2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada

2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada

My sister-in-law, Debbie McCormick and my sons.
Carter on the left, Wesley on the right

My students requested to see pictures from our trip to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.  Yes, my sister-in-law has been to the Olympics before.  In fact, this will be her 4th Olympics! Amazing, right!?  

Dinning Room at the P&G House. See the big screens on the left?
The games were on in every room so we could watch.

We were fortunate enough to attend the Vancouver Olympics as a family as well. It was a very different experience, we can tell already.  In Vancouver, we stayed with family that lived in the area, we flew to Seattle and drove up, my boys were 4 and 2 years old, and for us, Canada was familiar.  My husband was born in Canada and still has many relatives that live there, so it is a country we have visited.  We can't say the same things about Russia. It will be an adventure for sure!

Anyway, while in Vancouver, we hung out at a place called the P&G House.  It was for athletes and their families and incredible doesn't even begin to describe it. When we were not at a curling game, we were at the P&G House. This is where we met lots of athletes. And indulged in many luxuries.

My boys and Meghan Duggan.  She is a member of the
 USA Women's Hockey Team and played at UW Madison.
Currently, she is the captain for the USA Hockey Team! 

As I mentioned, we stayed with family and they lived in Port Coquitlam which is located 27 km east of Vancouver (remember Canada uses the metric system, can you convert this to miles? Hint: 1 mi is about 1.6 km).  So when we left the house, we drove our rental car to a train station and took the train to downtown Vancouver or to just outside of downtown where we would catch a bus to get to the curling venue. This was usually about an hour and a half adventure. And the reason the P&G House was so amazing for us.  

My husband, son Wesley, and Mark Johnson.
In Vancouver, Mark was the coach for the Women's
Hockey Team.  He coaches the Women's Hockey Team
at UW Madison, and he was on the 1980 Men's USA
Olympic Hockey Team. The 1980 Hockey Team is
 portrayed in the movie Miracle on Ice.

The P&G House provided us with meals and entertainment when we were not at a curling game.  They had Olympic coverage on in almost every room so we wouldn't miss anything that was happening in the games.  There was a play room for our kids, lounge areas for when we needed a rest, and a computer room so that we could keep in touch with family at home. It was unbelievable! And we were not the only family taking advantage of the hospitality provided by P&G.  We got to chat and hear stories from other families that had athletes participating as well. And as the pictures show, we got to meet athletes and coaches, too.

The Curling venue in Vancouver.

And when we were not at the P&G House, we were watching curling of course. It was so exciting to be at the Olympics and cheer Debbie on! It is hard to explain in words, but amazing comes to mind.  In Canada, curling is very popular and televised often, so the crowd at the curling games were really energetic and full of spirit.  Being from the U.S., I had not experienced this type of crowd for curling before. Also, most of the time, all four sheets of ice had a game going on, so we were watching others play as well.  These were the best teams in the world playing each other for Olympic pride. Absolutely amazing.  

Debbie is in the blue.  She was the skip, so here she is showing her
teammate where she wants her to throw the stone.
In the white, is Eve Muirhead. Eve will be skipping the
Great Britain team in Sochi.

These are pictures I was able to find quickly.  There are more and if I can find the memory stick, I will post more.
-Mrs. Henry