Steampunk Olympics

Wow - the opening part of the Olympic Ceremonies tonight were pretty cool.  Steampunk all the way, which is something we're big fans of actually.  There was a lot of creative costuming from the age of steam, with that hint of Victorian era thrown in for good measure.  Gears and metal grinded, and smokestacks rose up, towering over the industrial landscape below.  Thousands of workers moved together as one, pouring the molten liquid into a shape that everyone would not forget:

The Olympic Rings.  It was a dazzling introduction that we all enjoyed watching, which almost for a moment made us forget how unbeatable the Beijing Opening Ceremonies were.  To add to the awesomeness, shortly afterwards there was a stirring rendition of "Chariots of Fire," featuring a very famous keyboardist:

Mr. Bean!  He was responsible for that one note that gets repeated quickly throughout the entire piece. Boredom for him sets in pretty quickly, however, and so did the humor for us.  It was easily one of the highlights of the evening.  But from there on, we sort of lost some momentum.  Perhaps we're so partial to the Chinese Olympics - I don't know.  Mommy didn't quite get the giant Voldemort nightmare coming in as children slept in white glowing beds - nor the army of Mary Poppins that swooped in to battle off an army of dark demon thingies.  Now that I've reread that last sentence, I'm not quite so sure of it either.  It was decent, but the following bit with a house and a dedication to the internet via an enormous musical medley that lasted forever... that sort of missed the mark at our place.  It was okay, but again:  what could compare to Beijing?

By this point, Madison was upstairs playing with Hannah!

There were other bright points throughout the evening, including the parade of nations and the lighting of the cauldron.  It was neat seeing the thing lit, having just held one of the torches along the relay.

Tonight was fun - it was good to be over at Ye-Ye and Nana's house, with all the other family too.  Each person was responsible for bringing one food item from another country - or at least resembling that of another country: Aunt Shain's attempt at haggis was admirable.  Nana played on their record player Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man," which had an Olympic sound to it!  And so we said together, "Let the games begin!"

The place mats were courtesy of Aunt Shain, who made out of pieces of felt all the nations of the world, and there were various decorations all about, including a vuvuzela - and yes, the Olympic rings hanging high over the porch!

It was a fun night for everyone, and a great time together watching a big historic moment.  Each of these is historic - only happening every four years.  The next time Madison sees one will be in 2016 - the Olympics in Brazil.  She'll be ten years old then - which is quite a bit to think about, actually.  The other bit to think about are the costumes in Brazil... hopefully they'll wear more than they usually do!