Pogo On The Water

Ah, the grade school talent show. Remember it?

When Ben decided throw his hat in the ring this year, we had no idea that he'd become a bit of a local celebrity. He was featured in a video on the newspaper's website, and there was an article in Saturday's newspaper that chronicled his honing of this particular talent.

Of course, we've known all along that he was meant for greatness. We just, maybe, didn't think it would take this form.

Click here for more about this talented kid.

This Kid

Plays the cello.

Is a fantastic student.

Sings in choir.

Is a great friend.

Pogo sticks like a champ.

Gets up early to be a crossing guard.

Cries during sad movies about animals.

Behaves politely when adults make comments about his hair.

Doesn't sweat the small stuff.

Laughs and sings and shouts without reserve.

Is one of my very favorite people in this world.

Theo and Ben are taking a day off of blogging, so I'm doing a guest post. They're sitting here in the hotel room, eating muffins and watching Olympic Women's Curling. It's a rough life for them.

Yesterday we had a tremendous day. We took a train to Granville Island, which is an open market here in Vancouver. It was full of great food and neat shops and art. We had lunch there (veggie burgers - yum!) and just as we were leaving, two Canucks on stilts stopped us. I think they could sense Theo's inner performer, because they pulled him out of the crowd and had him sing The Star Spangled Banner. Yes, in front of everybody. He performed beautifully and made all U.S. onlookers very proud (he remembered all the words!)

We left Granville Island and headed off to Short Track Speedskating. We were thrilled to see Apolo Ohno win his heat and we also got to see the women set four Olympic records and one world record! The Women's 3000 m. relay was so exciting. China took gold, Canada silver and the U.S. bronze. Korea actually won the race, but, with the perplexing rules of speedskating, were disqualified after the race. Very exciting stuff!

Apolo! Ohno! (at the bottom)

Apolo! Ohno!

Apolo! Ohno!

3000 Relay

Flower Ceremony Podium

Today we have no plans, but are hoping to catch the US/Canada final Women's Hockey game on TV somewhere. This, as you can imagine, is a HUGE deal here.

Have a great day!

Day 3

By Ben Lucas

I have a Great Britain flag pin! The Great Britain flag pin is the only flag pin that is a flag. And is the flag pin that is the farthest away!

We took three buses to get to Whistler which took a total of 2.5 hours. Once we got to Whistler we took a gondola ride up the mountain to get to the Whistler Sliding Centre where the bobsleigh event was taking place.

We were there 2-3 hours early, so we walked around and saw different parts of the track. Then we took our seats at Turn 16 which is called Thunderbird. That is the last turn before the finish line. At Turn 16, the track begins to go uphill through the finish line to help slow down the bobsleighs. They reach speeds up to up 90 mph. During the second run, we left our seats and walked around to some of the other turns to see the competition up close. We were able to get within a foot of the actual track!

The sleds go so fast that if you turn your head, you will miss them. After the first two runs, Canada is in first place and the US is in 2nd. Tonight will be the last two runs to determine the medals. After the event, we took a shuttle bus back to Whistler.

The Fray was playing a concert in the village which we got pictures of. We didn't go into the concert because of security and because we had to get back to Vancouver.