We decided about the day before to host an Opening Ceremonies party. We invited two other ex-pat families over to watch and eat treats. I made the flag and Darcy made the yummy strawberries.
We also tried the Red, White, and Blue drink. It actually tasted really good. It took a couple attempts to make it look right. Cranberry juice on the bottom, blue powerade (or gaterade), and then Diet 7-Up. Fill the glass with lots of ice so the drinks don't mix as much and ta-da!!
The kids did a bit of coloring Olympic events.
Ken, Darcy, and Nancy getting a plate ready to watch the ceremony. We thought the ceremony were a little odd and the men made several comments throughout but the interesting this is that one of my British friends was texting me during the show and she said it brought her to tears. So I guess it's just perspective.
The kids loved running around and playing. They especially loved it when we brought out the balloons.
The UK version of Little People is called Happy Land and I am in love with them. We have the Royal Wedding Set and now we have the Olympics Set. There are double of everything because someone else loves them as much as we do (hint, hint, Rachie).
It has been interesting watching the Olympics from the British perspective. For the first 5 days or so I felt really bad for them because they were about 16th in the medal count. They have come back and are now in third place. Not bad.
The first Saturday of the games we had tickets to go into the Olympic Park and travel tickets which meant the train ride was included in the ticket. Nice.
We took the train from our city about 2 stops to Stratford Station where all the action is.
Security to get into the park was quick and efficient. There were plenty of booths set up, so we didn't have any problems waiting.
And then we were there!!
This little girl was a stinker! She is really getting too big for a stroller and we didn't want to mess with it through security and in case it was super busy so we didn't bring it. Ellika however, still wanted a ride. Luckily she has a great dad and he carried her a lot of the day.
We didn't really know where we were going as this was Day 1 of the Olympics, so we just started wondering around. The Orbit would have been really cool to go to the top of, but you had to have additional timed tickets to go on it and they were never available for the day we were there.
As we were walking right under the Orbit a line was being formed by the police. They wouldn't let us pass, so we stood by like everyone else. Apparently, the Queen had just been up in the Orbit and was coming down and was on her way to the Aquatic Center.
What a cool thing to experience!! I'm pretty sure I will never be this close to the Queen again. Here she is in her black car and I'm pretty sure she smiled at us!
I even managed to get a picture of Prince Phillip. So exciting!!
Our first real stop was at the BMW display. Where the swimmer is a video screen. It was huge. Not of the olympics, just of BMW commercials.
There was a Mini GB concept car.
And waterfall windows.
And then a video presentation.
And upstairs were about 6 cars to check out. It was like the Detroit Auto Show visits England.
There was a great view of the Aquatic Center. This was as close as you could get without a ticket.
Everyone there were sooooo friendly. From the volunteers to the security people! As Brian said later, "Those were the friendliest guys with machine guns I've ever met". We chatted with them for a little bit and they were super friendly and joking with Owen.
There were two super large McDonalds inside the Village. We stopped at the first one we came too because our kids were ready for lunch. The other one was the worlds largest McDonalds and it will be taken down after the Olympics.
The kids didn't care if we ate at the biggest one or not... they just wanted their chicken nuggets and toy!
Family photo near the Olympic Stadium.
The kids loved these "High Chairs". I think they were for the volunteers technically, but a lot of them were empty so each time we saw them, the kids wanted to sit on them. Who am I to tell them no?
There was a squishy section in the park that the kids liked walking on. They tried walking on only certain colors, but then had to change the rules... often.
One of the Olympic Mascots.
I need to be inspired by this sign!
The Coke display. Sadly, we didn't go in because the line was long, but we should have because they were giving away free cokes! Man, I hate it when I miss free stuff :)
We sat on the grounds and watched some covereage on the big screen. This was super fun and relaxing.
There were some dancers that asked the crowd to get up and dance. Owen took it pretty seriously!
Close up family photo
Royalty walked past us... or at least impersonating royalty. The Princess Catherine one really did look like her from farther away.
Relaxing.
We were there on the first day and it wasn't terribly crowded. Busy, but now overly crowded. From the TV coverage, it looks like it got lots busier.
Another Mascot
We watched and listened to this band play in the bandstand and then they marched past us.
Had to stop for ice cream
Go ahead and try to find us on the big mirror. We are all there if you can see us.
The Athlete Village... they didn't let us in.
The Today Show Studio. We were there on a Saturday so missed "The Gang".
We stopped at had a break on this bench and watched several athletes walk past us.
Team Croatia
Team Russia
Team Angola- the friendlies ones we saw.
Another family photo.
View of the park
More "High Chairs"
I don't know what the colored things are in the water, but they looked pretty cool.
USA! USA! USA!
On our way back out to the train station we walked through the mall that is there. We thought about going it to take a look, but it was super busy and our kids were not that interested, so we'll have to go back.
But we did get free hats from OMEGA, the official time keeper of the games.
Silly kids.
We loved having the Olympics in the country we are living in. It was fun to feel the atmoshpere. We didn't make it to any of the events (tickets were difficult to get!) but could still feel the excitment! We are looking forward to going to a Paralympics Track and Field in a couple weeks!!
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