The Hall Family Photoblog - December 2012 - David, Joan, Svea, Brigitta & Annika Hall (& Bill and Harriette Wilsterman)

Forty-four people braved our "Under Construction Bash" and a bit of snow this year. A special thank you to Nick, who supplied us with a roll of Caution tape, which we used to accessorize ourselves. Since the porch was still unfinished and unheated, we put a couch and chairs in the garage and made a makeshift conversation den. With plenty to eat and drink, great family and of course a cool piñata - it was, as usual, a great party. View 110 photos and three movies on the 2012-13 Kelly Bash page.

(View links to other old Kelly Bash pages here.)

Ancient Kelly Bash Photos

Years ago we took photos of old slides, but never did anything with them. Now they have been cropped, color corrected (somewhat) and sorted. View them on this page: Ancient Kelly Bash Photos. (View links to other old Kelly Bash pages here.)

Kelly Bash Piñata

12-28-2012 ~ Blog #493

(David)

Tomorrow is the Kelly Bash. We've been working on a disco ball piñata.

Pull Up Bar

The pull up bar is being use more for stunts and tricks than pull ups. I'm going to order one of those 4' X 8' gym mats to put under it.

Ski!

We finally got a few inches of snow. I dug out the Ski Doo, got it running and packed and groomed the trail.

Alaska Gifts

We have a tradition of opening our Alaska gifts on the 26th of December.

Christmas Day

12-25-2012 ~ Blog #492

(David)

View 101 Christmas Day photos on this page.

Christmas Caroling

Jump to the Caroling section of the Christmas Day page.

Christmas Eve

12-24-2012 ~ Blog #491

(David)

Decorating Our Lady of Victory Church for Christmas

12-23-2012 ~ Blog #490

(David)

View 94 photos of the girls and the OLV decorating crew decorating the church for Christmas on this page.

Happy Birthday Brigitta!

12-16-2012 ~ Blog #489

(David)

Brigitta turned 11 yesterday. She had five friends over for a slumber party. They ate tacos, had owl cake and watched the Hunger Games three times. Last night we spent a few hours opening gifts from Uncle Mark and then went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

745 Feet

Yesterday we had our second TARC launch of the school year. We are still plagued by launch wire and fuse reliability. All four IHM teams showed up and had multiple launches. Almost every flight was at least 100 feet over the target altitude of 750'. The wind picked up and carried a few rockets pretty far and two managed land in trees, but were recovered. The challenge this year is hitting this altitude with a fairly light rocket (650 grams loaded). Traditionally TARC rockets' altitude are tuned with ballast, but a light rocket limit doesn't leave much room for much ballast. We've begun experimenting with controlling altitude with aerodynamic spoilers. The most delightful discovery of the day was actually hearing the crackly sound of streamers at 150 MPH. Once the motor burns out after 1.1 seconds the streamers made a beautiful and quite audible crackly noise. Svea's team rocket hit 745 feet on its fourth and last launch of the day. There's a lot of luck involved in hitting a desired altitude because the motor thrust performance can vary 10% or more, but still: 745 feet is a good number. I think the altimeter was armed at about 15 feet higher uphill than the launch pad, but still: 745 feet is a good number. We had some wind, which can really affect altitude, but still: 745 feet is a good number. Finally the payload hit a bit hard and broke their egg, which would have disqualified the flight in competition, but still: 745 feet is a good number for December.

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German Family Society Christmas Program

12-9-2012 ~ Blog #488

(David)

Today the girls performed at the German Family Society Christmas Program. Svea was chosen to help light the Donauschwaben blue candle that symbolizes the unity Donauschwaben people across the world.