When Ryan & I went out to the car to go to church a few minutes before 9 am, our next-door-neighbor's tree was completely covered with ice. The sun was just poking out from above the mountains, and shining on to the ice crystals on the tree. It was SO beautiful! I thought for a moment about running back into the house for my camera, but decided we needed to get to church on time.
So, I was pleasantly surprised at sunset when we had the scene almost re-created (although not quite as dramatic) with the tree in the yard to the west of us. The pictures don't do it justice. It was beautiful!
We went on a guided tour by bus, and were able to go to the actual sites and starting points for each of those events. Our tour guide was a former Olympic athlete, so he was able to provide a lot of fun details about the events and training. At one point, he commented that kids start training for Nordic ski jumping at about 10 years old. He looked at Ryan and said, “How old are you?” When Ryan answered that he was 9, our tour guide told him that he was just about ready to start. This happened just after Ryan had told me that he was too cold and wanted to stay on the bus. He has decided that he’ll stick with the Summer Olympic sports!
When our tour was finished, we went back into the Alf Engen Ski Museum & George Eccles Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum. We enjoyed learning about the history of skiing, remembering some of the highlights of the 2002 Olympic games, and participating in several activities which simulated the various sports. Since the Vancouver Olympic games start in about three weeks, we are excited about all of the new things that we learned about winter Olympic sports.
When we finished seeing all of the fun things at the Utah Olympic Park, we drove to Park City’s Main Street. 
We had an extremely yummy lunch at Red Banjo Pizza (also using the Entertainment Book coupon). Ryan and Abby stuck with their regular plain cheese pizza and garlic bread. Kristin and I tried the chicken & artichoke pizza with lemon juice squeezed on it, as well as the zucchini sticks. Yum! When we finished lunch, we walked down Main Street to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and bought some absolutely scrumptious things for dessert.
On Wednesday, December 30, Ryan and I met Kristin & Abby, and Laurel (in town visiting from Colorado Springs) at the Woods Cross FrontRunner station, and we rode into Salt Lake. We had lunch together at Jason’s deli, and then enjoyed talking and getting caught up on things. Ryan and Abby were very patient while the mommies talked. The picture didn’t turn out very well, so I’ll check with Kristin to see if hers turned out any better.
This year, instead of a one-night “First Night” celebration, Salt Lake had a 3-day “3VE” celebration. Laurel left after lunch to rejoin her family, and Kristin, Abby, Ryan, and I stayed downtown for the festivities. We started at the Clark Planetarium with a cool movie called “Black Holes” in the dome theater. Ryan and Abby chose to stick around the planetarium for a while to explore the “moon” and other exhibits.
After the planetarium, we went to the Discovery Gateway museum where they had a really neat lesson and activity about old books. They had a treasure chest filled with real books and replicas of books from other civilizations. One was even estimated to be 2000 years old! The kids put on archival gloves and were able to handle the books.
Once they learned about the different kinds of books on display, they were able to choose one to make themselves. Ryan has had a fascination with all things Egypt, so he chose to make the Egyptian Heiroglyphs on real papyrus!
We took Trax to the Gallivan Center, and arrived just before the 6:00 pm newscast began. There is a window behind the anchor desk where people gather to wave and hold signs. There was not a soul there, so Ryan and Abby were thrilled to stand there and wave (and, I admit, do other crazy kid things) during the newscast. There was a large screen above the window where they could watch what the cameras saw. They kept looking up to make sure they were being seen, while Kristin & I suggested which direction they move each time the camera angle changed. Here they are behind Mark Koelbel as he did the news.
It was difficult to beat that excitement, but we did. We strolled onto the plaza and watched the firedancers for a few minutes. As we were watching, Mark Koelbel and Christina Flores came out to do a story about “3VE.” The kids were thrilled to be just a couple of feet away from the newscasters they had just seen on TV!
We walked through Gallivan Plaza, and admired the artistic sculptures made from recycled materials. There was a chicken wire/Christmas lights/bubble wrap tunnel, a beer bottle bench, and very cool HUGE kaleidoscopes made from large cardboard boxes and Ziploc bags of colored water.
We headed for the Gallivan skating rink, where Ryan and Abby enjoyed skating. Even though it was snowing, and extremely cold (my hair actually turned into long icicles of hair!), they were disappointed when it was time to go. Kristin & I had fun watching them, as well as the “Rail Jam” snowboarders just on the other side of the skating rink.
We took Trax to the Temple Square stop, and enjoyed walking around Temple Square and looking at the lights. The snow was softly falling in big flakes by this point, so it felt like we were in a giant, beautiful snow globe. We had to hurry to catch the train home, so we weren’t able to stay for very long to enjoy the musical groups there. But we enjoyed our quiet, relaxing walk. It was the perfect way to end the evening. 
Instead of going back into the “3VE” activities on the 31st, we chose to help Rara & Papa tend Alice & Claire again while Marc & Frances went out to celebrate New Year’s Eve. We had a lot of fun playing with the girls. Once they went to bed, we played “Ticket to Ride” for about THREE HOURS, and then welcomed in the New Year.
Copper & I went home, and Ryan stayed at Rara & Papa’s for the 1st annual grandkids sleepover. (We’ll see if there’s a second annual one.) It was a fun way to end 2009!
I didn't take very many pictures of the game, since I kept my hands gloved and in my pockets most of the time. Many pictures I did take were blurry due to me shivering. But here's one of Ryan's corner kick, and one of the end-of-game-treat with the snow in the background.
I hope it starts to get warmer VERY soon!!!
On Friday, I did the main part of the driveway, and then let him do the much-less-used other side. He was so cute doing it!
I decided it was worth it to buy him his own shovel. Yesterday after work, we went and picked one out. He was so proud to use it this morning!
