Winter Olympics

For family night this week, we held our own family winter Olympics. Little Man has been very enthusiastic about the current games (he isn't able to watch a lot since most doesn't start until 8 at night, but he's seen stuff in the afternoon and we've watched several videos online). Our ward is having a winter Olympics activity this weekend, which he is really excited about, and that gave me the idea to conduct some of our own games.

The afternoon before the games, Little Man, Kiwi, and I (but mostly Little Man and I) went about making all the necessary preparations. We decided on four events; bobsled, hockey, luge, and ski jump. We printed out coloring pages for each (found by googling winter Olympic coloring pages) and then went to work coloring them. We then taped each picture by where it's respective event was going to be held. After each event, we held a medals ceremony. Little Man and I set up three stools of varying heights which served as our podium and found three medals from past races that Mike and I have competed in to use for our awards. Here is a summary of our the games unfolded.

Ski Jump: This was the easiest one to plan. We have Wii Fit so we each got two jumps. Competitor with the longest jump won. Mike lead the first round with a solid jump which carried him into the second round still in the lead. Kiwi and I snowballed it, not getting any air at all. Little Man didn't listen and ended up disqualified from Round 1 and bawling in time out, causing me to have one of those moments where I wonder why we do things like this just to have our children throw fits. Luckily, he was able to pull it together and even though he only got one jump, put up the highest score of the night. Mike came in second, myself third, and Kiwi fourth. I let Kiwi accept my bronze medal for me.

Hockey: For hockey we set up two cardboard boxes for goals, and then used four plastic cups and a ball. It was similar to air hockey except we were on the ground and we did move around some. We played girls vs. boys for the gold medal round. Kiwi and I emerged with gold while the boys accepted the silver.

Bobsled: Only the younger members of the family competed in this event. The way our first floor is laid out you can basically run circles (and the kids do) through the kitchen, dining room, living room, hallway, family room, and back to the kitchen. The bobsled course was five laps around the house on their push bikes. We brought in their bike helmets to complete the uniforms which they thought was great. Little Man even did a running start before jumping on his bike. He, of course, won but they really didn't care as long as they got to stand on the medals stand after every event.

Luge: Luge was held upstairs. Each child took their turn being pulled around in their sleeping bag by Mike and I. We didn't really have a winner for this event, because they just kept asking to do it again and again and we just stayed upstairs to start bedtime routine when they were done.

After a rocky start, it ended up being a really enjoyable night and Little Man has been talking about it ever since.

Opening ceremonies with Team USA waving at the fans (a couch full of stuffed animals and dolls). Aren't those some spectacular uniforms?

The oldest competitor of the games (astoundingly hanging in there with athletes 28 years his junior) getting ready for his second ski jump.

On the medal stand after the hockey game. I guess I could have worn a uniform also. I have some blue running tights, but me and seventeen weeks pregnant and tight running tights don't really go together.

The gold medalist of the bobsledding competition appears to be taking in the moment while the silver medalist appears to be laughing and looks as if she may need a potty break also (which we took immediately following this picture).

This luger decided to forgo the traditional luge sled thing and opted for a custom designed shiny pink model with butterflies.

Kiwi makes the turn on her third lap of bobsled with older brother getting ready to lap her.

Happy medalists of the ski jump.

Happy Winter Olympics! I have enjoyed turning them on most evenings only to fall asleep before I can ever see the outcome in one event. I'm assuming the reasoning behind saving the figure skating until 11:30 at night is to keep people watching, but what about those of us whose eyelids start to close at 10:00?