Opa!!

Last weekend, after a long hard week with the girls all by my lonesome, we went down to Galveston. While we were there, the local Greek community was putting on their annual Greek Festival. Now Houston has a very large Greek population and every year in October they put on the biggest Greek Festival in the country! We missed it this year but were so excited to take the girls in Galveston so they could experience a bit of their heritage.

The first thing we did was go inside the church and light candles in memory of my father. The girls were all in awe of the decor of the church and were so sweet when they lit their candles and said their prayers. They wanted to stay in for a bit and take the tour but I was ready for some FUN!

We were going to try and sit and eat but right when we got to the tent the band started to play. And where there's music, there are Greeks dancing!! So Emma, Abby, and I went up and joined in the fun! Alli was a bit too prissy to stand in front of a group of strangers and make a fool of herself. But Emma and Abby were so excited to dance! And even though the little Greek man next to me seemed a little doubtful when I brought up the girls, his fears were quickly laid to rest when he realized I wasn't just some dumb American tourist and actually knew what I was doing!




I taught them the steps and they really got into it. I had a lot of fond memories of dancing with my father when I was a child and was so happy to be sharing that experience with my girls. I also remember that I would never leave the dance floor, always hoping that the next song would be another "circle dance" or even my favorite, the "kick dance". Yes, those are the technical Greek terms. While I would never want to leave the floor, my dad would roll his eyes and abandon me because he was quite exhausted. Well my girls wanted to be little Energizer bunnies and keep going and going and going... But I convinced them we needed to sit out a bit.




We continued to watch the dancers and Emma was mesmerized. She decided to keep dancing on her own.


We watched a few soloists and that is something I really love to do! It is so interesting to see how everyone puts their own flair on a routine. My father used to do flips. This guy, he picked up a table with his mouth!


The guy playing the bouzoki was a definite blast from the past. His name is Tako and he was a very good friend of my dad's. He used to play at the Athens Bar and Grill and then moved to Mykonos which was another of our favorite Greek places. He has watched me grow up from a little girl and it was so amazing to get to introduce him to my children!

We stayed a bit longer, the girls played in the bounce house and Steven and I sipped on some wine and had some gyros, minus the tzatiki. Emma wanted to dance AGAIN, but I was beat! They all picked out some pretty Greek bracelets and we headed out. It was so great when they all said how much fun they had and they couldn't wait to go back and do it again and that they were happy to be Greek and that they really wanted to learn more!

So their next cultural experience? We'll watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding and I'll make some pastichio! OPA!