You know its fall....

...when Longs Peak Scottish/Irish Highland festival happens in Estes Park. It is by far, the biggest festival in Colorado... and is the most fun!  It is also one of the bigger feissana (irish dance competition) that we have in Colorado.  I believe that this year, there were over 450 dancers signed up to compete. 4 years ago... it was also my first ever adult Irish Dance competition!  I only competed in a few dances, but I was hooked.  Last year, it was my fist ever competition as an &over. It is by far my favorite feis of the year. However, this year, I didn't compete. The competition fell about 3 weeks after I returned to dance after breaking my foot back in May.  While classes have been going well...my feet feel good. I haven't lost all my height in my dances...I have just lost all my stamina. So... 3 weeks was just not enough.
But...Jay and I headed up to Estes for the weekend anyway! Jay volunteered (I mean...I volunteered him) to help out with the stages on Friday morning.  It gave us the opportunity to walk around the festival without the mass insanity that usually occurs on Saturday and Sunday.

Since I was not competing, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and the scenery, and went horseback riding!

Mom and I before the ride

We saw a bear while on our ride!

refreshments after a long ride!

It was a three hour ride, with some trotting...and we were all sore afterward! But it was a great day out!!

On Sunday, we headed back to the festival.  I helped out back stage, making sure that all the small girls and boys got to the right stage, on stage and off stage.  Its always fun to see the tiny kids (11 and under) have so much fun at the competitions. There was one tiny dancer that was only 3 years old! While she was pretty much the cutest thing under the sun... I think it was a bit early for her to be competing.

The afternoon was the "big kids" competition.  Which would normally be when I compete... but not this year. However, I did stick around to help Miss Stacey with her hair and make-up.  Luckily, Stacey trusts me to get her stage ready....because I love, love, love getting people ready.

Stacey!!!

Stacey ended up having a kick-ass competition. I unfortunately did not stay around to see her kick butt... but I am glad she did!  I love it when my friends do well!

I am sad I missed the competition, but I knew that physically, it would be pushing myself too much...and could possibly injure myself. But, there are many more competitions to come... Octoberfeis in just a few weeks!!