WE DID IT!

We had a full day on Saturday - Jerrica and Zack were feeling touristy and Tom and I were feeling tired. That meant a split up. After touring the Temple of Heaven and eating at MacDonalds (cheap and easy to find) Tom and I headed home. That meant catching a taxi and communicating with a driver who doesn't speak English. Thank goodness for maps and addresses written in Chinese. We made it to our landmark, the Best Western OL Stadium hotel, and walked to our apartment - a few blocks. We crashed and woke in time to catch a taxi and find our way to the Olympic Green.

We have gone all around the Olympic Green since we arrived but can't get on without a pass. Our tickets to the Opening Ceremony were our pass. We caught a cab - showed the driver directions and we were off. He left us off too soon so we had more of a hike than we wanted but we made it to the Bird Nest! It is more awesome than the pictures. We were grinning like kids with a new toy. There was lots of pre-ceremony celebrations which we didn't know about - so we missed some of that. We looked around and it looked like it was going to be a packed house. We were sitting in the second tier right behind the "crane" camera - I think we got some Jumbotron time.

The committee did an excellent job with this ceremony, too. While the Olympics shared China's history and culture, this program shared the Paralympic history and culture. Many of the performers had some sort of disability. It was very moving - especially when the little ballerina came on. She lost her leg in the earthquake 4 months ago. I thought she was very poised and when the male ballet dance picked her up and dance with her, I started crying.

The first time I cried though, was when David rolled in. He was saving his arms because Jimi Flowers, his coach, was pushing him. Seeing David experience the opening ceremonies as an athlete was moving enough but having Jimi push him added a few extra tears. Jimi was Dave's breaststoke coach in Auburn. David has always held Jimi in high regard - so this is like coming full circle for them to both experience this together. Okay, I'm crying again now.

The next moving moment was the lighting of the flame. I thought how the Olympics did that was so cool that I was going to keep a sharp lookout for how that flame got on the stadium without anyone seeing it. Well, we were right under it so we didn't get to see it. However the flame lighter was right in front of us. Watching the guy take the flame up in his wheelchair was pretty moving - I was really glad the flame didn't burn him or the cables - it looked close a few times.

For some reason I can't get the Universal sport site to show the opening ceremonies but if you can get it to open it is worth watching. A job well done. Sounds like David got some camera time, too. We sat amongst other swimming parents and a track and field parent. Hearing their athletes' stories is so moving. I wish them all well.

On the way home we caught another taxi. My legs were exhausted by this time and I wasn't walking one step farther than I needed to. I got our driver to the hotel and then I gestured for him to go a bit farther - he understood and made it to our apartment with no problem.

Today we went on a tour - an experience in and of itself but you'll have to wait for that.

Tomorrow Dave is SWIMMING! Records are falling and medals are coming to the USA team. Go USA! We are getting very excited.