OLYMPICS! Closing Ceremonies!

Sorry for the delay. Okay so CLOSING CERMONIES.

We went to the Whistler Athlete Village the morning of the closing ceremonies, and from there headed to the Vancouver Athlete Village. I was able to check in my bags at the Village for my flight the next day.

I will tell you quickly about my experience with this. I didn't have my flight info on me, so the lady checking me in searched my name and found that I was on the red eye the next night. I checked in all of my bags and headed to the closing ceremonies. After the ceremonies at 1:00am I decided I should check if my aeroplan number was entered. To make a long story short, they figured out that the lady had checked me in under my mom's name (and of course all of my bags too). AND they couldn't find me on any other flight. Finally, we found out that I had a layover in Edmonton, and I had to catch the bus to the airport in an hour for the early morning flight. THE best. Todd and Lisa Brooker were huge lifesavers- They waited for me to get in and drove me home!

So now that that side note is over, back to CLOSING CEREMONIES.

In Vancouver, we were able to experience some of the athlete village. The Canada house went CRAZY when Canada won the gold in hockey!! We were able to grab snacks in the Canada house and share a room with the skier cross team.

The view from their room was incredible!

Canada did an amazing job, "painting the town red".

put on our HBC gear and took a bus to the closing ceremonies. It was so cool to see all the athletes coming together, in a mass wearing the same thing.

Mitch, MP and I before closing.

Snipers?

People ask what my most memorable moment was. Of course racing was incredible!!! But being at the Olympics really only set in when I walked out for opening ceremonies; I saw the lights, the crowd, the teams. I thought about the many times I had watched this happen on tv, and it hit hard when I realized I was there.

My breath was taken away when I saw the flame.

Anna, Mitch, MP and I!!

The ceremony was amazing. We were all given white ponchos, moose antlers, flashing lights (of different colours), cardboard cut outs, etc. Our audience representative would tell us what article we had to use. The lights from above would shine on the white ponchos making designs in the shape of hearts, etc. The white and red flashing lights created flashing flags everywhere during Michael Buble's performance! The cardboard cut outs of multiple colours made other cool designs.

As the games were called to a close, the flame was extinguished and the structure started moving into the floor, the crowd let out very unhappy groans of protest.

The performers were very entertaining. The comedians were able to depict Canada so well:

- How Canadians always say sorry

- Canadians have to survive the harsh winter storms everywhere

- We were all taught as children not to eat the yellow snow

- Hockey helps to define Canada

At the end, all of the athletes were able to go out onto the floor and enjoy the bands/singers (including Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, Hedley, etc)

Michael Buble (My mom must have been in Heaven)

After the ceremonies, all the Canadians came together one last time in the parking garage of the Canada house to eat pizza and socialize.

The closing ceremonies were amazing. I finally realized where I was and what I was doing/did. We were still in Europe during the opening ceremonies, so I am so... SO happy that I was able to experience the closing ceremonies. I was able to realize the extent of how powerful the Olympic Games are on a personal, national and world wide level!!

Thank you everyone who made this happen!! For me, for Canada and for the World.