Friday, February 26, 2010

Olympic Experience (The Rainy Version)


I'm not sure how the rest of Canada has experienced these olympics, but here in BC the excitement is palpable! I never expected it to be this exciting. And I actually didn't think I'd even want to head into Vancouver to see the sights. But after hearing about all our friends and family who were going in, Erik and I knew we would regret it if we didn't take the opportunity to experience it for ourselves.

We finally had our chance to head downtown on Tuesday. After many days of beautiful sunny weather, we were disappointed to have to go in on such a rainy, windy day. But we donned our winter jackets and umbrellas, packed extra clothes and off we went! Silas got to stay back with Grandma which was very helpful - and it ended up working out for us to meet up with some friends at the sky train station on the way in.


The 40-minute train ride in was fun - we had never done this before and the kids loved it. Plus at this point we were still warm and dry :)


An awkward picture with a beluga mascot from the Vancouver Aquarium.


Waiting for our turn to get an unobstructed view of the Olympic cauldron. One bonus to rainy, cold days? Short line-ups.


A shot of the olympic rings lit up in gold for the medal we got in women's ski-cross that day.






Micah wondered how the cauldron could keep burning in the rain.


Thumbs up with my XL Olympic mitts - the only size left at Zellers last week :)




We walked around a little bit, getting pretty wet. This picture makes me laugh. At first glance it's a nice shot, but I urge you to take a closer look at the kids' faces.


Posing in front of the CTV broadcast station on Robson & Burrard. I would've loved to stick around long enough to watch them do a live broadcast, but the cold and the wet overpowered that desire.


Security guards manning the CTV centre.


After watching a couple people on the zip-line we found a Chapters and plopped ourselves in the corner to dry out and re-fuel. I'm sure our impromptu family picnic in a store wouldn't have been allowed on any normal day, but thankfully those regular rules didn't seem to apply :) It was at this point in the day when Keziah started melting down - something about her pants being re-wy soaked... And we knew the excursion was drawing to a close.


My future olympic bob-sledder.


My future olympic weird ski/figure-skating type person ??


The lanterns - I'm sure they'd look beautiful all lit up at night.




Up close.




A crazy piece of art. We decided it looked like crumpled up tin-foil.


Gi-normous Canadian flag.


Catching the sky train home. It was a little more crowded on the way home but the kids did great!


Yay Vancouver 2010!

14 comments:

Mel said...

We went the day before you guys, when it was still nice and sunny - bummer for rainy days. But I'm so glad you guys decided to go - wasn't it worth it? Just to say "you were there"!!!

The Keowns said...

glad to hear you guys go!! you are so right, its a once in a lifetime opportunity and even though it was raining, you can still say you were part of the olympics in 2010

Lindsay said...

I'm STILL trying to figure out what that silver blob is. I agree - it does look like tin foil!

KDees said...

That's awesome! It sure has been exciting to watch from here. I can't imagine the intensity there! Glad you got to experience it!

Jen Glen said...

At least it didn't look all that crowded! All the shots of the streets on TV look like a sea of people! Way to go for braving it. I would have most likely been miserable all day...I hate being wet.

Kim said...

Looks like you made some great memories...even if you were wet. What an amazing experience.

Trev and Rebekah said...

I love you being positive about the short line ups!

And we checked stores for those mitts and they are always sold out. Oh well.

It was fun to hang out in the rain with you guys.

laura.h said...

Ha ha, I also have the same XL Olympic mitts that were also the only size left at Zellers! Joel bought them for me for Valentine's.
I zoomed in on the picture of you guys with the kids and had a big laugh. That will be one for the scrap book...they look so impressed!

patti said...

so jealous! once in a lifetime is right.

kelly ens said...

way to brave the rain WITH kids :) i think it's worth the trip, regardless of the weather :)

Kathy's corner said...

So gladf you got to go. Where did you catch the sky train? We were watching the Canadian Hockey Team win gold this morning. So exciting!!! We will be watching the Closng ceremonies tonight. Good thing we didn't have a Tsunami. love mom

Cheri said...

Looks like great fun, James. Just wanted to make a quick comment on the mitts! I have the same ones...there were no small/medium ones left and the Zellers I went to said they had sold over 2500 pairs that week! And when my mom and I went yesterday there were none left anywhere!

Vanessa said...

Looks like fun! And i laughed quite hard at the "happy" expressions on all the kids in that one pic! I went to buy mittens for some friends the other day and all they had were small and i needed XL. We should have traded! :)

Wenona said...

That group shot with the kids facial expressions is so funny! They look not so impressed at that point! lol.
What a neat experience to be in the Olympic town! So fun! Glad you made the best of it and enjoyed your once in a lifetime shot!