Olympics, tears, and a busy weekend

I have never been successful at watching the Olympics and not crying.  I cry and hurt when the athletes cry, and I cry tears of joy along with them when there is victory...especially unexpected victory.  Friday evening had all those emotions.  I watched Nick Baumgardner's heartbreaking interview when he failed to advance in his Olympic event.  Then I watched as he was paired with Lindsey Jacobellis and had another shot, at age 40, to win an Olympic medal.  His enthusiasm was contagious.  He made it through the qualifying, and when it came to the finals, I couldn't hardly watched.  I left the room, but when I came back only he had raced; Lindsey still needed to do her part for their medal.  I cheered and yelled throughout her race, and the end result was GOLD!  Yep, I cried again.  It was all such a wonderful story.

Our Olympic viewing was after having a lovely dinner to celebrate our anniversary.  We had some amazing food and fun cocktails.  Saturday we took the kids to Dayton and had the best fries EVER as we celebrated our family, and yesterday I visited with my grandmother.  She's doing really well and it was a very nice visit.  And of course last evening we enjoyed a really great football game, even if it didn't go the way we had hoped.  It was a busy February weekend!

Watching the hometown Olympian win gold!

Our family has always loved the Olympics.  Catherine was disappointed to realize that she had to work Friday and would miss the parade of nations, but we were recording it and will watch it with her later.  Sunday we had the TV on pretty much the entire day watching whatever happened to be on.  Swimming is a particular favorite in our house because our kids swim!  We had watched prelims that afternoon, and had been able to catch Zach Apple swim.  He is from the next town over and attended the rival high school.  He held the league record until this past year when it was broken my Thomas's teammate.  It was excited to watch him swim in the prelims, but even more exciting to watch him anchor the mens 4x100 relay that brought home a Gold Medal!  We were so excited!  My favorite part was getting to share that with my kids!

We've been watching the Olympics

As we always do, our family has been spending a lot of time watching the Olympics.  I regretted that we weren't able to share the Opening Ceremonies together, but we've been spending lots of time watching since then.  I love that Thomas is even following the Olympics on his phone and getting alerts (although he is currently grounded from his phone).  When Robert was home yesterday he was sitting and watching it with me.  It isn't nearly as exciting as the summer Olympics for the Americans, but we are enjoying it none-the-less!

Already the beginning of February

I really feel like January went by pretty quickly.  I think a lot of that is because by the middle of January, we had only had four school days, so it took us to the middle of the month before we were really in a routine.  Now we are at February, which is usually one of my least favorite months.  I am always grateful that it is a short one!  This year though, we have the Olympics, and our family absolutely loves watching the Olympics!  This year is going quickly!

Olympic viewing

As we do every time, we are watching as much of the Olympics as we can.  We had pizza Friday evening and watched the Opening Ceremonies.  Thomas had a bug bite and took Benadryl, so we were very grateful that USA was an "E" in the parade of nations.  Catherine stayed up to see the torch and everything until it was all over.  Yesterday we flipped between network channels and caught whatever we could.  I enjoy seeing how much the kids enjoy watching with us, and of course we even learn about geography and things as we go through the weeks.  I'm so grateful to share these with my kids!

Opening Ceremonies

I love that my kids are just as excited about the Olympics as I am!  The winter ones are tougher than the summer ones because of school, but we still try to watch as much as we can!  Last evening we all gathered around to watch the opening ceremonies.  The kids really enjoyed the athlete's parade of nations, but they were all having a little trouble understanding why the countries weren't alphabetized "correctly".  By the end of the parade, there were many heavy eye lids (including adults!) and we decided that we just weren't going to be able to see the lighting of the torch.  I told the kids that I am sure it will be on youtube or something so we will catch it when we can.

Looking forward to the next two weeks of Olympic viewing!

The beginning of February

Have I mentioned that it is still winter here?  Last night it was below zero (again!) and this weekend it is supposed to snow (again!).  I know that I should just get over it, but it's been a rough winter folks!

On the upside, this year there is something to fill the sports void between the Super Bowl and the beginning of college basketball tourneys...the Olympics!  For two entire weeks, I will have something to watch on TV anytime I want to turn it on!  I'll be honest, I don't enjoy the winter nearly as much as the summer, but it is my duty as an American to tune in!  I love that my kids are so excited about the opening ceremonies tonight.  We've decided to have a dinner of pizza, wings, cheesesticks, etc, so we can just hang out and enjoy.  Even though it's not necessarily my husband's first love for TV viewing, as a social studies teacher he enjoys seeing all of the different countries...win/win!

Olympic viewing

Our family has loved watching every minute of the Olympic games.  The only problem is that we had to sometimes choose between watching the Reds play and watching the Olympics.  I've loved not only watching the Olympics, but watching the kids watch the Olympics.  They were actually really looking forward to it this year, and I don't think they've been disappointed.  And they understand that we always root for USA!

Olympic viewing has also made me a little emotional...it's kind of ridiculous!  But when they show a parent who is watching their child, I can't help but tear up.  It's really getting to me this year.  For some reason the athletes themselves can be bawling and I'm okay, but show me a parent who is either proud and in tears, or devastated and in tears, and I'm crying right along with them!  Overall though, we've thoroughly enjoyed our two weeks of Olympics (and it doesn't hurt that the Americans win A LOT)!

Olympics

I am tired. I've been watching the Olympics for the last 12 days, and while I've enjoyed it, I'm tired. Summer Olympics are easier...there is no school the next day and I can sleep in after staying up so late to watch the prime time events that I just can't miss. And the 2006 Winter ones weren't so bad either. None of my kids went to school until the afternoon so our mornings were a little later and more relaxed, and I was really, really sick (think fever of 102.9) so I was watching lots in the middle of the night! Last night I just felt compelled to watch the Canadian figure skater who's mother had tragically passed away on Sunday. At first I felt badly, like I was going to watch a train wreck from which you can't turn your head. Instead, it was a wonderful, beautiful performance. I felt as though I was being supportive and respectful by watching and caring, and rooting for this young woman to succeed. These Olympics have had some ugly stories...but this one, last night for just a few minutes, was an absolutely beautiful one. And I'm glad I stayed awake long enough to watch.