I really wanted to take Tristan out to some of the Olympic activities around town but when we finally started to plan an outing one weekend, he fell sick. When he was well enough, we decided to leave him at daycare and enjoy some of the Olympics ourselves. We thought he would recover faster and be much happier at daycare. Thinking back, we made the right decision. If we had taken him with us downtown, he would have been overstimulated and it would have been too stressful for all of us. With him at daycare, it was a win-win situation. It's just unfortunate that he never got to experience any of the Olympics. Jean-Louis keeps saying that he won't remember a thing anyway but I know Jean-Louis is not a fan of the Olympics at all. Too bad but I still dressed Tristan up in Olympic and Canada clothing for daycare :)
Jean-Louis took a day off work so we could watch a hockey game. We watched the bronze medal game between the women's Finland and Sweden teams. I have never watched a hockey game before but always wanted to. Canada Hockey Place is really cool inside :) The kiss cam and kids cam were funny to watch during intermission too. I used to be a huge Canucks fan back in the 90s but then I just stopped watching altogether. Because of the Olympics, I found myself following the Mens games quite closely. Yeah, I remember how exciting hockey used to be :)We went downtown after our hockey game and I really got to see all the hype people were talking about. Exiting the arena was madness. We were walking like sardines and when we finally broke free of that, there were people everywhere. This was a Thursday afternoon too. I got to see the zip line, the outdoor ice skating arena, we hung outside the Art Gallery, we visited the Olympic cauldron, and viewed the Olympic Superstore at the Bay from outside. There were lineups for everything and they were all insane. Well, the lineup to take pictures inside the bobsled in front of the Art Gallery wasn't that long but come on! It's just a bobsled and people wanted to sit in it to take pictures! The weather was surprisingly beautiful and I was happy to have finally experienced it :) I would have wanted to see more and visit the houses set up for the different provinces and countries but we would have needed a LOT of time. We were with my family and Jean-Louis and I had to ditch them around 3:30PM to go pick up Tristan at daycare. Without Tristan with us, it sort of felt like we were a childless couple again, just the two of us. It certainly was nice having that time :)
The next two Olympic events were mine. It was on the weekend and Jean-Louis didn't care for them so he was happy to stay home with Tristan. Besides, we both paid big bucks for the hockey game and I know that he spent most of the time tweeting and playing on his iPhone rather than watching the game. Pity! I went to see the bronze medal match for men's curling between Sweden and Switzerland. My family and I got to visit the Vancouver Olympic Centre by Queen Elizabeth Park. I only went for the experience because I didn't know much about curling at all. It looks like a smart game and I would love to play it a few times to really learn it. As a newbie, I just didn't get as much out of watching it as curlers did. When I got home, I was happily surprised to find that Jean-Louis and Tristan were having a great time together. Nice!
I went to the closing ceremony. Yes, I did :) Now, this was right after Canada won the Gold medal match against the USA in hockey. We had a party over at my sister's with the family and let's say there was a lot of screaming and noise. Luckily, Tristan didn't mind but I'm a little worried he might have lost some hearing from it. I'm glad I didn't take Tristan to the closing ceremony or any of the events because the lineups were insane and it was really noisy. The closing ceremony was an even better experience after our men's hockey team won the Gold. People downtown were going nuts, everyone was celebrating, singing O Canada - there was just so much excitement everywhere! Vancouverites are crazy! The closing ceremony was impressive to see live inside BC Place. I think everyone there would probably agree with me too :) After the show ended, I was in a rush to get home. It took around 40 minutes from the time I exited the stadium to the time I got on the skytrain back home. Without the Olympics, it probably would have taken 5-10 minutes. When I got home, Tristan had already gone to sleep and everything was just fine :)
So we all made it. The month before the Olympics, I was worried how we were going to pull it all off but it worked out wonderfully. Everyone is happy and I got to have my Olympic experience. As a huge fan of the Olympics, I would have regretted it if I had done nothing at all. I really felt tied down to parenting. I'm so thankful I got to experience some of it because like I keep telling Jean-Louis this may be my only chance. How often does the Olympics host their games in your hometown? It was amazing. Our Canadian athletes won 14 Gold medals (the most ever!) and as a Canadian you can't help but be proud. Every one of the athletes is a great inspiration. We may not have had enough snow here but in my opinion, Vancouver did awesome :)
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