London during the Olympics

We went to London for an Olympic event (click here for details) and enjoyed spending the day seeing all the Olympic stuff throughout the city. I've been slightly obsessed with seeing the Olympic rings on Tower Bridge (below, with Mandeville (the Paralympics mascot) dressed as a Beefeater), so I was glad I got to see those.

Jacob's intently studying the Olympic wrestling icon.

Regent Street was decorated in all the flags of the participating countries. It was pretty cool.

 We went to Brazil's Olympic HQ at Somerset House where they're selling Rio 2016 Olympics merchandise (apparently the only place you can get it). We also posed for promotional photos and got free shirts! (I wore mine that evening to the Brazil v. Argentina basketball game. It's only slightly awkward for me that it says "BRA" in really large letters on my chest. It's, of course, short for Brasil.)

The Rio 2016 Olympics countdown clock

Shortly after we left the Rio 2016 countdown clock, these 2 TV presenters approached Jacob (seeing he was wearing his Brasil shirt) and asked if he would interview, in Portuguese, for a Brazilian TV station. They asked him questions about how he was enjoying the London 2012 games and what he thought of various events. I didn't understand a word of it, but I LOVED it.  How cool would it be if he were on TV in Brazil?!

the Olympic rings fountain in the Thames, with the London Eye and Big Ben in the background to the right

one more of the Tower Bridge + Olympic rings

Olympic basketball

We had a really fun day yesterday that included watching Olympic basketball! (A big thanks to Becky, Johnny and Hazel for taking Gavin yesterday and OVERNIGHT.) The first game we saw was Brazil vs. Argentina. It was a pretty close, exciting game. Unfortunately Brazil lost; but you can see us cheering them on below.

 Then (after 10pm) the next game started: USA vs. Australia! It was so exciting to see Team USA with all the NBA superstars! Below, see LeBron James shooting free throws. In the 4th quarter Kobe Bryant shot 4 or 5 straight 3-pointers. It was so exciting! (We won 119-86.)

 Part of the fun was painting our faces and changing into our red, white and blue between games.

We didn't get home until after 2am. Can you tell it's late by our tired eyes as we took the tube to our car? We still had an amazing time! Go Team USA!

Olympic football

We had our first Olympics experience this week watching a double-header of football (soccer) games. We went all the way to Wales to take part, and we saw Mexico versus Switzerland and Team GB(!!) versus Uruguay at the Millennium Arena in Cardiff. It was so much fun and just exciting to be there for an Olympic event!

We had a good view of the action on the field.

We weren't sure who to cheer for between Mexico and Switzerland, but a few minutes into the game it became clear that Switzerland just didn't bring any excitement and Mexico was passionate. Thankfully Mexico won. The Mexican fans also brought lots of enthusiasm--and fabulous outfits. 

 Speaking of fabulous outfits, Jacob genuinely brought the below outfit along and changed between matches. (Don't be fooled by the shot that only shows his upper body. It goes to his ankles. :)

 The other slightly enjoyable part of the trip is that we didn't have to subject Gavin to a long road trip (8 hours in 2 days = pretty long for Gavin). He stayed with friends, and we got an overnight trip just the two of us.

Cardiff Bay

Olympics update

At the end of May we reported that we got tickets to an unspecified Olympic event (or two). We just learned what events we have tickets for--2 football games. (That's soccer if you live in America.) We're going to Manchester and Cardiff to see these games during the 2012 Olympics, but we still don't know what countries we'll see. We're excited anyway! We'll keep you posted on further details.

Going to the olympics

The process for getting tickets to the London 2012 Olympics is fascinating. We requested tickets for whatever we wanted to see, and recipients are selected by a lottery system. We were told when we requested tickets last month that money would just be charged to our credit card sometime at the end of May if we got tickets, but it would be months later before we found out which event(s) we got tickets for. Money was deducted today!! So we know we're going to the Olympics, we just have no idea which event(s) we'll get to see. :) We'll keep you posted.

(Yes, this is a portion of the online banking screen.)

A Cycling Event

When we lived in Albuquerque we really enjoyed riding our bikes. In England recreational cycling is a bit tricky. Riding on the roads is very dangerous, and we've only seen bike paths in Cambridge. Our bikes took a beating in the move, so Jacob worked extensively to get them ready to ride. And Saturday we were excited to ride our bikes in Thetford Forest, Britain's largest lowland pine forest.

Thetford Forest has a big recreational site with 30 miles of bike and walking trails, picnic areas, a high wire suspension course and more. We rode the red trail, which is just below the black trail in difficulty. We were surprised to discover little obstacles and other "sweet jumps" on the trail. I attempted one, fell off and decided to play it safe on the others. Jacob, however, decided to take a few more risks. On one ramp, he took quite a spill and wound up with a few wounds. The bumps bruises from the fall look painful to me, but the worst of it was from the unidentified vegetation that came in contact with the exposed skin. ("Thank goodness for underwear." ~Jacob) He only got a few hours of sleep last night because the itching and burning kept him awake.

Despite the bumps and bruises, we had a great time and hope to bike again soon.

We can't help but be a little inspired by all the cycling medals won by Team GB in the Beijing Olympics, especially in indoor cycling events, which we were previously unaware existed. We've really enjoyed following the Olympics, especially getting some of the British broadcasts and seeing things from a non-American perspective. We're already looking forward to London 2012 (1433 days to go!).