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I may have mentioned in the past that my kids are big into Irish Step Dancing, and have been since about 2004/2005. I also mentioned that I wasn't going to be in Richmond because of their first competition.

I'll skip the long report on the festival and jump right to the chase: Jordan won 2nd place for her age group, and Mackenzie won 4th!!

Mackenzie's award ceremony (far right in blue):

We found out yesterday that less than two points separated the top four here. All of them were spectacular dancers!

Jordan's award ceremony (second from left in blue with green ribbon):

One point fell between first and second here, and Jordan actually had to come back a couple hours after her initial dances for a tie breaking dance to take second place. Yes, a "dance-off".

The crazy thing is, despite her placing, Mackenzie actually scored *significantly* higher than most of the girls in the next few age groups (including her sister). The older girls are going to have some serious competition from the younger crowd at all the Feis next year.

That's awesome Kurt!! Good for you and relay the congrats to her!

I have an autistic son who wanted to play baseball. With autism comes lumbering movements and no comprehension of the rules - so I helped coach so I could work with him and keep him on task.

As the way it goes with autism, he struck out all the time - swinging before the pitch barely left the pitchers hand

Anyhew - I was coaching first base and he was batting. I sent a prayer skyward to just let him this once get a hit. The very next pitch I got my answer. He used perfect form and placed a solid single past the first baseman!!! I was a proud papa, but you should have seen him beaming!

He got the baseball signed by the team. It was really neat. A base hit in his pocket is like a World Series game winning grand slam in my book.

I can identify with your pride!

Congratulations, Kurt!

I know you must be beaming with pride.

Rad

Thanks guys! I'm rather proud of my girlies!

The most impressive part of all of it is that both, while very happy with themselves, were concerned about the feelings of the other kids that didn't place. They've been very supportive of all the other kids since the competition. I guess some of me has managed to rub off on them!

Congratulations, all around!

Congrats on the achievements of the Undersized Ostrogoths! Man, that takes me back a dog's age (uh... a few dogs' ages) to when I was little older than them and started learning the Highland Fling.

KurtHuhn wrote:Thanks guys! I'm rather proud of my girlies!

The most impressive part of all of it is that both, while very happy with themselves, were concerned about the feelings of the other kids that didn't place. They've been very supportive of all the other kids since the competition. I guess some of me has managed to rub off on them!

Very commendable and very sportsmanlike, in the original sense of the word. Be proud of your parenting skills.

Congradulations Girls ....and Dad!
Dan
Gabrieli Pipes

Congrats! That's something to be proud of, especially showing such sportsmanship at such a young age. Bravo!:)