Armchair Olympians

I grew up in a household where sports were rarely on the television. Generally, the television was on, and consequently, I've grown up accustomed to its place as "atmosphere" in our home - but my mom and dad just aren't that big of sports fans, so that was that. My mom's dad, "Grandpa Plum", however, always had football on when we came to their house and visited near the time of his birthday (around Halloween). For most of my life, I saw that as a boring nuisance, because that's how my parents' perceived it, but now that I've grown to love football, I so wish I could go back in time and appreciate it with him. (He passed away in 1995, the year before John and I got married).

I kind of got lost on a tangent there.... (sweet memories of Grandpa Plum.....), anyway- the one exception to the sports generalization was the Olympics. I remember VIVIDLY watching Mary Lou Retton do her "double zuchahara (sp!) with a full twist" on the vault and earning perfect tens. I cried - and as a kid, not a lot brought me to tears (Michele and I both were amazingly hard-hearted as a small children!).

So, here we are again, with the Olympics on and John and I are loving it. We are very like-minded in our television viewing (the exception to the rule would be my appreciation of sci-fi and his appreciation of X-Games style sports). We were both so excited to return home from church yesterday (we each had responsibilities so we didn't get home until 1), to try to catch up on all of the DVR'd events. It was a cozy afternoon. Eventually, however, we realized that the kids weren't quite so excited, so we ended up taking a break and playing a little football (Brayden) and volleyball (Mikayla) at the elementary school before heading to Jamba Juice. It was our act of parenting pentance......

I also discovered a new computer games website that made the kids very happy. So that, at least, kept them in the living room with us while John and I wooped it up watching the US men kick that cocky French's team rear end in the 4x100 Relay. (Seriously, what was that team thinking when they publically mocked them to the media 'We are going to crush the Americans'?!). As you can see, as well, Sydney had no problem finding a comfortable position to be cozy too. The only drawback to these Olympics is the threat it poses to our sleep - particularly John's- even with our "east coast three hour head start". As John aims to be out of the house by 6:00 every morning, that guy can't dilly-dally in the evening hours without it making a big impact on his well-being. So, we'll do our best to show restraint, but if you notice either one of us acting a bit grumpier in the next couple of weeks, it might have something to do with the strain of being "Armchair Olympians"......