Harvard Ballroom Competition - The Simmons Get Good News

Last Sunday, Susan, Hannah and I set out for Harvard for the Harvard Ballroom Competition. Leaving at 8:30 am, we drove for about 2 hours: just in time for the 11:00 am start. Hannah's friends Sarah and Danny drove with us.

Prior to that, a group of eager young ladies had descended on our home for coffee and last minute practicing at 7:oo am. Watching how much energy they had made me feel even older and grumpier than usual.

Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, and others we present. Simsbury High School was one of only three high schools that fielded teams.

Hannah danced Bronze Swing, Rumba and Foxtrot with Saira: the young lady in the video that I posted earlier. she switched to another partner for the Waltz. I'm sorry I can't remember her name, but she's featured in the picture here. Hannah received call backs for all of the dances except the Waltz, made most semifinals and placed in the Swing and Rumba. We're happy for her.

The next competition will be held at Yale on November 14th.

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Many of you know about Owen Simmons. For those that don't, here's the run down. Owen is my cousin Andrea's son. He was born with HLHS, hypoplastic left heart syndrome (1/2 a heart) and has made it through 2 open heart surgeries. He is currently in heart failure which is managed by medications until he receives the gift of a new heart.

Owen and Andrea have recently been to Stanford, for what they thought might be hospitlization leading up to a heart transplant. However, they weren't sure that Owen was strong enough to make it through surgery. Carson, Andreas husband, remained at home in Arizona to with their daughter Kamryn.

As it turns out, Owen's heart is stronger than they thought, and he was released from the hospital. Looks like Mommy and Owen will be at home for Halloween. For the complete story, check out the Simmons Family Blog here.

Take care Simmons family, you are in our prayers.

Sadie meets the water

Two weeks ago, Susan and I took Sadie for a walk down to the Farmington River. We wanted her to splash around and go for a swim. She's a Labrador after all.

Well she wasn't too sure about the water. She went to the edge, drank a little water, dipped her toe in and flopped around on the muddy bank. Didn't even chase the people in the canoe drifting by. Maybe she'll grow into it eventually.

The picture attached is of the old bridge over the Farmington River, that serves only foot traffic now. Volunteers from the community maintain the flowers and plants that you see. We needed to cross the bridge to get to a place where we could easily descend the bank.

More to come soon.

UCONN Ballroom Competition

Hannah competed in the UCONN Ballroom competition last weekend at the University of Connecticut. This was, I think, her first competition dancing at the Bronze level. It was also the first time that she didn't lead every dance.

Hannah and her partner, Saira, are jiving in the semifinals in the video below.

Allow me to explain a little about these competitions, for those of you who don't compete or don't have children competing in them. They are all day long events, typically starting at 08:00 am and wrapping up about 12 hours later with an awards ceremony. This means that Hannah gets up around 3 am, to shower, primp and power slam coffee before connecting with her team at the school around 5:45 am. When the day is over, they're just pooped. This time around Hannah danced in shoes that were slightly too small with resulting blisters roughly the size of Montana. I carried her inside around 8pm. Gritty performance.