Olympics!

Of course everyone knows the Winter Olympics are in progress. Allan has never shown an interest in TV before but last night he really got into figure skating. It seems Johnny Weir is his favorite. I prefer Lysacek myself.

I love both seasons of the Olympics. My favorite moment so far, and I'm sure many people my age would agree, was in Atlanta in 1996 when Kerri Strug landed on her broken ankle and the women's gymnastics team won the gold metal. I was at my Grandma's house in Red Lake Falls the night it happened and I can't believe I was only 13 years old! I also can't believe how close in age I was to the gymansts. Now I am way past the prime age of gymnasts! Good thing its the winter olympics right now. . .women in their late 20's and early 30's are still skiing and luging (if that's what you call it!)


Who can forget that old haggard slave driver Bela Karolyi encouraging Kerri that "You can do it!" as she stood there preparing to launch herself through the air on that broken bone! "You can DO IT!" became the favorite like of silly teenagers everywhere that summer and it was still rampant when basketball season started in August.

Another favorite moment of mine happened two summers ago at the Beijing olympics. I was at home at the farm that night and the broadcast was jumping from sport to sport in the typical fashion. There was an important race coming up in men's swimming. It was a men's relay and the USA winning was necessary if Michael Phelps was going to break the gold medal record. My brother and I wanted to watch it buy my dad was flipping between channels constantly trying to see the weather on the Fox 9:00 news broadcast and also the score of the Twins game! Arrghh! The French swimmers had been talking trash about how they were the dominant team but they spoke too soon! Jason Lezak, the oldest guy on the team, was the last swimmer and was way behind. Somehow, he managed to pull ahead and won by such a small margin that it was not visible to the naked eye.

It was so exciting! Pete and I had both jumped up from the sofa without even realizing it! The only thing that dissapointed me was that the media focused on Michael Phelps. It was a relay with four team members, not just one!

Below is a photo of my Valentine's Day flowers from Justin. They don't really apply to the rest of this post but I wanted to show them before the time passed!