The Van Hoosen Family Juggling Page

February 14, 2004: Blake saved his money for a long time, and bought himself a new unicycle. He's getting good at riding backward and idling, and the new unicycle has some features that let him do some other tricks. Blake gave his old unicycle to Corey, now that Corey can ride. Here's a picture of the three of us riding around our neighborhood.

September 27 and 28: We all went to the Portland Juggling Festival, and had a great time. Saturday afternoon, we hung out in the gym at Reed College where all the jugglers gathered. Blake found a friend who taught him to balance on a globe, which he ended up doing for a lot of time on Saturday. Corey and I passed clubs quite a bit, and also enjoyed watching all the really talented jugglers do their thing.

We were really looking forward to seeing Vova and Olga, 16 and 13 year old brother and sister from Russia. They recently moved to the US. They hold three world records for passing 9, 10 and 11 clubs, and we had watched a lot of videos we'd downloaded from their website. They seemed like really nice people, so we were hoping to meet them. Corey and I talked to Vova for a while, then he asked if wanted to pass clubs, which we were really excited about! He taught Corey and I how to pass seven clubs, which we'd never tried before.

That evening, we attended the Extravaganza, a juggling show at Benson High School. Vova and Olga were the favorites of the show, getting a standing ovation. They started out doing fast-paced tricks with 6 clubs, then moved on 7, both facing each other, and back-to-back. They gradually added more and more clubs, ending by passing 11 clubs.

Patrick Maguire did a very interesting performance, bouncing balls against, around and on top of a transparent 8' tall pillar. He used to perform with Cirque du Soleil for a number of years, and it shows. He is an excellent juggler, and he is very charismatic.

A group of three guys who look like they belong in ZZ-Top, called the Mud Bay Jugglers, did a very entertaining performance. One trick was pretty subtle but amazing. While two of them passed clubs, the third passed one of them, behind his back. As he walked past, in a sudden, quick movement, he removed his own jacket and put it on the guy passing clubs!

Rhys Thomas did a very fun bit with five children from the audience, including his little daughter. He had them each hold up a stick, then attempted to get a spinning ball balanced on each stick at the same time. It was very comical, and the kids were having as much fun as he was.

On Sunday, we went back to the festival and did some more juggling, and attended some workshops. We watched some of the juggling games, though Corey and I only competed in one. If you ever get a chance to play Combat Juggling, stay far away from Olga! She's very good at it, and sneaky!

Portland Juggling Festival 2003
Blake balancing on globe	Juggling 4 clubs	Corey and Vova passing 7 clubs

August 3, 2003: We have all been juggling with the silicones quite a bit. Corey has improved rapidly with his five ball lift bounce. He doesn't count, but I saw him do 38 catches this afternoon. Becky and Blake have been doing some bounce juggling as well. I learned how to do a four-ball bounce, and finally got it down, with my record of 174 catches. My five-ball bounce is up to 160 catches. I've been practicing a lot with four clubs recently, and also started learning the three ball pattern called robot factory.

July 25, 2003: I finally bought real silicone juggling balls, which I've been wanting for years. Five bright orange ones. So nice to juggle! In other news, Blake can hover a little on his unicycle now. Corey is bounce juggling five balls now! I don't know his record so far, but I've seen him do 25+ catches. He's also started force-bouncing three balls. He is working on double spins with clubs. We've been passing clubs a lot lately, and Corey is doing very well. I'm still practicing with 5 balls (my record is 72 catches I think), 5 ball lift bounce (my record is 100), and tricks with four. I've also been working on four clubs. We took some video of Corey and myself bounce-juggling five.

Juggling the new Sillies
Blake bouncing 3	Corey bouncing 5 Video	Scott bouncing 5 Video

April 28, 2003: Corey and I have been passing clubs a bit more. I've been working mostly on tricks with four balls, and five ball cascade. My five ball recored is now 69, so I'm still slowly making progress. Corey is starting to learn Mills Mess. Blake is improving on his unicycle, working on hovering most recently.

December 14, 2002: We have been working on learning some juggling tricks lately. Corey is getting pretty good at passing clubs, and he and Cameron and I pass clubs quite often. Corey has gotten really good at a half shower and juggler's tennis, just started working on 531, and is working on double spins with clubs. Becky just started learning the half shower. I've been working on several tricks with four balls, and do the half shower, columns, pistons, 53 and 5551 pretty well. I'm also working on 633, 7333, and four clubs. My five ball cascade is getting pretty smooth now, with a record of 51 catches, and I've started working on the five ball half shower and a five ball multiplex.

October 20, 2002: We took some family juggling pictures, including Corey, Becky and I juggling, Blake unicycling, and our dog Cosmo jumping through a hoop.

Corey and Scott passing clubs
Becky juggling	Blake on unicycle	Blake on unicycle again	Scott juggling five
Cosmo jumping through a hoop

August 29, 2002: Corey and Blake and I did some entertaining at my company picnic. Corey and I showed some juggling tricks with balls, rings and clubs, then Blake showed some unicycling stunts. Afterward, those who could juggle joined us for some group juggling fun.

August 7, 2002: It's been almost a year since my last entry, but not much juggling stuff has been happening. Blake still rides his unicycle periodically, getting better all the time. He can ride backwards a few pedals, which is better than I've ever been able to do. Corey juggled quite a bit at school last school year at recess. I keep working on my five-ball cascade, usually when rebooting a or installing software on a Windows machine. :) My record is 42 catches, which isn't much higher than last year, but I'm getting more consistant and smoother. Corey and I have worked on passing clubs a little, but we need to set aside more time to practice.

