The Olympics is going to be in Vancouver this year and the Olympic torch is running its way across Canada as we speak. I didn’t know anything about the tradition of the torch so I looked it up on the good old wikipedia. Have I said how much I LOVE wikipedia?
Here’s what I learned.
The Olympic torch represents the fire stolen from Zeus by Prometheus and was first reintroduced in 1928 in Amsterdam. The torch relay that we saw today started at the Berlin Games in 1936. The flame is transferred to some sort of pedestal each year and kept burning until the last day of the Olympic Games. So, there you have it. Consider yourself edumacated.
This morning I took the kids into town to see it. We met up with my girlfriend Bonnie. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned her before. She’s the one that owns the store that I work at two nights a week.
We bundled the kids up and tried to keep them warm until the torch bearer came running past.
Bonnie’s daughter, Cammy, was probably the warmest of all of us.
It didn’t take long before I realized that a bigger problem than staying warm was keeping the little ones entertained until the action happened. David quietly slipped back to the store and started playing with the toys in front of the windows. He’s such a strong personality. My other kids would have asked first but with David…he thinks everything in the world is his and he doesn’t have to ask for anything. Crazy boy!
Before the torch came by we saw a couple sponsored trucks with music and people dancing. I’m not sure if they were athletes that I didn’t recognize (not hard to have happen) or if it was just random employees of the Royal Bank of Canada and…dang it I can’t remember the other sponsor. Anyway, it’s not important but the kids enjoyed when the Cochrane Rodeo Queens came around handing out flags to wave.
At long last (honestly we were probably only waiting for about 6 minutes. I just like to complain and then rat myself out.) the torch finally came by. It was fun to see the torch so close. One of my pictures is quite blurry because he was running and I didn’t realize just HOW close he was to us.
I’m excited about the Olympics being so close. I just wish I could take the kids. Chuck and I both love to watch the figure skating. Don’t judge! It’s a real sport otherwise it wouldn’t be part of the Olympics. I think the kids would love to see the Skeleton. Those are some crazy athletes if you ask me.
What are your favorite sports from the Olympics?
that is so much fun. I wish I’d been there.
why didn’;t you chase him down the street?
We got torched too. I just posted it on my blog. I like to think my pictures would have turned out better if it was light out and the world didn’t vibrate. I need an image stabalizer.
Ha ha! What an awesome picture of me! And I agree – don’t knock figure skating. Didn’t I tell you that I was a competitive figure skater growing up?
Oh course I remember, Bonnie! That’s why I said what I did!