Our Olympic Adventure

What a day we had yesterday at the Olympics. We were so looking forward to finally experiencing the 2012 Olympic Games in person. I don't know about you but I have been glued to the television since they started. Saturday night was a night I will never forget. Team GB won us no less than 3 golds in the athletics. My Hb and I were screaming at the TV by the end of Mo Farrow's 10,000km run, how amazing was that? I am just so proud of our staging of the games; I really think they are world class and team GB must be buoyed up by all the support everyone is giving them. As I type we have beaten  our previous medal record set in Beijing and now have 22 golds, 13 silver and 13 bronze. How incredible for such a small country. The cyclists and rowers have also swept the boards; what an achievement. The motto of these games has been "Inspiring a Generation". As a physiotherapist I truly hope these games do. The general public really do need to wake up to the dangers of a lack of activity and exercise. So many diseases are caused by us being far too sedentary. I really hope youngsters do get on their bikes, run, jump and feel they want to continue this magical experience. I hope the legacy is to inspire them to as physically fit as they can possibly be.  Enough of my preaching...I am sure you want to hear all about "Inside the Games" ;0)

The day started for us quite early as we intended to get to the Olympic Park by 8am so that we could get through security quickly and explore a little before our event. We had seats for the mens' 3m springboard diving semi finals which started at 10am. We had no problems getting there and we were actually inside the Park only 1 1/2 hours after leaving home!

We were amazed by the sheer size of the park...it was huge. It took more than half an hour to walk from one side to the other!


The Aquatics Centre was near the entrance and at 9am we walked across the bridge to take some photos.

It was day 11 of the Olympics and we bought a copy of the Daily Record. This is full of great stats and a super souvenir of the games.


The Aquatics Centre is a gorgeous building both from the inside and outside.

We were lucky to get this photo before the hoards of spectators arrived.

Above is the amazing view back towards the Olympic Stadium and The Orbit. We were very lucky with the weather, its was warm but overcast in the morning and brightened up during the day.Perfect for spending 13 hours on our feet! At 9.30am we were able to go inside the Aquatics Center and wow how impressive were the swimming and diving pools.

Diving pool, the competitors were warming up.

The swimming pool where Phelps made swimming history.

The atmosphere was amazing and as the divers began the excitement could really be felt. Each diver had 6 dives and those who achieved the top 12 scores went through to the finals in the evening.

 Their dives were astounding.

I cannot imagine how they remember
where the water is. It was such a fun 1 1/2 hours watching these semi finals.
At the end the scores were all calculated and it was so good to see that our GB lad got through to the next round, he came 9th. The applause for him was deafening.

At 1.30pm we had tickets to ride The Orbit. This is the tall structure next to the Stadium. A lift takes you up to a viewing platform high above the Olympic Park. You can take the lift down our walk..we did..all 400+ steps! The viewing platform is the large rounded part to the left and the walk down is the "helta skelter" part.
The lift runs up the middle.There were only limited tickets sold in advance for this so were were so lucky to have got them.

From the viewing platform we had extraordinary views into the Olympic Stadium, we were able to see the track, seating etc. We could also see out across the rest of the Olympic Park; in the distance was the Velodrome. We could also see a 360o view of the whole of the London Skyline...it was breath taking.

I had fun zooming in on what was going on down below!

After our Orbit experience we explored the whole of the park and wore our little legs down. There were great shops too and of course I came home with a souvenir or too ;0)

Everywhere had been planted up so beautifully, all very natural planting with swathes of wild flowers everywhere and plenty of places to sit and relax if you wanted to. I thought it strange that tickets were sold for the Olympic Park only but really it was a lovely place to be with or without tickets to the events.
Everyone was so pleased to be there, it was such a positive atmosphere.

There was lots of water everywhere too so there was a feeling of this being an oasis in the heart of such a busy city.

How incredible that this was just waste land when we won the bid just 7 years ago.

A really remarkable transformation.

I will come back to show you some of my treasures I bought in my next post and yes , I have not forgotten my promised giveaway. Watch this space.






So my challenge card for today had to be something to celebrate such a fantastic day. I think this fits perfectly.

This fun stamp is a digi stamp which was one of my very first winnings some months ago. I coloured it in with my Promarkers and highlighted with my Prismacolor pencils.

I used some bold backing papers featuring ladybirds and spots and used the super Lili of the Valley tag stamps to add my sentiments.I finished off with a polka dot black satin ribbon.

Yesterday really was a time to "celebrate happy times".







I would like to enter my card into the following challenges.

Cupcake Craftroom Fresh and summery August Challenge
Papertake Weekly Anything Goes
Make it Monday Weekly linky party
Crafting for all seasons Bright colours #33
Sir Stampalot Take flight
Ladybug Crafts Ink summer fun

I am getting ready for another evening of excitement on the TV watching the Games...Usain Bolt starts his quest  for the 200m gold by running the semi finals. He hopes to add to his 100m victory. He really is the fastest man on earth and so compelling to watch. Brenda has also reminded me that Mo ran the 5,000m heat and won. GO MO!!

I also want to mention here that the Ribbon Girl are having a great giveaway of some fab GOLD ribbons on their blog. Do pop over and join the fun. They feel just as I do, so proud of team GB and the medals they have won. We may even add a few more before the closing ceremony this weekend.

I shall be back next week with details of my 2nd bloggerversary giveaway so do come back. Can I also thank you all for the wonderful wishes you sent me and my family for Milly and Tom's recent wedding. They are staying at the Bellagio in Las Vegas on their honeymoon at the moment, having been out to the see the Grand and Bryce Canyons. Next stop Death Valley ;0) They are having a ball.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x