September 7, 2001: Homemade silicone ball conclusion: I've made around 25 balls now, which work quite nicely for juggling, though are not bouncy enough for bounce juggling. One cool thing though; I picked up some LED light packs and molded them right into some red silicone balls. The result is a nice bright, evenly difused glowing ball, much better looking and more pleasant to juggle than the store-bought balloon bean bags.

Records update: My 5 ball toss juggling record is now 32 catches, and bounce juggling is 76 catches. Corey is still doing a great 3 ball bounce or toss juggle, and can do some juggler's tennis and half showers. Blake's unicycling is doing great, and he can almost hover. He has also learned to juggle, a bit shaky but he can do it now.

May 21, 2001: I've been trying for the past few weeks to make my own silicone juggling balls, and I'm finally having some success. If you're not a juggler, you might wonder why I don't just buy some silicone balls. The reason is, they cost $35 or more EACH. Also I wanted some smaller balls so Corey could try bounce juggling 5. His hands are just too small to hold five 2 1/2" lacrosse balls.

I picked up a spherical candle mold from the local craft store, some tubes of white 100% silicone rubber sealant, and some Rit dye. For my first attempt, I filled the mold halves with silicone, and stuck them together. A week later, I opened it to find it still completely liquid. I drilled some air holes in a mold and tried again, but came up with liquid again, with a few pea-sized solidified clumps around the holes. (sigh)

I figured the silicone would only dry when explosed to air, and about 1/8" thick. For my third try, I coated the inside of the mold with about 1/8" layer of silicone and let it sit for a day. That turned out okay, so I filled in another lay. It was a lot like building two onion halves from outside in. Once I had only a marble-sized hole in each half, I filed it in, covered the halves with silicone and stuck them together. This finally ended up in a ball, though a bit misshapen. I then decided to try coloring some silicone, so I mixed a bit of dry Rit dye with some warm water and stirred it for a few minutes. It turned a nice shade of baby blue. I coated the inside of the mold with blue, then put some extra inside a toy easter egg to keep it soft. My plan was to fill it layer by layer with white silicone, then glue it together with the blue, so the seam would look good. Problem was, after only one day, I opened the easter egg, and the extra blue silicone was completely solidified! I realized that by stiring the silicone, I must have aerated it enough that it would dry quickly.

I next mixed up some more blue goo, but this time completely filled the mold. One or two hours later, it was dry! I was quite excited. I removed it from the mold and checked it out. I had a few flaws on the surface from some air bubbles, but not too bad. The ball was VERY soft and pliable, which made it feel great to juggle, but only bounced had about a 10% bounce (lacrosse balls have about a 70% bounce, and professionally made silicones about a 75% bounce). I noticed the white ball I'd made a couple weeks earlier was quite a bit more solid, and bounced quite a bit better, maybe a 50% bounce. I made two more balls today, and they are really gooshy. I'm hoping that they will set up in a few days and get more firm, which would mean a better bounce. Only time will tell.

May 18, 2001: Not a whole lot new, except bounce juggling 5 has really come together. My record is now 50 catches, while toss-juggling 5 is still stuck at 22. I have been trying to make my own silicon balls, with mixed success. I haven't given up yet, as they cost $35 to $45 each, which I'm not willing to spend.

April 27, 2001: We bought Blake his own unicycle a couple weeks ago, and he quickly mastered riding it. We've been riding all over the neighborhood together since then. Last week, he was going to ride it for his class at school, but without telling Blake, his teacher planned for him to ride during an assembly for his entire school! He was pretty nervous, but did well and got a lot of applause. Blake has started juggling now, with a record of around 10 catches. Corey's record for toss juggling is 96 catches, and his bounce juggling is even better. Now he's working on a pattern called Juggler's Tennis. My 5 ball cascade is 22 catches, only one better than a couple weeks ago, but seems a bit more solid. Last night I qualified 5 ball bounce juggling, with a record of 12 catches. Mills Mess with clubs is coming together, with a record of 42 catches.

April 14, 2001: We've been making progress in the last month. Corey's bounce juggling has improved and is very smooth, and now he can toss juggle almost as well, with his latest record of 51 catches. Blake has been determined to learn to ride my unicycle, since I told him that I'd buy him his own if he could ride around the block. Well it's pay-up time, as today he rode around the block three times without falling! My 5 ball cascade is very slowly improving, my record is 21 catches. Mills Mess is pretty solid now, and lots of fun, and today I tried Mills Mess with clubs with some success. I think I'll have it down soon. We took some juggling and unicycling pictures a couple days ago, so I thought I'd post them.

Blake on unicycle	Corey toss juggling	Kids doing their thing
Blake still on unicycle	Corey bounce juggling	Scott juggling five

March 1, 2001: Becky is juggling her beanbags in a nice cascade. Corey has gotten quite good at a 3 ball lift bounce with his new lacrosse balls. Blake showed interest in the unicycle, so I put a lower seat on it for him, and he's been practicing very hard. Our dog Cosmo has even gotten into it, and is very good at jumping through our juggling hoops on command. It's amazing how quickly a dog can learn a new trick when a bowl of grated cheese is by my side!

I've been working steadily on learning the five ball cascade (I can qualify now, with 10 catches), the four ball half-shower, some three-ball tricks like Mills Mess, 531 and the Box, and some club tricks. When we all start making more progress, I may make a chart of what we've all learned, and what we're working on next.