Where in the World are the de Waards?!

It has been too long since my last posting to our family blog.  I guess I will attempt to go back and fill everyone in on what has been going on over here.  I see that the last post was the day before the Olympics began in London.  That is when our August got really interesting.  We did not go back to the U.S. this past summer, but rather took the opportunity to take advantage of all that living in England can offer.  Besides lots of rain and plenty of gray dreary days, we were able to bask in the glow of the Olympic Spirit!  Who can't smile when they are entering the stands to watch an Olympic event; even if it is Sprint Canoe and you have no idea who is competing?!

Here are some photos of the events that we were very lucky to attend.

First we all went to see Team Archery!  Each team has a limited amount of time to get off their nine arrows in a round.  It was a very tight competition yet one where the svelt were not necessarily the best up!  The Italian team looked like they had not cut back on carbs or beer and were running past the competition.  Besides seeing olympic action we were able to get in the doors of one of the most iconic sporting grounds in London: Lord's Cricket Ground.  The Cricket Grounds had been reset for the archery competition.  I con honestly say that after a day at Lord's I still have no idea what a whicket is or why the bowl the ball.  Someday I may attempt to learn cricket but for this day it was all about the bow, the arrow and a target 70 meters away. 

In Trafalgar Square

Our next event was Beach Volleyball.  We saw two men's and two women's matches.  We managed to see a Dutch women's and men's team compete and wore our Orange to cheer them on.  There was a lot of orange in the stands!  Unfortunately it meant that we had to do a lot of explaining to those around us why we couldn't speak Dutch!  It was a great event in another iconic location in London:  Horseguards Parade grounds.  This is just across St. James' Park from Buckingham Palace and you could see the London Eye in the distance.  It was great fun.

One day I took the kids to see Sprint Canoe and Sprint Kayak.  This was held at Eton Dorney which is near the ground of Eton, the school where many royals attend.  I was able to get tickets for a crazy cheap price and the location is only about 20 minutes from our house.  We had no idea who we were routing for but would pick a country in each heat and cheer along with all of those around us.  It is a sport dominated by the Eastern European countries.  Having grown up in a family that canoed, I thought is was a fun event. 

We also managed to catch some Women's Football action (Soccer).  Steve took Katie and Jacob to see a semifinal match which had France against Japan.  Later in the week, the whole family managed to catch the Women's Gold Medal match where we were able to cheer the American women to victory over Japan.  It was very exciting and I really felt bad for the Japanese fans behind us who were crying at the end.  Katie was so amazing; at the end of the match, she turned around, shook their hands and said, "Good game."  I had not even thought to do that.

FINALS!

Katie and I are somewhere under the bottom of the second 2!

 

SEMIFINALS!

Wow, you might think that we are spoiled to have been able to be such a big part of the 2012 Olympics, but we go on!  We actually continued to support the athletes when we went to a 6 a side Paralympic Football match in early September.  This event was held in the Riverside Arena in the Olympic Park.  It was fun to actually get into the Olympic Park and to have lunch at what is for now the largest McDonalds.  Other than having to talk our way back into the Arena to collect the jacket that Jacob left behind, it was a great day.  It was also impressive to see how many people were in the Olympic Park to support the Paralympics.  In the future we may try to catch a wheelchair basketball game.  Or a blind football match. 

London was an amazing host to the Olympics, and Rio has their work cut out for them.  As much as there were warning from March 2012 through the Olympics warning you about possible travel delays on the trains and tubes, we never had one glitch.  They even provided us with train and tube travel cards to get to the events.  The volunteers who were everywhere to point you in the right direction were always happy and helpful.  In addition, the military who came in to help with the security at events were pleasant and it was nice to say thank you to them for all they do to keep us safe.  Great Job London and it's too bad that more people couldn't come to be a part of it all.