Just a little tease!

So the highlight of our summer in England has definitely been the London 2012 Olympic games!  We (and when I say "we" I actually really mean Dave) were fortunate enough to get tickets for a number of events through the ticket lottery.  We knew we were lucky but it really sank in when as we talked to other people that have lived in England their whole lives and did not receive any tickets.  As I am SO excited to get ALL my memories down on paper (or, uh, the internet?) I feel I owe it to many to post a little teaser update with a few pics and the brief outline of our experience!

Our Olympic Adventure actually spanned two weekends.  (We took a day trip to Bath during the week of vacation Dave took from work to celebrate the games!  That will be a later post as well!)

I look slightly scared to be taking a
picture with Dave...I think I was just
trying to keep my eyes open!  :)

We started our experience on Saturday August 4, 2012 at Earl's Court towards the west end of town.  This venue was actually used that last time the Olympics were in London (1948).  We were there to see Men's Indoor Volleyball.  Our helpful handout that came with the tickets suggested getting to the venue 2 hours before the start time to avoid the lines...well...we did this...and got through the lines, security, ticket scanners, and into the stadium in under 20 minutes!  So...we had about 90 minutes to take it all in before the fun really started!  We were able to see two different men's volleyball games:

Germany v. Tunisia 

German victory in all 3 games

Great Britain v. Poland 

Polish victory in all 3 games

One of our 100s of action shots!

Dave outside the arena! 

Near our seats!  :)

Sunday August 5 found us at Horse Guards Parade awaiting our turn to watch the ladies compete in a little beach volleyball action.  It was announced earlier in the games that if the temperature was below 17 degrees celsius (62.6 degrees fahrenheit) the ladies could cover up (they typically compete in sports bikinis).  Since we had tickets to the latest session of the day we were really hoping we would get to see the US ladies play!  And we were in LUCK!!!  We actually got to see two different sessions of the games:

Brazil v. Germany 

We cheered for the Germans (1 because my cousins are living there right now and 2 because they only covered up the bottoms...while the Brazilians kind of looked like Orcas!)

Brazil won the first 2 games so they didn't play a 3rd  

Czech Republic v. USA

Obviously we were cheering for the red, white and blue!

USA won the first 2 games so they didn't play a 3rd   

Happy couple after a USA V.I.C.T.O.R.Y.

I'll block that spike!!!

USA in the white!  

Monday August 6 found us at the Olympic Park!  YEAH!!!!  We had morning tickets for Men's basketball but our tickets allowed us to stay in the park as long as we wanted!  :)  YEAH!!!  Aside from the prelim rounds of basketball, the Olympic Park was also home to the Olympic Stadium (the ONLY place you could see the torch...needless to say...we didn't), the Orbit (looks like a really short rollercoaster...not really necessary...just a tourist attraction!), the Velodrome (what's up bikers), the Aquatic Center (hello swimmers & divers), and the BMX track(we think) (I wasn't (and still am not) convinced this is an olympic sport...sorry).  SUCH FUN!!!!!!!  We got to watch the live taping of the Today Show (they wear a LOT of make-up), take our picture with the rings, and did a lot of walking!  Our helpful handout for this venue failed to mention that it was a 2 mile walk from the Underground Station to the entrance!!!  Oh...and then another 25 minute walk to the actual b-ball arena once you entered the grounds!  HA!  We were a tad late for the game!  But we were okay with that!!!  We got to take in two basketball games this time including:

Australia v. Russia 

We wanted the Aussies to win...and win they did...barely!  82-80

Lithuania v. Tunisia

I was hoping Lietuva(lee-et-too-va...how the fans chant) would win...and they did! 76-63

In front of the Olympic Stadium!

In front of the entrance to the park

Dave doing the BOLT in front of the B.Ball Arena 

Men's Basketball

With the RINGS!!!!

 Thursday August 9 found us back in London for our final event of the games!  Friday August 10 we had tickets to the 5:00 game between Spain and Russia...we really wanted tickets to the 9:00 game between Argentina and the USA!  After a little successful negotiations we were able to purchase 2 single tickets to the US game and quickly sold our tickets to the first game!  YEAH!!!  The only downside was that since we purchased two single tickets they were SUPER far apart (1 was down in the 100 level; the other was up in the 400 level).  So we decided that I would take the good ticket first and then Dave would get it for the 2nd half.  I didn't want to see him go all the way up to his seat and since there were 4 seats next to me open he just sat there for as long as he would be allowed to...which ended up being the ENTIRE GAME!!!!!!!!  YEAH!!!!!!!  So to keep in form like the upper portion of this update I'll say this:  We were able to watch the following men's semi-final basketball game at the Greenwich Arena:

Argentina v. USA

We were hoping for a US victory - and we got it!  126-97

To say we had a blast would be a MAJOR understatement!!!  We loved our time...but our feet were a little upset!  Deck shoes (as much as I love you my sperries!) are not the best footwear for walking miles and miles each day!  Oh well!  Such is life!!!