It's been a great few weeks here celebrating the Olympics, and now it's so sad to see them go! I don't think I watch more TV the entire year than when the Olympics are on. This year, Sochi 2014, was no exception!
A couple of weeks before the real deal, we got everyone pumped up by having our own Ryerse Silly Olympics for our Family Home Evening activity. We made our own family flag and did an opening ceremonies, played great games such as Paper Straw Javelin, Whee Ball, and Thin Ice. Good times! I love how competitive we were (cough cough, Dave! Lol!) at some of these fun silly things.
And, just in time for the opening ceremonies, we got a brand new TV! For us, this is a big deal. Dave's been dreaming about this day for 8 1/2 years, ever since we got married. We have always had hand-me-down TV's, so this is our first purchase in the TV department. When we moved, our last TV died and we couldn't get it started again. So we borrowed Julie's TV until we could find one for a good deal that was a good one. Dave, of course, researched all of the makes and models to pieces to find exactly what he wanted, and we waited until Super Bowl time to purchase, because that's when TVs are cheapest. When it arrived, Cal kept staring at it and saying "Woah! Football!" Like father, like son, I guess! :) It made me giggle! Lucy kept saying "we have a BIG TV!" and Emma was excited that she'll actually be able to see the TV from the couch, though she still likes getting super close.
For the opening day, we got into the spirit of the day by making Russian food and learning about the culture. We made Blinis (like a crepe only Russian) for breakfast, and learned a little bit about the geography and culture in Russia. After school, we made some Russian tea cakes for a treat and made chicken stroganoff for dinner. This was also a big deal as I've never made stroganoff in all of our married life, as Dave thinks it's worse than the black death. But I had it lots growing up and liked it, and the kids loved, loved it and asked if we could have that more often! We then enjoyed the opening ceremonies. What a spectacle! I always love the great presentation, music, history, art, and everything that goes into these. The kids thought it was really cool, too! I always get teary eyed watching them, is that crazy? I love the feelings of unity and coming together as children of God rather than countries divided. Watching it, I had the thought that we are more alike than different. We all have families and hopes and ideals and dreams that are all similar. I love the successes and triumphs and interesting stories associated with how each athlete made it to where they are and the behind the scenes stories.
A few other random thoughts...
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Are these Russian mail order brides front and center? (I thought I made a good funny, Dave cracked a little smile, probably out of sympathy!)
And, was Team USA thinking this was an ugly sweater party? Ha ha, no, they were looking great! I love their love for their country, their examples of hard work, dedication and enthusiasm. Most of them are worthy of emulation! Go Team USA!
A couple of my favorite olympic stories...
Noelle Pikus-Pace, a woman who competed in Skeleton and won Silver, always emphasized the importance of her LDS faith and family. She wore her Young Women medallion necklace at the games. It wasn't about her, she and her family work together. When she won, she ran up to her husband and said "We did it! We did it!" It's so refreshing to see that kind of attitude because usually in sport athletes, "it's all about me" is the usual mentality. "Remember who you are and what you stand for" was her message to youth, but a good reminder for us all. And about her family, she said "If I'm with my kids I'm not thinking about the track. I'm not thinking about sliding. In toning that down and putting that as a priority, my family will never be topped. It will never be beat." What an important thought for us all, no other endeavors, no matter how important, should be placed over our families! She is a role model I'd love for my kids to look up to!
And then, it was disappointing for us all that Sean White, the Flying Tomato didn't do very well at this Olympics. But this story really made my heart happy. It's not all about the gold for this guy and I'm glad he's still got his head on straight after all of the glitz and glam of becoming famous while young. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/shaun-white-olympic-moments-and-mettle-without-a-color/2014/02/11/94fa0968-9354-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html
We had some Olympic themed preschool days as well. We made some Olympic necklaces by dying noodles with food coloring and rubbing alcohol, made our own torch and passed it around running all over the house, had our own ice skating competitions on our slick kitchen floor and more.
We enjoyed sitting at the TV many nights as a family and enjoying the bobsledding (Cal's favorite), figure skating (Emma's favorite), skiing (Lucy's favorite) and other events. Can't wait for the next olympics in Brazil ...only 884 days away!
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