Oh, this has taken a long time to get this up, but that just seems to be the way things roll with me...When the Olympics started in Vancouver, I took one look at the crowds and thought we would stay far, far away on our quiet little island. But, as soon as the kids watched the opening ceremony, they got the "Olympic fever" and couldn't let a day go by without watching some of it on TV. I've actually never seen Isaiah and Brennan so excited by an event as they were each day and so I changed my mind. :) Christian had a gig on the last day of the Olympics doing sound for Randy B. at a venue in Surrey and had left the day before. The kids and I hopped on the early bird ferry from Salt Spring to Vancouver and even though they were VERY excited, the three hour ferry ride was a bit painful for my tired little ones...
We parked our car in Surrey and took the skytrain into downtown Vancouver. We got off by Robson square and starting making our way through the crowd. The kids had wide eyes at all they saw... It was not only the closing ceremony day, but also while we were in the square, the gold medal hockey game between US and Canada began. The feeling in the crowd was electric! Soon Canada scored their first goal and the crowd went wild. There were people everywhere yelling and screaming, waving Canadian flags, honking car horns, and dressed in crazy red outfits. Soon we got filtered towards a big screen and then came to a stop and began to be pressed into the crowd shoulder to shoulder. I quickly felt uncomfortable and a bit claustrophobic, so I told the kids we were going to turn around and get out of that crowd. Within about 10 seconds I had lost Brennan! It took about two minutes for me to find him, but it felt much longer. He had big tears in his eyes and was obviously shaken. He stayed very close and held my hand for most of the rest of the day.
We then made our way into Yaletown and found a screen with a less crowded crowd. We just stayed put at that point and watched the third period and overtime there. I wish I could show you the video of when Canada was about to win the game in the third period. The Stonehouse kids, and most in the crowd began cheering and jumping up and down. Then the US goal in the last thirty seconds... Some people fell down on the road, my boys stood there dejected with shock on their faces. Of course, we all know that Crosby scored in overtime for Canada!! At that moment, the city of Vancouver erupted and we became part of the biggest, funnest, wildest street party I've ever seen! It was so fun to watch Isaiah, Brennan, and Abby take it all in and be part of something they'll probably never have the opportunity to again.
Even riding the sky train was such a big deal to them as they've never been on it... My little island cuties were having the time of their lives!
We eventually ended up at the Olympic cauldron and then back on the sky train to Surrey to meet up with Christian and catch the end of Randy Bachman's concert. Then, after watching some of the closing ceremony on the back stage big screen, back to Salt Spring on the late ferry. It was a long, tiring day, but one that our family will never forget. It was so worth going!
