Our family is very excited to watch the Winter Olympics this year more so than other years. First of all, our daughters have become winter sports lover themselves. We’ve gone on several ski trips, most recently to the ski resorts around the Salt Lake City area. During that trip, our family was lucky enough to get VIP passes to the Olympic Qualifiers for the Nordic and Ski Jumping events, where spots for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia will be fought for. What was so exciting was that for the first time Women’s ski jumping will make its Olympic Trials debut – and how perfect to have our girls watch this historic event!
But first, we had to go through our own Olympics to get to the Olympic Park. We had to walk about two miles up a mountain in our winter gear (you can see the small trail winding up the mountain all dotted with people.) The girls were troopers and didn’t complain one bit. It helped that I had some cold water with us and the sun was out and sky was as blue as can be.
When we got three-quarters up the mountain, the girls and I had a choice: walk along the winding trails, OR take a short-cut by climbing up this snowy mountain using a rope.
I asked the girls, “Can you do it?” and they said, “Yeah, we can do it!” I was sweating, and scared but I couldn’t let the girls see it. I wasn’t scared for them, but really for the people ahead of us who could have slid down the mountain and hit me or the girls! (My 5th grader also said that the woman ahead of her had to really pull up her pants. REALLY.)
After what seemed like an hour (it was probably 10 or 15 minutes), we did make it up the mountain with no accidents, and the girls were smiling and extremely proud of themselves. They thought of it as an adventure. I thought of it as putting all of those hours that I didn’t go to the gym in one 15 minute work out. I wish I had a video, but you will have to take my word for it — this was a steep mountain and I am so proud that we were able to climb it!
We literally made it with about 10 minutes to spare for the Men’s and Women’s Ski Jumping Qualifiers. There was so much Rah-Rah USA Team Spirit, it was so hard to not get caught up in it. Flags were waving, people were cheering, and I was just so excited for my girls to watch this historic event where Women’s Ski Jumping was FINALLY making its debut at the Sochi Winter Olympics! (Before we went to the Olympic Park, we made sure that our girls watched videos about Lindsey Van and the Documentary Ready to Fly that showed Lindsey’s fight to get Women’s Ski Jumping to be an Olympic Sport, so they understood the importance of this event.)
We were really able to get up close and see the women (and men) jump and land and see their excitement. In the end, we watched Jessica Jerome come in first with the crowd favorite Lindsey Van coming in second. After being interviewed, we watched Jessica hug her mom (such a P&G moment)!
After the trials, we hung around the Utah Olympic Park which had a fun festival featuring family friendly activities that had an Olympic bent. The girls climbed on a snow playground, tried out luging on a mini-hill, and all tried our hand at curling (those granite stones are heavy).
After our trip to Utah, we are pumped to watch the Winter Olympics. Normally, we try to limit the amount of television our girls watch, but for the next couple of weeks, our television will definitely be on the Winter Olympics. It is inspiring to watch athletes who work hard, practice hard, and achieve goals — something that we try to instill in our girls every day.
And speaking of which, have you seen this video? Get the tissues out…you’ll need them.
P&G Thank You, Mom | Pick Them Back Up | Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games
For more information, visit the Utah Olympic Park website.