Yesterday was also Coast Guard Day, and by the time we got home we were gassed, and who wants to stay up until 1am to watch the opening ceremonies?
This is where technology is superior.
Like a good American citizen, we DVR'd the opening ceremonies and went to bed. Then this afternoon our friends came over and we watched the not-so-live opening ceremony, all while eating pretty much authentic Brazillian food.
First of all, this was the first time the Olympics have rolled around where the kids are old enough to grasp it (they were 3 and 1 last Summer go-round). This morning we explained to them the symbolism of the Olympic rings, which I didn't even know until now that they actually mean something, thanks Google (ie: blue represents Europe, black represents Africa, red represents Americas, yellow represents Asia, and green represents Oceania. There see, now you know). So we cut out paper rings and strung them above the island in the dining room. Then we moved the huge world map that was upstairs down into the same area so the kids could check back and understand where countries were and more importantly how far away they are from California. They were completely absorbed in the Opening ceremony theatrics/show/whatever, and I even found a website to print out coloring pages of the flags of countries they saw during the Parade of Nations. I was shocked at how involved they were and how long their interest lasted.
And since we don't have a best friend from Brazil to steal recipe's from their grandma's kitchen, we resorted to Pinterest to find some tasty Brazilian recipes to snack on during the ceremony. I made a Brazilian braised pork shoulder in the slow cooker soaked in passion fruit/mango juice, and Brazilian rice (white rice with onion, garlic and tomato). Our friends made beef empanadas and Pao de Quejio, a type of cheese roll. And for extra fun we experimented with limes and condensed milk and made Brazilian coconut limeade, which has no coconuts and was very tropical but a little too limey for me. But the food left us all wondering why on earth we don't eat Brazilian food at least five times a week.
The kids even enjoyed the Pao de Quejio, rice and the empanadas (the pork was too spicy), and Camden loved the coconut limeade (Calen hated it, which is shocking because he ate an entire lime whole).
Once the ceremonies were over we turned on live Olympics and watched various swimming and soccer matches. I have a few more recipes stowed away to try the next week or two and endless flags for the kids to color. It's so fun seeing the world for the first time again through their eyes.
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| Ready to party in our little Olympic Village (the dining room) |
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| Today's flags. They learned about Japan, Australia, Brazil, The United States, Canada and Germany |
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| Our point of reference for the Olympics |
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| Cam liked Canada because "it's red and has a leaf" |
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| A plate of Brazil! Braised passion fruit pork, rice, empanadas, pao de quejio, and Hawaiian chips (because that makes sense) |
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| Lime-head |
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| They're trying to do gymnastics. I think. |
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