Yesterday, Mike and I dealt with our first “conflicting sports Saturday.” James had a baseball clinic, while Annie and I had to go to the park for field clean-up day. I’m glad that the home fields for their two leagues are very close, but I still have my fingers crossed that my two ball players won’t have too many conflicting games!
Around The ‘Net
~Meet Lucas, the first Gerber baby with Down syndrome
~A rowdy boy almost made her quit teaching. Then he became her son
~How South Korea is securing the largest winter games in Pyeongchang
~Researchers who made praying mantises wear glasses discover a new type of vision
~Jet Lag: The Olympic Strategy So Radical It Just Might Work
~Busted neon signs gain new life in sound-and-light show at Las Vegas’ Neon Museum
~Lonely Planet picks California’s Redwood Coast as top U.S. place to go in 2018
Olympic Fever
Annie is really into the Winter Olympics, which is fun for me because I loooove watching Olympic events. She’s been asking about the history of the Olympics, so we’ve been doing a lot of reading. I also told her that she’s been to Olympic arenas before (USC’s football stadium hosted the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, and will host again in 2028) and that I’d actually been to some of the historical Olympic sites in Greece. I started Googling different venues to show her pictures, and that’s when I discovered that so many facilities that were built for Olympic games have fallen into disrepair – including many of the stadiums and arenas I’d visited in Greece. It’s sad to think about how much money went into those buildings and how they now just sit there, abandoned. This fascinating article about Pyeongchang’s “pop up” stadium makes a case for the Olympics having a permanent home.
Last-Minute Love
It’s not too late to get gifts for your Valentine (how did I live before Amazon Prime was invented, seriously)!
~A fondue pot, because going out to eat on Valentine’s Day is overrated (and overpriced)!
~Slippers for your “lobster.”
~I don’t know how practical it is, but this umbrella is pretty cute (Annie would love it).
Happy Sunday, everyone!
Becca says:
I have been saying all weekend how ridiculous and wasteful it is to build new facilities every other year for the Olympic games. I understand the theory behind the event moving around the world, but in this day and age, I think it’s beyond time to settle into a home.
On another note, I’d love to hear your thoughts on LA hosting in 2028. I have watching an event live on my bucket list.. but I feel like trying to navigate around LA on a normal day sounds like a nightmare, let alone when thousands of international athletes/spectators are in town. That said, I’ve never actually been to LA so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad..? What do you think?
Heather says:
I know that the traffic was a HUGE concern before the 1984 Olympics, and it turned out to be a non-issue. Locals stayed away from the venues if they didn’t need to be there, and a lot of people actually left town. I think it also helps that LA is huge and the events will be really spread out around the greater LA area, so it’s not like the crowds will be concentrated in one place. Plus, I’d imagine a lot of businesses will allow employees to work from home to avoid traffic, which wasn’t an option in 1984. The thing about LA is that there are ALWAYS thousands of extra people here for different sporting events, conferences, conventions, Disneyland, etc. For most of us, I don’t think we’ll even notice more people!
So I say, come!!! It’s going to be fantastic!