Pyeong Chang

Tonight, Madison, Mommy and Daddy sat down to watch the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Pyeong Chang, a word we've never heard of until recently.  The image above is amazing, a figure entirely made up from flying drones that are lit up.  Several of these were used tonight to make a star field that looked like a planetarium, and of course the Olympic Rings.  It was pretty amazing to see.  But the rest of the ceremony was fantastic, as these things tend to be.  We go all in each Olympics, and it was great just watching the athletes pour into the stadium, and the performances as well.  Of course, the big moment was summed up in this photo here.

It's a North Korean and a South Korean running up the stairs with the torch together.  There has been so much negative to say about North Korea in regards to just about any issue.  And yet, the door was opened and an invitation was there.  Athletes from North Korea are at the Olympics, and together, they marched in with the South Koreans.  

Recently we passed a landmark day, one where the Berlin Wall has been down longer than it had ever been up.  That was the day that Germany began to reunite.  Similarly, North Vietnam and South Vietnam reunited as well.  In all three of these instances, just look to the country that hosted the last Olympics if you want to see who to blame.  This division has been the longest, and it seems like it would be impossible to reunite these two countries.  Seems that way.  The more you consider everything about North Korea, it just doesn't seem likely.  And yet, there is this small season of hope. It was a neat moment.  As was this one:

Yuna Kim is back at the Olympics, although not competing this time around.  She lit the torch that started out these games.  Now it's really hard to believe that eight years ago we were watching her win the gold medal.

Tonight was nice though.  We went to bed right afterwards, pretty tired from a full day.  Daddy was making Valentine's Day cards like the ones below:

And Mommy was making shepherd's pie, which is just perfect for a gloomy overcast day like today.  We got a lot done today towards Sunday, and a lot done towards our upcoming mini-vacation.  Time is flying by, and we're even focusing somewhat on Summer Xtreme already.  Plus the yearbook... lots to do lately.  But we'll get there, and for the next sixteen days or so, we'll be having fun watching some winter games as well.