This weekend was EXHAUSTING. On Friday night 12 of Jim’s family members arrived at our house for the weekend. Friday wasn’t anything exciting, mostly wii playing, but Saturday came too early when Nicole woke up at her normal time, 6:45am to start the day. And what a full day it was.
Most of the clan headed to the zoo which was ½ off this weekend. I went with Jessica, Colton and my dad to the ice rink where Dad and I were supposed to be having an ice skating lesson. Turns out there was some hockey tournament thing going on and we couldn’t skate. Colton, 6, was so upset he started crying in the lobby and one of the parents (from NC no less) asked him if he wanted to meet a real hockey player which, with tears running down his cheek he nodded, he did. So, we met some 17 year old goalie who had his picture taken with Colton and gave him a real hockey puck. We stood at the glass for a while and watched them all play which was fun, but not as fun as…
The arcade that we went to in lieu of ice skating. Dad suggested that we hit up the Sports Plex which is a kid mecca with video games galore, a inline hockey rink and an ice rink. Colton got a $20 card to play and while we were watching him ride an indoor roller coaster a worker told the ride operator that the wifi was down and all the kids were playing for free (cards weren’t being charged). Tickets were pouring out of these machines as kids played and played and workers were trying to get to each game and empty them of tickets before the kids went too haywire. Colton had so much fun he told his mom he was going to take a bus to Cincinnati and come to the arcade all day, sleep at our house and play wii, and then come back the next day. She could pick him up at the bus station when he was ready to come home.
That night we had a big family dinner which everyone devoured and complimented me on (thank god, it’s hard to please 14 people). All the “kids” in our generation stayed up playing games and drinking until 2:30am.
They all left the next afternoon, Jim cleaned, and that night we hit up the Taste of Colerain with Mark and Caitlin which was nice.
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I did take about an hour and a half on Sunday to watch the Olympics (swimming and gymnastics). I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Olympics. I love the basic concept and I love all the elements: peaceful world interaction, national pride, competition, the pushing of the human body and spirit. In my short watching tenure I saw about 5 world records broken. It’s awesome to think I witness that in general- someone doing their sport better than anyone in the world EVER has. Absolutely amazing.
I just watched the 4X100 men's freestyle relay online (I went to bed before it aired) and literally, it gave me chills. The US won in an unbelievable bout and made up almost a half body-length to win. I feel so overwhelmed and proud it's pulsing through me. WOW.
I need to start training Nicole for the 2024 games - those are the first she'd be permitted to participate in.
In case you were wondering, my favorite summer Olympic sports are: swimming, gymnastics, and diving. Contrary to Jim’s desire, the Olympics are on my “bucket list”.
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10 comments:
What is a "bucket list?"
Sounds like a busy busy weekend. Glad you had a good time!
a "bucket list" is a list of things you want to accomplish before you kick the bucket. :)
I'm with you on the Olympics!! I love love LOVE them! I'll stay up waay past my bedtime to watch a sport I wouldn't normally watch on a rainy day.
I like swimming, gymnastics, and equestrian jumping. Oh, and diving's cool. And beach volleyball (particularly when the players are playing at night, in a downpour - BEACH volleyball was so not meant for that). And rowing was fun to watch this weekend, too.
Sounds like a great weekend with the family! What'd you make for dinner that was a great hit?
Did you see about the 33 year old mom competing in gymnastics for Germany? Seriously, I'm rooting for her. Competing against 16 year olds? AND being competitive (i.e. qualifying for individual finals)? She impressed me!! She was even competing in the Olympics in 1992, as well (I think for the Russian team - part of her "story" involves her son, his cancer, and needing to move to a country with better oncology treatments, and called her German gymnastics coach friend, and so on).
That relay was so exciting last night. We screamed and cheered. We were totally enthralled with the games last night. Too much fun!
Sounds like you had a great family filled weekend.
Do you want to go to an olympic event or be in the olympics Karen?
I love soccer (I know I know duh!), gymnastics, diving, archery, and other "team" sports.
If Nic is on the soccer team for the 2024 Olympics--I claim one of her tickets now! DIBBS! lol
martha i'm right there with you with the german gymnast...i called julia in from the other room to show her. i also liked swimming, and equestrian (not that i've seen it yet) note, karen, if you want to be in the olympics, i recommend equestrian. a few olympics ago a girl rode in them and she'd never even ridden a horse until she was 21. plus the oldest olympian competing this year is from japan, and he's competing in dressage. and it's one of the few sports where the men and women compete together.
Kathy - Alvin is recording the equestrian times. Note, they are either on between 11 PM and 4:30 AM on the regular NBC-type channels, OR they are on the Oxygen channel in the evenings. It's crap. Crap I tell you! They need to be covered more! Dressage can be very cool. But I can also understand how it might be "boring" to watch. Jumping is definitely exciting to watch, and I think they should should more of that on the regular programming. Dressage would be more fun when they can do their own freestyle patterns to music - now THAT is awesome! Except eventers are known for being stellar dressage horses.
Wow, even I knew what a 'bucket list' was...
Glad your weekend was fun, albeit nuts.
I'm not as in to the Olympics as I normally am. Evi's all about it, though - she has a nice post about the US Women cleaning up in the Sabre fencing event.
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