Really a YEAR?!

It makes me sad to realize I've neglected our blog for so long. I love to look back at old posts and remember all our fun adventures. There is no possible way to make up for the lost year of posts, so I'll just have to start from where we are now and try my best to record our little family's happenings. With the Olympics just around the corner, our Gill family pre-Olympics have commenced! We had opening ceremonies on Saturday. Nate and Holden made the torch this time, so a really flame was a mandatory component. Yes, we let the 21 month old carry the torch around, but he is pretty responsible. We selected our athletes and countries and enjoyed ring cake.

Sunday we had athlete night where we shared about the athletes we selected. Here are some highlights:

Holden's Athletes:

•  Shibutani Siblings - Ice Dancing - USA
• They are the first ice dance team to have medaled every year, at every level of competition (from Juvenile to Senior) at the U.S. National Championships. 
• We saw them make the team at the trials in Boston. We all really enjoyed their long program.

• Armin Zöggeler - Luge - Italy
• His nick name is the iceblood champion.
• He is the only Italian to have won a medal in 5 consecutive editions Olympic Games including 2 golds.

Mindy's Athletes:

• Lanny Barnes - Biathlon - USA
• She made the team this year because her twin sister (Tracy) forfeited her spot for Lanny!
• Canada Men's Curling Team
• The team barely made it to the trials but went undefeated there to send them to Sochi.

Nate's Athletes:

• Kikkan Randall - Cross Country Skiing - USA
• We are hoping she will make history. No American has medaled since the only one to do so in 1976. Kikkan has a good chance she just took gold in the world cup last year.
• Tobias Arlt and Tobias Wendl - 2 man Luge - Germany
• Nate's punny poster idea for them was; Wendl they be the best in the world? They Arlt-ready are.

Monday was culture day. I had architecture, so we made playdough and recreated Saint Basil's Cathedral. Holden was kind enough to take an extended nap so we could focus on our masterpiece. 

Holden, with daddy's help, was in charge of cuisine and they made an incredible Russian meal. It is called Khachapuri. It is filled with cheese and then the final few minutes of baking you crack an egg right on top. We were a little nervous about that part but absolutely loved it.

I was also assigned music, so we listened to part of the national anthem and some folk music. Holden, with mommy's help, had photography, we chose to look at a National Geographic collection of photos. Nate had geography and language. We learned where the events will be taking place and we tried to learn some of the Russian alphabet. I wasn't a very good sport on that one though.
Tomorrow we have our first events! Single and 2 man luge.