The club where the girls dance decided to go to finals this year, and so 2 weeks ago we headed off to Collingwood. Normally this would be a 6+ hour drive from Ottawa to Collingwood, but we decided to break the trip up (5 in the car - plus dog is too much for that long of a trip) and head to North Bay for a night to visit my parents. A couple of 3.5 hour trips later - we were in Collingwood.

The finals were held at the Blue Mountain Resort, a pretty big resort - with a number of condo/hotels and a nice little village to walk around at the center. There's a conference center right there on-site, plenty of restaurants, groceries, a Beavertails and Starbucks right there - so no need to head into town even and it was all walking distance. Was nice that we didn't have to do much driving while there, and could focus a little more on the finals and some relaxing...

The resort itself is a 'ski' resort, although the hill is pretty small. It's reported as Ontario's biggest ski hill - which really doesn't say much for Ontario skiing. There are a number of runs, but the hill is only 450m high with a vertical drop of just over 200m. But we DID NOT GO FOR SKIING - it is summer after all...

We did go up the hill to look around - could see Georgian Bay from the top and all around the area. Nice view. The hill in the summer is used for hiking, mountain biking and downhill biking (which looked pretty fun).

Here's a pic from the top, village below and Georgian Bay in the background.

Rebekah actually joined us for the trip! (I think she was hoping for more sun...) Was pretty bored for most of the week, until she started hanging out with some of the older dancers that she knew from school.

Here is a quick clip of the resort and some of the views from the hill. clip










Emma with Lisa - clip

No more dance for the year now... well, there are some summer practice sessions... but last night we found out that Emma has been asked to move up to Meghan's competition group - so she is EXTREMELY happy about that!

A final note - the year end recital for Elite went off well (prior to finals) and the parents number survived the back-to-back nights (with just the appropriate amounts of alcohol). As promised - here is a pic of the Dance Dads in all their glory...

If you can guess which one is me - you get a prize...

Hey 'dad' come up with a better answer - and faster next time! You're making me look bad.

As he's bumbling for the words, trying to come up with some pseudo answer to not break her heart - he actually does... Cuz by taking that half second or two, he's said all he needs to, indicating to her that she's really a second class kid to him cuz she isn't a boy. He's insulting himself, and other dads that are more than happy to have girls! And I'm a little pissed at McCrappy's for even putting a commercial like that out there - not that they're going to lose much business from me.

My friends say it's karma exacting some measure of revenge on me for not being a little angel when I was younger... but having these kids has changed my life completely, and having all girls has given me a very different perspective. I'm not saying that I don't want to be traveling 85% of the time again when they're all teenagers, but at the same time - I get to learn new things, and not have to try to live my life vicariously through a son, pressuring him to do the things I never got to do... and I'm not going to be forcing any of the girls to be my 'designated boy'. Not that there's anything wrong with boys - we had a name picked out from the beginning - just never got to use it, and I wasn't going to have FOUR girls ...

And just because they're girls - doesn't mean they have to be princesses or DIVAS (hate that word). My girls get in there, get their hands dirty when they need too. They love to help me out with whatever I'm doing - gardening, fixing the car, working on the rec room...etc They like biking, canoeing, skiing and camping - just like I do, so what's the problem? I guess for big hockey/football/baseball guys - their dreams for producing the next franchise player isn't going to happen - so maybe that's where that McD's dad stumbles for a second...

Of course, my girls are in Dance, and yes - dress like little princesses/divas while on stage - and this weekend they're back at competition. Emma had her first solo this morning, after being selected very late in the season to get a solo - she's learned her entire routine in little over 2 weeks! She did great - so proud that she made it all the way through very well, and ended up with a great score!

Of course that's not true - there are tons of great dads out there that will do anything for their daughters - just watch So You Think You Can Dance. There was one dad last night whose chin was bouncing all over the place - trying to fight off the tears! (now that was funny)

However, there are a few things that I probably would not have done in my life had I been the father to 3 boys, instead of 3 girls - like being in the 'Daddy Synchronized Swim' for Rebekah's team when she was younger (yes - we looked EXACTLY like that SNL skit with Martin Short...). And I definitely would not be doing what I will for the first time this weekend - at a competition no less - being part of the parents dance number!

Here's a small hint as to what I'll look like come sunday...

But there's nothing wrong a little fun, and it's a challenge just like any other, and if you're not challenging yourself and having fun - what are you doing?