Gateway Feis

So the feis today went well. Leo was insane between Sophia's jig and her treble jig, and then again for her St. Patrick's Day. At first he was content to sit in the stroller and hang out; in the middle of the morning he fell asleep in the sling on my back. But hard shoes are loud and he eventually woke up. We were done by just a hair past noon, which was fabulous, but results didn't get posted until 1:00 for the last dance. THAT was crazy. And then of course we got them engraved (we do this every time because I have a box of ribbons and medals of mine from track and from academic/art competitions, and none of them is marked. So I have no clue what I did when, and I hate that). But the engraver was backed up so we didn't get all that completed until 1:30. We walked around and went outside and investigated the revolving door and whatever. I basically stood up from 8 until 1:30 today, more than half of that with a 25 pound wriggling baby on my back.

Sophia placed third in her traditional set, which is like coming in second in a competition of heads or tails. There were 3 girls dancing and she knew going in that they were both going to beat her--which is a shame to already make that assumption, but one of them is in our school and has perfected that dance. But in more impressive news, she placed third in her treble jig, and that one was for real. Enough dancers to move her into Novice in January, which means she has placed out of 3 of her dances (out of 7)--she's already in Novice jig, and she placed in her single jig, but that one does not continue into Novice? I'm not sure what all that's about. Anyway, she really screwed up in her hornpipe (her words) and forgot to do half a step, which makes you end several bars before the girl next to you and it's obvious you've messed up. She was a little teary afterward but then going over to the results room erased all that.

So she didn't place in the top 3 in her reel, which is what she wanted, but the treble jig place was out of the blue--she's never placed in it before, even in Little Rock where they posted through 8th place or something crazy like that. But she's been practicing...

Good day. We got home and remembered we have a school picnic to attend that starts in just a few minutes. We're going to be late, that's for sure. And I think we'll be driving (it's about a mile and a half walk, which I should do, but like I said, I've been standing all day long and I'm done).

Tomorrow she dances at the International Festival, supposedly at 1 p.m. That should be a good day too.