Our whole family loves swimming, so when some friends from Omaha told us that the Olympic Swim Trials were going to be held during the first week that we would be in Nebraska, we hurriedly tried to order tickets. You may well ask why we didn't already know that the trials were being held in Omaha, but I have no explanaiton other than we've been busy. Since it was at the last minute, we knew we'd have to pay for our obliviousness, but we were willing, within reason. We found some tickets online for fifty dollars apiece, counting the handling fees, but it was too late to have them delivered to us in California. So, to make a long story short, my wonderful sister-in-law, who lives in Lincoln, took care of it for us, bought the tickets and had them delivered to her house. Two days before we were supposed to go, she got an email saying they didn't have four tickets available after all. By the time, she called us to tell us the sad news, she'd already fixed it for us. She found us some tickets for $20 apiece, which we figured would be better than nothing. We were a little disappointed but happy to get to go still. They ended up being fabulous tickets. They weren't quite as close as our original ones, but they actually gave us a better view than the other seats. What a great experience!
The night before we arrived in Omaha, a storm blew offf a portion of the Quest Center where the trials were being held. You can see the damage in the upper right side of the picture.That must have been some kind of storm.
Paige, along with half the sixteen-to-eighteen-year-old girls in America, loves Michael Phelps. He was in the very last race of the day, swimming the I.M. It wasn't the finals where he and Ryan Lochte broke the world record, but it was still exciting to see both of them swim.
Paige spent most of the time texting friends and "taunting" them as each familiar swimmer came up to the blocks; Natalie Coughlin, Brendon Hansen, Katie Hoff, and Dara Torres, plus others that she seemed to know about, but I hadn't heard of.
Kai was impressed some of the time, but he decided to catch some zzzzz's after a while. I thought maybe he'd get interested in swimming again after this, but he says he's doing track in the spring. Oh well, that's fun too.
I have one more Olympic note. One of my former students is going to the Olympics in the 3,000 m. steeple chase. He was a wonderful, well-grounded kid in high school, and it's been fun to see him continue with his success as a college runner in Colorado. Maybe I can write a knitting post later this week...maybe.
6 comments:
That's really exciting! It would have made MamaMia's day to watch the trials. She and her dh are friends with a young man who placed 4th in archery and is 1st alternate. We're hoping/not hoping he gets to go. We'd hate to have anyone get injured BUT would love to see this incredible kid make it to compete. He's going anyway...
You're the first person to comment on Eleanor! I love her. She was created on the flight over and went everywhere with us! Thanks for noticing!
PS: Glad you're back. And yes, I'd hate to be a black car with black interior in the San Joaquin Valley in the summer!
We loved having you here in Nebraska for 2 weeks.....and I hope to see your other pics soon!!!
XO
Ann
Pretty neat! The $20 seats came with a nice view.
Wow, how cool! Sounds like you had a good vacation.
It's ok to take a break from knitting! ;o) That looks/sounds fun...Glad you had such a good time on your vacation! Happy Summer Days ((HUGS))
How fun! I'm glad you got to go. What a wonderful bonus to the trip.
As for Kai wanting to do track and not swimming, just be glad he wants to do something other than sit in front of the telly like a lot of kids these days.
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