Monday 6-29-26 Dancing with Di, Crafting, Working Out & More

 

Awesome Day!

We had an awesome day of doing this and that.

The weather was hot and sunny. The morning temperature was 78 degrees and got up to 97 degrees. I think it's going to be a hot summer.

We started the day off by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 Dance at 9:00 for an hour and fifteen minutes. Terry danced with Di the first tip and part of the second tip. Di called five tips of C1 to 14 participants. Di did a great job of calling, dancing and cueing through out the dance. In between tips the dancers visited with each around the world. The dancers were from the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and the United States. Larry danced with me for four of the tips. We had an outstanding time dancing with our virtual square dancing friends.

Get a partner and dance

Larry did a little crafting. He assembled the witch he cut out yesterday. He also pulled up the file of a skeleton he made a few years ago. He resized the skeleton so it would be the same size as the other figurines he made for Halloween for Kay. He'll assemble it tomorrow. He always has a great time doing his crafting. 

The larger witch

New witch on the left and original witch on the right

Larry's new project (Skeleton)

After crafting Larry started reading a book on his e-reader.

Relaxing with a good book

While Larry did his crafting and reading I played games and worked out.

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Tri Peaks Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 24 minutes and 59 seconds to complete, which put me in 9th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I worked out for an hour and fifteen minutes. 

I worked out with the Wii Fit for 45 minutes. I did 8 minutes with one exercise from the Aerobic Menu, which was Rhythm Boxing. I did 7 minutes with two exercises from the Balance Game Menu, which were Ski Slalom three times for 3 minutes and Soccer Heading two times for 4 minutes. I did 10 minutes with four exercises from Strength Training Menu, which were Sideways Leg Lift 20 reps for 2 minutes, Single-Leg Extension 20 reps for 3 minutes, Single-Leg Twist 20 reps for 2 minutes and Torso Twist 6 reps for 3 minutes. I did 10 minutes with three exercises from the Training Plus Menu, which were Perfect 10 for 1 minute, Obstacle Course two times for 6 minutes and Table Tilt Plus one for 3 minutes. I did 10 minutes with five exercises the Yoga Menu, which were Half Moon for 2 minutes, Sun Salutation for 2 minutes, Standing Knee for 2 minutes, Tree for 2 minutes and Warrior for 2 minutes. I was a great workout.

Aerobic Menu (Rhythm Boxing)

Balance Games Menu (Ski Slalom and Soccer Heading)

Strength Training Menu (Sideways Leg Lift, Single-Leg Extension, Single-Leg Twist and Torso Twist)

Training Plus Menu (Perfect 10, Obstacle Course and Table Tilt Plus)

Yoga Menu (Half Moon, Standing Knee, Sun Salutation, Tree and Warrior)

I worked out with the Synth Riders for 30 minutes with four songs two times. They were Delight, Imperfection, Light Up The Night and Nightmare Cure. While I was doing Imperfection I did two outstanding scores. It was a good workout.

Delight

Imperfection

Light Up The Night

Nightmare Cure

I played ten pinball games. I played five games on the mini cabinet, which were Batman Forever, Dead Pool, Fish Tales, Pirate's Life and The Godfather. I didn't get on the board but I had fun trying. I played five games on the big cabinet, which were Big Bang Bar, Game of Thrones, Guardians of the Galaxy, Superman and The Beach Boys. While playing Game of Thrones I got a new high score of 336,583,630, which put me in 15th place out of 36 participants so far this week in the challenge. 

Batman Forever (Mini)

Fish Tales (Mini)

Dead Pool (Mini)

Pirate's Life (Mini)

The Godfather (Mini)

Big Bang Bar (Big)

Game of Thrones (Big)

Guardians of the Galaxy (Big)

Superman (Big)

The Beach Boys (Big)

We watched out YouTube videos we follow.

In the evening we watched Dune: Part Two from our movies collection. It ended up with an open ending because there's a third part of it. It's going to be released in December. When Larry went to bed I watched Wicked from our movies collection. I ended up doing 4,000 steps.

  

    

  

Sunday 6-28-26 We're Home, New Pinball Challenge & Crafting

Waco Convention Center from Web

We woke up to a humid morning in Waco with a temperature of 79 degree and overcast skies. By the end of the day we were back home in Belton with the high temperature of 97 degree. It was windy.

Last night after we got back to the hotel I packed up our clothes and whatever I could. This morning I woke up before Larry. about 6:20 am. I took a shower and finished packing. When Larry woke up and was taking a shower I emptied the refrigerator into the cooler and filled the cooler with ice and put the ice packs in it. Then I started to load up the car with our stuff. Larry helped me load up the suit cases and big cooler in the back of the car. 

After loading the car we went to the breakfast area and had breakfast. When we finished I made our final check of the room to make sure we got everything. Larry handed in our room keys. Then we were on the road. When we got to Belton Larry stopped by Jack 'n' Jill Donuts to buy some donuts. We were back home at 8:45 am.

