Olympic fever...

Let the games begin!  

This past summer, our entire family got Olympic fever.  But since we usually don't have cable TV, we had to hook it up for the month of August.  (Thanks NBC.  Not!)  Elvin's parents were in town during the opening ceremonies and we all watched together and tried to make sense what was going on.

By the way, we also got a Roku to fit into the back of our TV and had trouble setting that up as well.  We should've gotten the good ol' rabbit ears!

As we watched from week to week, the kids were riveted by some sports and other sports that they've never seen before they had lots of questions about.

They have taken gymnastics before and loved watching the women's gymnastics, along with millions of girls across the country.  They apparently were absorbing all the information that the announcers were saying because one day they called us out to the backyard to watch a gymnastics performance.  And it was Eliana showing us that she can "stick her landing" as the phrase goes.

And here she is launching herself into the air!

And here's her landing!

No deductions!

Another sport that made an impression on the kids was pole vaulting.  We had long discussions about how exactly do people get up so high using just using a pole.  And what was the pole made out of.  And why does it bend so much, etc. etc.

Well, before you know it, the kids got Karina's pony head-on-a-stick (the kind that you stick between your legs and pretend to ride) and started doing their own pole vaulting in the middle of our living room!

Here you can see Karina LEAP into the air!

And here is Eliana doing the same.  And then Gabriel.  All of them are self-taught!  You'll see this in their technique.

Some nights we let the kids stay up late...to the point where Gabey just couldn't keep his eyelids open anymore.

And in keeping with the Olympic theme, Eliana had a swim meet at the end of the 12 week swimming sessions we signed her up for.  The swimming lessons were not for the faint of heart.  It was a full hour of swimming laps back and forth, four days a week.  She was very tired at first but her body got in shape pretty fast.

So here is her first swim meet.  They wrote the events she was in on her arm.  No way to lose the information now!

Here she is starting a 50 free.  This swim meet was very non-competitive (which is refreshing considering how competitive some sports are, even for young kids) and they told the kids--"You can start from the blocks or from the wall; whatever you want."  Eliana opted to start from the wall.

And she's in!

Her coach has worked with her on her strokes and she's improved a ton this summer.

The atmosphere was really supportive and she got ribbons.

And here is the whole swim team, with the coaches wearing light blue shirts.  Good job Eliana!