Olympic Memories!

Finally I get a chance to post our Olympic memories.  The Olympic withdrawal has subsided... but it was great while it lasted.  It was spectacular to be apart of something so big... a time for many nations to come together to cheer on our countries!  And what a way to end it, Canadian athletes did Canada proud!

The Olympic torch came through Abbotsford, and we celebrated with so many other proud Canadians in the rain... our true winter weather. It was exciting to get on our red shirts and cheer on the torch bearers.

Abbotsford got to host the Russian figure skaters at the local rink, so the girls and I went, waited in line, and got to see them perform some of their routines. On our way out, there were a couple of skaters that were taking pictures with fans, so I got a picture of Chelsea and Nat with the one couple we saw practice. It was pretty neat.

Chelsea and I headed into Vancouver one fabulous Friday afternoon.  It just so happened that we both had the day off.  We toured some of the pavilions, got to see the torch, and got our pictures with two of the mascots.  I think that was Chelsea's highlight of the day.  Sure we waited in lines (even for a free vitamin water), but it was a great day, and the atmosphere in Vancouver was so fun.

The next day we went in again, to check out more sites, as it is impossible to see them all in a day.  More lines, more sunshine, and lots of people.  We walked from Science World, around to Yaletown, then to downtown... we were almost lost in the big city.  We didn't get to see all that we wanted to this day, as we were heading over to the Canadian Mint pavilion to wait in line to see the medals.

So... after a 4.5 hour wait (Depak brought Nat into Vancouver in the evening, and joined us just outside the pavilion), we got to hold the Olympic and Paralympic medals.  They were heavy, and beautiful.  Nat even wants to get in there and touch one, but she wouldn't keep her glove in, and you cannot touch the medals without the sacred white glove.

There was a million dollar coin at the pavilion that was pretty neat, and very shiny.  Apparently pure gold.  We also took in the torch at night as a family.  It was great that we could do some of this together, as it is difficult to haul a toddler around in such a crowded city.

Chelsea and I also took another afternoon and went into the city again with a dear friend, Lynne.  It was a very rainy day, but we got to see a few more sites that we hadn't visited yet, and some we had.  Our favorite pavilion was the BC one, which we saw on our last trip in.  We were also able to find the toque that Chelsea wanted at the end of the evening.  It was a nice visit with Lynne, even in the rain.

Overall, what a fabulous time we had.  We didn't get to see one Olympic event live, but watched many on TV.  We had Olympics on TV, computer, radio... everywhere we went... I'm almost glad to be done and have the focus shift to our every day lives again.

Once in a lifetime experience... I'm glad we got to be apart of it.