The Grand Finale!

(Photo 1) Our view of the parade from the grandstands














(Photo 13) Our beautiful girls all smiles back in the hotel after dancing. While filming the dance, Sara Beth was a little overcome with emotion and cold at the time so please pardon the shaky video. To find the girls, look on the third row near center frame for Hallie's black knee brace and Gaiten is to Hallie's left. Gaiten has a swingy pony tail.


Today was the day we have all been waiting for. Our girls woke up bright and cheery to a cloudy and cold day excited about dancing in the parade. They were able to sleep late since they were the next to last group to dance and their bus would leave later than the other buses. The adults were treated to a very nice brunch at a hotel near the parade. The brunch was very good and we think it was a fairly British meal. We were surprised to see something that looked like pork and beans and also button mushrooms cooked with tomato halves as well as scrambled eggs, ham, and sausage links. The tables were set beautifully with a formal setting with platters of fruit, croissants, rolls, and jam on the table. After brunch, we walked to the grandstands where we had reserved seating to watch the girls. The parade was three hours long but was so fun to watch that the time went by quickly. The grandstands were covered so the cold weather really did not affect us too bad. This parade is celebrated as a fundraiser for various charities by the burroughs so parade goers from the different burroughs had floats in the parade and would walk along with buckets to collect coins along the way. We were also surprised by the numbers of people that were in attendance that were not parents of parade participants. We were so excited when our group finally came along. They danced their dance perfectly. The girls are sent a DVD in early December so that they can learn the dance. There is only one practice held at the hotel. When they attended their practice, they had to learn a whole new ending to the dance because when they performed it, the coordinator didn’t like the way it looked. Apparently Hallie and Gaiten did a really good job learning it, because they earned a spot near the front of the line. Those who didn’t, were further to the back. The girls told us after the parade that we were located about halfway into the parade. They walked for 2 miles and performed their dance 30 times which was a UCA/UDA record for this parade. Hallie said she was not even tired after the parade. Gaiten said that performing in the parade made the trip all worth it. After we arrived back at the hotel, it was time to pack and eat supper. We ate at an Italian restaurant named Zizzis that was located near our hotel. The food was delicious, especially the chocolate hazelnut torte for dessert! For those who are wondering if we have eaten any authentic English food, we did start our trip here with fish and chips, and baked chicken with potatoes and fried aubergines. None of us are tea drinkers and just looking at the clotted cream will make you a coffee drinker really fast. We have yet to see any scones although the hotel has fed us lots of pain au chocolat! Tomorrow we will leave early to catch the Eurostar for Paris. We do not know what kind of internet situation we will have, so hopefully you will hear from us again tomorrow.