PC!

No that does not mean politically correct--Christopher made Preliminary Championships this weekend!

We travelled down to Fort Smith, Arkansas (Irish Dance brings us to all the exotic locales) for the Arkansas State Championships and the Ozark Mountain Feis. A lot of kids from O'Riada Manning were there and we had a fun time as usual with our dance family...

Chris just needed one more first place in hornpipes to make the PC level and he got it on Sunday. He danced great on Saturday too, winning first in reel and treble jig and placing second in his hornpipe. Although he was a little disappointed on Saturday, he was happy for his friend Talula, who took the hornpipe first that day...

The grade dancers didn't dance in this feis until the afternoon on both days so we had quite a bit of time on Sunday morning. Chris and I decided to visit the local IHOP, where he enjoyed some Grinch Pancakes, also known as cake...

Later on, we hung out with the Jackson family (Christopher's friend Amaya) and watched movies, because there is literally nothing to do in Fort Smith on a Sunday (we did consider church but watched the champs dancers instead before getting together with friends!). Christopher has also developed some superstitions and we went to a gas station after breakfast to fuel up for the ride home. I pulled up to pump 16 and shut off the car. In the backseat I hear, "No Mommy, we need to go to pump 3, that's my lucky number." Many of you know me so you may be surprised if not shocked to hear that I actually turned the car back on and pulled up to pump 3. Looking back, it was a good move. I actually thought to myself, "What if that actually is the magic number in getting his dance into PC?" LOL. Anyway, here is lucky #3. It deserved its own picture...

Feis weekends start to mess with your head! Finally after waiting all day, 5PM was the lucky time to start Christopher's hornpipes. Now, there was a little strategy going on with Chris and Talula. They both dance in the same age group and once you get your first places in Prizewinner, you move up to PC. Chris and Talula used some teamwork to help move each other along. Because Chris already had firsts in reel and treble jig, he sat those dances out on Sunday to hopefully give Talula a chance to advance. Because Talula won a first in hornpipes on Saturday, she sat that one out because that's the dance Chris needed. It worked out well for both of them! Talula took first in the two she needed and Chris took first in the one he needed! Now Talula needs one more first in her slip jig (a dance the boys don't have to do) and she will also be in PC!

And if you are wondering what those fuzzy things are that the kids are holding, they are these (apparently) "lucky" bunnies. They sell all kinds of random cr... stuff at feisannas and occasionally I can be a sucker for them!