Olympic Moments

We missed the Olympic opening ceremonies as we were flying to the mainland. But we made up for lost time once we stopped flying around. Like the rest of America, we watched a lot of Olympic coverage. In fact, Kathleen quickly learned to identify the Olympics. Well, at least she knew that if we turned on the television and people were swimming or doing gymnastics, that was 'Lympics!

One evening our circus was watching the Olympics in Kathleen's cousins' basement. Madeline was already sleeping and Mama, Daddy, and Kathleen were -- strangely enough -- the only ones around. We'd taught Kathleen to cheer "U-S-A, U-S-A" and we got quite a kick out of watching her shake her little fists as she cheered. Shortly after that the coverage switched to women's gymnastics. Kathleen saw the footage of Shawn Johnson flying through the air and cried, "'Nastics! I can do 'nastics!"

She started jumping around the basement. She looked up as Shawn Johnson did a back flip. Without hesitating, she imitated the Olympian, landing squarely on her back on the carpet. Although Mama and Daddy were aghast, Kathleen seemed unfased. Once we determined that she was okay, we laughed until we cried.

Having watched the closing ceremonies this evening, we're relieved to report that our circus sustained no Olympics-related injuries this year!