Home Sweet Home

We had a super four days of square dancing. We danced to a lot of good callers, some better than others. We danced with people we knew, met new ones and met Dawn and Charles from Zoom. We danced Wednesday night for three hours and Thursday, Friday, and Saturday six hours a day (three in the morning and three in the evening). The 75th National Square Dancing Convention had 3,000 dancers from around the world, including from at least ten countries. 

Trails In A Dance on Wednesday

Once we got home we unloaded the car. I put everything away and unpacked the suit cases. I did a few loads of laundry. I played games.

Doing Laundry

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 28 minutes and 5 seconds, which put me in 28th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

Larry started a new crafting project, which is a witch for Halloween. He found the file and modified the file to enlarge the witch for Kay. He chose the paper he wanted to use and cut out the pieces. Tomorrow he'll assemble the witch.

Original witch

Today is a beginning of a new week so I have a new weekly challenge in pinball, which is Game of Thrones. We had this game before but it was an older version. Larry found the right version and downloaded it. Then he installed it on the big cabinet. He remembered the first time he had loaded the game he had made notes on how to get it to work. While installing the game he went through his notes and they helped him very much. Once it was installed he played the game. It has a great VR room below are some pictures of it.

The pinball cabinet in a castle

Wall of the castle

The throne in the castle

The door to the castle

A dragon

I played five games of pinball on the big cabinet, which were 24, Game of Thrones, Indianapolis 500, Pinball Magic and The Beach Boys. Before last week's challenge of 24 I played it for about a half hour and got a new high score. The score was 30,357,760, which put me in 83rd out of 107 participants. Then I played this week's challenge of Game of Thrones. My first high score was 73,989,550, which put me in 15th out of 17 participants so far this week. I played three other games, which were Indianapolis 500, Magic Pinball and The Beach Boys. I had fun playing pinball.

24

Game of Thrones

Indianapolis 500

Magic Pinball

The Beach Boys

I played five games of pinball on the mini cabinet, which were Cactus Canyon, Cirqus Voltaire, Michael, Playboy and Theatre of Magic. While playing Playboy I became a Manor Champion because I got all 12 playmates. I had a great time.

Cactus Canyon

Cirqus Voltaire

Michael

Playboy

Theatre of Magic

We watched the YouTube videos we follow.

In the evening we watched Dune from our movies collection. It was slow moving but good. When Larry went to bed I watched Arrival and Bling from our movies collection. I ended up doing 3,000 steps.

   

    

  

Saturday 6-27-26 Last Day of the 75th National Square Dancing Convention

 

Dancing with friends and other square dancers

We had another fabulous day of dancing. Waco weather was hot and humid. The morning temperature was 78 degrees and the high was 94 degrees felt like 104 degrees.

We danced from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm in the A1/A2 hall. The callers in the hall were Bill Ackerman, Dan Clairmont, Myron Hollatz, Darryl Libscomb, Dale Smith, Tim Ploch, Dee Dougherty, Eric Henerlau, Mike Hogan and Jet Roberts. We had up to 20 squares of dancers but most of the time there were 12 squares of dancers. I took a few pictures. When I finished we danced in a square, that was dancing with a phantom couple and they were happy that we did. We had a great morning of dancing with friends.

Daryl Libscomb calling A2

Pam and Bruce from Sun City dancing in the A hall

Dan Clairmont dancing with Vicki (Long gray hair in the back) from Lubbock

 

Henry and Susan in the middle and Glen and Char from Sun City in the tie dye tee shirts dancing in the A hall

In the evening we returned to the convention center to dance from 7:00 to 10:00. The closing ceremony was at 5:00 to 6:30 but we didn't attend. We danced in the A1/A2 hall and visited with friends. We danced the two hours of A2 to nine callers. They were Juergen Weissenborn, Lynn Webster, Glenn Martin, Tony Oxendine, Jason Raleigh, Don Sprosty, Doug Sprosty, Barry Johnson and David Heffron. Don and Doug Sprosty called together. Tony Oxendine did an outstanding job of calling. He did a lot of DBD and kept us moving. In fact all the callers were calling fast. The evening was a lot of fun. 

The hour between the A2 session we walked around and visited. We stopped in the Round Dance Hall #1 to say hi to Kay and Bob Kurczewski (Ski). While there Kay was cueing so we didn't get a chance to say to her face to face but we did visit with Bob. We also said hi to a couple out of Bastrop (Trisha and Dennis), who were dancing and Trisha cues Round Dancing and Dennis is a caller. When we left the hall we stopped and said hi to Mike and Brenda. Then we stopped by the ice cream counter and got a couple of cups of vanilla ice cream. I didn't have to make a decision because that was all they had left. We sat at a table and visited with Marie and Barry. 

Larry visiting with Bob

Kay cueing the Round Dancers

Tricia and Dennis dancing to Kay's cueing

We had a super day of dancing A1/A2.      

In between dancing Larry read his groups he follows and e-mail. I played games. I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Spider Adventure of 20 games. It took me 3 hours, 18 minutes and 48 seconds to complete, which put me in 11th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2. 

I got our stuff ready to leave in the morning. I ended up doing 10,000 steps.