Left Coast Mama » Vancouver 2010 Olympics

What an Ending!!! Go Canada Go!

Gwen — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:41:31 +0000

Can you guess who our household was rooting for?

Watching the Medal Ceremony

Anthony Tries to Keep His Eyes Intact

Quinlan, Anthony and the Mascots Showing Their Colours

Go Canada Go!!!!

© 2010 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | 4 comments
Related: Aidan, Anthony, Family Time, My Boys, Quinlan, Vancouver, Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

Casa Italia and Kinder Surprises

Gwen — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:36:21 +0000

On Saturday we were fortunate enough to be invited to a kids party at Casa Italia that was sponsored by Kinder of the Surprise eggs. In our house there are two things we love, chocolate and the Olympics so we enthusiastically donned our Olympic gear and headed down to Yaletown.

Just One of the Tables Full of Kinder Chocolate

Casa Italia is being housed in the Roundhouse, and we were being let into the part of the house not open to the public. There were lots of things for the kids, including face-painting and dancing and all the chocolate they could possibly eat. There was a professional photographer there taking pictures of the kids in front of a blank screen and when they are photo-shopped onto the background of our choice they will be emailed to us. We got a nice one of Aidan by himself and hopefully a nice one of all three of us. As soon as I have the pictures I will update the post.

Aidan Posing With a Snowboard

Rocking the Casa Italia

Aidan and Quinlan had a ball. Aidan got the chance to be a dancing machine for Italian television as he led the kids and adults in dances that he made up like the roller coaster. Really I think he has the soul of a disco dancer as the roller coaster is running around and rolling his hands around each other. The people who organized the even and the Italian host seemed to love him. Or at least that is what I am telling myself. He was really well behaved and didn’t take very much chocolate. (We also brought some of the chocolate to share with his preschool class.)

Aidan Getting Down

Quinlan Dancing With a Good Look at His Black Eye

It was lovely to see some of my favourite Vancouver parent bloggers and their kids. We also got to meet some others bloggers that we hadn’t met before. There were only two things that I would have changed. One, I’d open the doors because it was very hot. Second I would have invited some of the Italian athletes. It would have been really nice to get the kids excited about the Italian teams as well by having a few ambassadors there.

Thanks to Kerry for sharing her invites and to Andrea from Harbinger for putting together the event.

© 2010 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | One comment
Related: Adventures, Aidan, Family Time, Quinlan, Vancouver 2010 Olympics, family, outings.

Olympic Torch Relay: A Chance For Aidan to Shine

Gwen — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:55:27 +0000

When Anthony and I moved to Vancouver almost 13 years ago we knew we loved the city, but plans for after his PhD were murky. When Vancouver got the games seven years ago all we knew is that we really wanted to stay and experience the games as much as we could. When Aidan was born we knew he would be almost five and this would be an even better experience and boy were we right. Aidan has been so excited about the 2010 winter Olympic Games, especially when we went down and got the boys (and us) some Canadian Olympic gear.

Aidan and Quinlan in their Olympic Gear

On Thursday we got the chance to see the Olympic Torch Relay up close in two spots. We decided early on that Quinlan, Aidan and I would go to Vancouver City Hall to see the torch and take in the atmosphere of anticipation. I was a little apprehensive because of the threat of protesters ruining it for everyone, but I decided to be positive and we invited some of Aidan’s preschool friends to go with us. Jasmine (Veronica’s mom) told me she was making a torch for Veronica and that inspired me to make a torch/magic wand for Aidan and Quinlan. I also realized that I had 3 white pirate hats leftover from Aidan’s birthday party last year so I made the 3 kids some Olympic hats. I think they were the cutest kids there. Thankfully Keiko (Shinto’s mom) was there as well since she had the working camera.

Getting Cookies and Hot Chocolate at City Hall

Aidan was so well decked out that he was tapped to be part of the pre-show. He and Veronica were picked by some of the city of Vancouver staff as the the “best red” kids. We asked that they let Shinto come up too since they were all together and we let him wear Aidan’s jacket. They were called up to the stage (the steps of city hall) and they ran through the gauntlet that the torch runner would go through. Aidan started his “Go, Canada, Go!” cheer.

Go CANADA!!!!

I almost cried I was so happy for Aidan. He always wants to be picked to go up on stage and he finally got his chance. They then ran back to cheers and clapping while they waved their flags and torches. It was the best feeling.

Running Back Through the Gauntlet to Cheers.

We then waited and the kids did the “Go, Canada, Go!” dance. We were very lucky and it didn’t start raining until just as the torch went by us.

Go Canada Go Dance

Look at the Torch!

Right after the torch went by, we had a quick hot chocolate to warm up and then Quinlan, Aidan and I headed up to UBC so we could see the torch as it came through. As a bonus we would get to experience it all together since we picked up Anthony at work. Unfortunately this experience wasn’t quite as fun since it was pouring and it was cold. It was a bit better for actually seeing the flame however, so I am not sure which was better.

By the Forestry Building in the Pouring Rain

Getting Excited to see the Torch Again

We didn't see the police escort at city hall, but here it is massive.

It looks like we don’t have any pictures of the actual torch, but we did get it on video!

I think all in all it was a fabulous way to start our Olympic weekend.

© 2010 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | 7 comments
Related: Aidan, Anthony, Firsts, Gwen, My Boys, Quinlan, Vancouver, Vancouver 2010 Olympics, milestones.

The Bicycle Valet: A Great Way to Experience the Olympics

Gwen — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:54:14 +0000

When Anthony and I got tickets for the opening ceremonies to the 2010 Winter Olympics we were thrilled. The only problem we encountered was the early start of the audience participation practice and the anticipated waits at the security line ups. We managed to find a babysitter but since she was working until 3:30 we weren’t sure how on earth we were going to make it to the security line up in time since we had planned on walking. Then we hit on the perfect solution, we would ride our bikes. The only part that concerned us was where to park them during the ceremony.

Free and Safe Bicycle Parking

We had heard Mayor Gregor Robertson say on the radio that there would be a bicycle valet near the venues, but we hadn’t really heard too much else about them. Anthony found out that there was some bike parking from the 2010 Olympic site but it didn’t link to the Bicycle Valet site so we weren’t sure how exactly it was going to work. It turns out that the bicycle valets are all over the place and have volunteers watching your bikes while you go off and do your thing. The big thing? THEY ARE FREE!

Bicycle Valet Parking at Olympic Village

For the opening and closing ceremonies the bicycle parking was under the Cambie Street Bridge so we got to BC Place from our house in 15 minutes flat. It would have taken us about 30 minutes or 45 minutes depending on how much we were hoofing it to walk. The bike parking was not at all crowded and it kept our bikes dry. (I am not sure if all the bike parking is covered so if it is raining you might want to bring a cover for your seat. )
View Detailed Olympic Bicycle Valet parking locations in a larger map

For more information on the times Bicycle Valet is open during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, pleas check their website. They also have some good tips on how to use the bicycle valet to make things easier for both you and the volunteers.