19 December, 2000

Today we had a little time to regroup and relax. So I took this opportunity to do a little fun stuff for the kids back home. My son's first grade class made a banner for me to fly at the Pole. Here I am trying to launch it into the Antarctic wind above SPARCLE central.

As you can tell by the nature of the banner we had a little wind. I decided I had better use something to hold down the bottom or it would stand straight out.

After I got the banner into the air under the Blimp I noticed that the bottom bamboo pole was begging to come loose. It is a good thing that I didn't fly the banner too high. When the pole fell out of the lashing that I had used to hold it to the banner it skewered the snow after falling fifty feet or so.

After flying the banner I thought that it might be nice to let Mr. Waddlesworth have a ride below the Blimp and get a little fresh air.

Mr. Waddlesworth enjoys the view of the Antarctic Plateau from his vantage point high above SPARCLE central. He sure was happy to get out and see the sights!