the story based on Hans Christian Anderson's "The Ugly Duckling". Our first cast meeting will be on May 31st with performances in early August.
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5-17-2012 ~ Blog #451 (Joan)
Annika "bridged" from Daisy to Brownie in Girl Scouts this last week. Each girl recited a poem, tossed a flower over the side and received her Brownie sash. Svea and her friend Angelina bridged from Cadets to Juniors at the same ceremony.
(Joan) I accompanied Brigitta's Girl Scout troop to an overnight at COSI last weekend. The museum was closed to the general public at 5:00 and several hundred overnight visitors filed in. The 4th grade Boy Scouts also attended. The theme was "butterflies" and each child got to make a habitat for a caterpillar and take it home to watch the transformation. There were many exciting activities including an "Indiana Jones" type adventure and a room of squirting water - which was, of course Brigitta's favorite. We slept on the floor in a classroom, walked our feet off and stayed up way to late, but I found the experience quite enjoyable. The museum felt empty and there weren't long lines for everything. The girls had a blast.
Brigitta is weighing sand in the Indiana Jones Adventure room. Below, the girls wait for the doors to open to a secret room.
They encourage a "dance party" from 11:00 to 11:30 pm to drain every last ounce of energy out of the girls - it didn't work!
When it was time to turn in, Brigitta pulled out a laser flashlight she had snuck into her backpack. All the kids chased it around the room like cats. It was the hit of the night. At lights out however, the laser came to me.
At COSI, there is a unicycle on a cable suspended above the lobby at about a two story height. Brigitta has always wanted to try it, but the lines are usually over two hours long. On this trip, she got to try it, and because Brigitta did it - each of her other friends tried. Some got stuck halfway and had to be helped, but not Bri, she pedaled all the way across and back.
As part of their social studies curriculum the fourth grade studies Ohio history. Since we were only a few block away from the state capitol, we took a walk to see some of the rooms, including The Map Room. The Map Room has a giant map of Ohio with all 88 counties formed in granite. As luck would have it, there was a Civil War living history exhibit on the capitol lawn. The kids even got to talk to Abe Lincoln.
The last stop of the day was to the Newark Earthworks. It is an amazing collection of effigy mounds created by prehistoric people of the area.
The one circle we were able to visit was one of the smallest (on the far back of the map) and it was over four hundred feet wide.
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Team America Rocketry Challenge Nationals 2012 Team America Rocketry Challenge Nationals 2012 5-17-2012 ~ Blog #450 (David)
All about our TARC trip last weekend on the following page: Team America Rocketry Challenge Nationals 2012
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5-5-2012 ~ Blog #449 (David)
The IHM 4th grade girls Coach Day Team lost their final game against St. Joes on Saturday. The first match started with a five point lead with Brigitta serving. IHM won the first match by a small margin and then pretty much got tromped in the second and third match.
Photos on a separate Volleyball Page
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5-7-2012 ~ Blog #448 (David)
On Saturday we went to Bob and Barb Leasure's house to attend a small family gathering.
1. Chris Terry 2. Meredith Terry 3. Angela Terry 4. Jennifer Silvidi 5. Anna Silvidi 6. Bob Leasure 7. Paul Wilsterman 8. Christopher Silvidi 9. Matthew Silvidi 10. Svea Hall 11. Sandy 12. Brigitta Hall 13. Annika Hall 14. Shirley Wilsterman 15. Amanda Crafton 16. Tim Wilsterman 17. Kathy Crafton 18. Joan Hall 19. Mary Ellen Leasure 20. Isabelle Leasure 21. David Wilsterman 22. Sebastian Leasure 23. Barb Leasure 24. David Hall 25. James Leasure
On Saturday we went to Saint Vincent Saint Mary's production of Singin' in the Rain; it was fantastic. Normally I might say a play was good or great "for a high school play". This production, however, was flat out fantastic in all respects. The acting, singing, dancing, sets, costumes lacked nothing. The only thing that made it seam like a high school play was that the actors appeared a bit young. I intended on taking just a few photos, but found the lighting to be the brightest I've ever seen in any play I've ever attempted to photograph. It was a joy to shoot. I used my old manual focus 85mm lens; almost all shots were at f2.8.
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Skybusters Rocketry Club Oberlin/Amherst Ohio 5-6-2012 ~ Blog #447 (David)
Yesterday we had our last flight practice before the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) National Competition next weekend in Manassas, Virginia next weekend. We drove our qualifying eighth grade team up to Oberlin (Amherst) Ohio to fly with Skybusters Rocketry Club Website at the National Association of Rocketry Regional Meet. There were perhaps 100 rocketeers present and there must have been at least 100 flights in the five hours we spent at the site. Most of the first half of the alphabet of engine sizes made showings and flights.
Click here to view 108 awesome rocket flight photos like the one below (OK, maybe that's the best one).
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5-4-2012 ~ Blog #446 (David) Uncle Tim and Aunt Shirley Wilsterman have been visiting for the past few days. Tim is Bill's youngest brother and only surviving sibling out of seven children. They joined us for an after school zoo visit. We managed to get in and out just before the rain got serious. I'm still getting a kick out of my antique garage-sale 85mm f2 and 135mm f2.8 prime manual focus lenses. After being spoiled for years using my autofocus, vibration reduction 18-200mm zoom lens I'm enjoying the challenge of using manual focus fixed focal length (non-zoom) lens. It's kind of like going from hunting with a scope and laser fitted assault rifle to hunting with an old wooden longbow.
Normally, we consider ourselves lucky to see the red panda sleeping. Today he was actually up and about trotting and climbing trees.
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