Our Weekend Extravaganza (or How to Climb a Coliseum)

We had one of those "full to the brim" weekends....

SATURDAY:

The girls and their daddy went to the company picnic on Saturday at Oaks Park. (This is a very old amusement park, complete with an old-fashioned roller rink and a beautiful old pipe organ.)
The girls were actually glad Mommy didn't come this time, since they rode on ride after ride....after ride. Daddy didn't bring them home until seven hours later. I think Mommy would have cramped their style.


SUNDAY (bigger day, yet!):

After church, my mom drove up and she and I- along with my seven year old daughter- drove to Portland to see the show we bought tickets for nearly six months back. The long-awaited....(drum roll please)...Champions On Ice!

My little girl watched the Olympics with me and she and I love ice skating. (She's a huge fan of Sasha Cohen!)
We three generations of gals had so much fun seeing all the Olympic stars skate in person! Well sort of in person. The seats? Well, let's just say that we basically had to climb Mt. Everest to find them. I was trying to keep my 79 year old mom stable, my seven year old stable, and myself stable....and when we got to our row, I can tell you that I never had a severe fear of heights before but came very close to developing one then and there as I tried to maneuver through the 1 inch space in front of our seats and then look down to see what seemed like a complete drop down in the vastness- or, rather to the skating rink below.....(can someone hand me a paper bag to breath into?....Ok...I'm fine now....)
My daughter had brought a stuffed animal with her and when I (jokingly...ha) said I was nervous way up there, she affably handed the cuddly thing to me...and don't think I didn't take it!

At intermission we moved like circus tightrope performers from our precarious perch, and headed down, about ten rows or so below to some some unused seats. I cannot stress how much better this position made me feel! And we were even able to now catch it when Michelle Kwan flashed a big grin in our general direction.

I have to say that the show was super....great performances from each and every one. There was comedic tumbling-skate act that was incredible and the male gold medal winner, Plushenko, was extrordinary to watch. The finale was a show-stopper with a lot of great old songs, the last being a recording of the exciting "Sing, sing, sing"( featuring the Big Band drummer, Gene Krupa) and it honestly reminded me of the finale of a fireworks display. The skaters were totally into the music and their energy was flying off everywhere!

It was worth the blocks of walking in the city with my trooper of a mom, the yet more blocks of walking around the circular top floor of the coliseum, and the death-defying balancing act from atop the building just to see these medal-winners do their stuff- with my mom and daughter beside me. Yes, even worth it just to see the look on my little girl's face and hear her blow her little whistle every time it was our section's turn to cheer for a skater. (Go Sasha!)

Oh...and all the while, my husband had a date with our four year old daughter at the zoo. Then we all met up at his brother's house to celebrate a sister's 50th birthday! (And may I just say that my sister in law is a petite little thing with nary a wrinkle and doesn't look a day over 35- seriously!)

Yep... as you can see, it's been a slightly over-stuffed weekend and we're all a little bit tuckered out (as my grandmother use to say). But would we all do it again if given the chance? You bet! But next time I'll mortgage something and sit close enough to catch Victor Petrenko's hat as he cooly tosses it during a turn...

Edited to not only correct hurried mistakes as I headed out the door...but to add that the above picture was taken during hubby and lil' cherub's Sunday's zoo trip. I thought it aptly described our fast-moving weekend! :)