Last set.

Today, those two words - last set - were some of the greatest words in the whole world. Lets back up about 14 hours ago.

Around 9 am we set out for London, Ontario (Canada, eh?) for a Highland Dance competition. You see, when your little sister takes up a type of dance that isn't very popular, you end up going to competitions that are hours and hours away. Apparently Canadians highland dance far more than Americans. Anyways, 9am... we make it across the border with no problem. The friendly, yes friendly, border patrol office actually asked my dad how many years he has been dancing when we told him we were going over for a dance competition! We made it onto the 401 and headed for London. We take our speed limits for granted here. The speed limit on the 401 is 100 and I dont mean MPH, I mean KPH which equivocates to 62mph. Lets just say it felt like we were crawling. Also, going over the speed limit was a minimum $100 ticket.

About an hour into the drive we found our first service plaza, where we finally got Tim Hortons (after passing   at least 15 others on the way to the 401.) After a coffee and a bagel, we were back on the road. As you can imagine, when we found the next service plaza another half hour or 45 minutes later, we were all ready to visit the wash rooms. Yes, wash rooms. I even heard an adorable child say "Im sore-y mommy, I didnt mean to run away but I really needed to get to the wash room." Yuuuuuuup.

When we finally arrived at the high school, got registered and sat down for the main event we realized it was going to be a long day. There were A LOT of girls, and several different dances, and the chairs we were seated in were pretty much the worst ever. Thanks goodness for my iPad, mom's tablet, the random outlet we found hidden in the very back of the auditorium, the floor that was more comfortable than the chairs, the "loafs" sold at the concession stands and the cute little 4-year-olds running around in kilts. Those 4-year-olds are probably my favorite part of dance competitions, with their pas de basques and hi-cuts. So cute.

We kept watching our watches and trying to find ways to pass the time. Finally around 6:45pm one of the backstage ladies came out with the glorious sign.. "Last Set." The crowd went wild, and most of them didn't have a three hour drive home, since we were one of only two US license plates in the whole lot.. (Dad used that as a half hour to occupy his time!) I was so excited for it to be ending, I could have gotten on stage and joined them in the hornpipe.

Once awards were said and done, and Jilly received two 1st place medals and the 1st overall trophy (!!!!!!!!!!!) - which ALMOST made the drive worth it - we embarked for home.

 We stopped at another service plaza, got dinner, ran into a group of boys in the Canadian Army who were impeccably friendly and polite, got more Tim Hortons (gosh, I love Canada!) and finally made it back to the border. We had another friendly BP officer, aside from the fact that he called me Carly and my name clearly has no Rs... Carlee?

AND THEN WE MADE IT HOME. and now it is 12:26pm and I feel like I have been awake for a week and I am now done brain dumping and I am going to sleep. Goodnight/Bonsoir.