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12.29.2015

Dancing and Dragon Boats

There are still pictures from last Christmas that have yet to see the light of day.  But to go all the way back right now seems overwhelming...so I'll try to catch a few highlights of the fall to document this year before 2015 slips away.
In addition to the beginning of a new school year, the fall also marks birthdays, Gotcha Days, half-birthday donut treats for our family.  Gymnastics started for Caleb, Darcy began ballet, Ky kicked off another season of year round swimming and Chinese dance had several shows for the older girls.  It was fast paced for sure!
One beautifully sunny (and, unfortunately, brutally hot) September Saturday found us at the Triangle Area Dragon Boat festival to watch Kylie's group dance.

At first all seemed to be going along just fine...


...and then she saw just how many people were in attendance.


That all so serious look came over and I began to silently pray she'd stay on stage and finish the performance.


Thankfully as she got into the routine, she began to regain confidence.


Then we were blessed with something we hadn't seen before.  A true smile while on stage.


From there her self confidence returned and she and her group performed well.


Following the rest of the dance numbers from our troupe of girls, we stepped into the bright sunshine lakeside to catch a few dragon boat races.  Even in the heat it was easy to get caught up in the excitement as the drummer sets the pace for his or her team.


Ky had a big fan base for the event including her lifetime buddy Lottie.  These two, born two weeks apart in the Guangdong Province, were adopted on the same day just minutes apart in the same room.  Now they live in the same neighborhood, attend the same elementary school and walk to school together each morning. Often mistaken for sisters, they provide a built in support system for one another.


And of course her posse included her siblings and this time even her cousins.


We explored a bit more of the festival but the heat was proving more than many of the kiddos wanted to take.  So we traded a lollipop sugar rush for one more posed photo and headed home for lunch and what the cousins do best...chillin'.


A few weeks later there was to have been an International Festival down on the coast (that got rained out) and then was the International Festival of Raleigh.  Not sure if we'll add 'post-season dancing' to our schedule next year, but it was exciting to dance in a few extra venues this fall.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

What a fun day that was. Seeing Kylie actually smiling on stage was such a joy! It was hot but an afternoon well spent.