The Last Recital

Emily's Irish step dance recital was on Saturday and I think that after nine years of traditional dance and Irish dance, we may have attended our last recital (gasp!).  Emily loves Irish dance and we think that she's very good at it, but she highly dislikes attending classes and is ready to move on to something else - or, in her case, ready to have a day of rest during the week. 
Like last year, the show was nothing short of spectacular.  The younger children are good, but the older students are simply amazing.  This year's performance featured four world medalists (top 5 finishers in the world) - Griffith Academy has a ton of talent, no doubt about it.

Irish dance costume.

Ballet.

Some of the older students.

Finale.

Our beautiful girl.

November Odds and Ends

Some odds and ends from a busy November...

Lee and Mike, a college friend and Beta Brother, at Mike's wedding. 

Wedding selfie.

Emily was super happy and completely surprised by her Middletown Magic jacket!

Trying ice skating for the second time (the first time, she was two and wanted nothing to do with it).

Designing and sewing an outfit.

Gym selfie (with Lee in the background).  This picture was for a joke - we are not "gym selfie" people.

These turkeys refused to get out of the road on Thanksgiving morning.

Heading out to the theater - cultivating styles as different as can be.

This may be our only photos with Santa this year (sigh).

Rudolph at the Bushnell!

Irish Dance viewing day!

October Odds and Ends

Photos that didn't make the cut in October....

You'd be hard pressed to find another dad that sews badges onto his daughters' Brownie and Junior Girl Scout sashes.

Lee and I enjoyed a lovely dinner out at the Capital Grille for our 13th wedding anniversary, including this complimentary dessert.

Lee handling his friend Nick at a meet in Everett, MA. 

Off to Irish Dance. 

Elizabeth played lacrosse on Saturday mornings this fall and absolutely loved every minute of it. 

Reading and Baxter - two of her favorite things. 

Not quite sure when our 10 year old started looking like a 16 year old...

5th graders at the school Halloween party (so grateful to the parents who get photos when I'm not around!). 

3rd graders at the school Halloween party (same as above).

At her Brownie troop's Halloween party!

Little Stars Showcase

Emily had her first recital with her Irish dance school last weekend and it was spectacular.  It wasn't a recital - it was a like a Broadway show!  The beginner dancers have their own recital and going into it, I was really disappointed that we weren't going to see the more advance dancers, which was always something I looked forward to when the girls took traditional dance.  Boy, was I in for a surprise.  The recital begin with singing and dancing, as close to 100 dancers took the stage to sing and dance to the opening number.  Then, amazing advanced and showcase performances were sprinkled in with all of the beginner dances.  Even though Emily was only in two numbers, we were not disappointed with the performance, as every minute of it was spectacular.

The dress rehearsal.  They don't actually wear their costumes for the dress rehearsal, which was something I had major difficulty grasping.  As did other moms, based on the fact that at least 20% of the new dancers showed up in costume. 

Finale rehearsal. 

Singing and dancing. 

Video of Emily's dance, taken at the dress rehearsal.  It was so much better at the show, they were much more focused, but this will have to do.

Beautifully detailed costumes.

A little practice before the recital....

St. Patrick's Day Parade

On Saturday, Emily marched in the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Hartford with her dance academy.  We've never been to a St. Patrick's Day parade before and I have to say, I was stunned by the number of people there.  According to the newspaper, more than 40,000 spectators lined the parade route, and I believe it!  Neither Emily nor I knew what to expect when we arrived at the designated time and location.  All I knew was that children under 10 had to have a parent with them - and that the fact that I agreed to do this shows the true measure of my love for Emily, as normally, I would do everything in my power to avoid being in a parade.

Just a few of the students and parents - we were some of the earlier arrivals.

Over one hundred dancers from her school were there and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how they were going to do any sort of dancing in the parade.  Well, apparently, Griffith Academy puts on an award winning parade performance every year and they know exactly how to organize.  When it was time for us to line up in the parade, the instructors made four long lines of students, with parents at the end.  

They "galloped" in the lines along the parade route until they received a signal from the truck in front.  Then, the two lines on the left would turn to the left and the two lines on the right would turn to the right, all of them facing the crowd.  When the music started, the dancing began!

I am standing three-quarters of the way down a line of dancers and you can't quite see the beginning of the line.  It was pretty amazing.

I just wish I could have shown how high the older kids were kicking - well over Emily's head every time!!!

This video was pretty early on, when everyone was still getting their bearings.

The last half mile of the route goes through an area filled with bars.  The sidewalks - which had barriers to keep the onlookers from getting into the streets - were overflowing with people and the crowd was really pushing into the parade.  Each of the older students took a younger student by the hand, as if to protect them.  It was actually very heartwarming to see.  Anyway, despite how loud they all were, the crowds were generally well behaved - and, they literally roared with approval each time the students danced. 

This was one of the last times they danced - note the older kids holding Emily's hands.  I couldn't believe that she was still going strong, as they must have run through this jig at least twenty-five times during the parade.  Between the dancing and cold (you can hear the wind), she was completely exhausted when the parade was over, but exhilarated as well!