Late nights + a happy kid

ARGH the Olympics are killing me here. I’m ready for a western country to host the Olympics so the coverage can be in MY time zone!! hahahaha.

The last several Olympics have been in Asia which obviously means a HUGE time difference. It actually doesn’t work out too bad from China, because our prime-time viewing (7-10 pm or so Central time) matches up with their mid-morning time frame across the globe. So if they have skating competitions at 9 a.m., for example, we can watch it live here at a reasonable hour too.

But last night, I really, really wanted to watch Nathan Chen’s short program- and he was at the very end. He didn’t skate until just after 11 pm Central time. Ivan and I stayed up and watched until the end and it was SPECTACULAR!!! Definitely worth a short night of sleep. 🙂 Gave me goosebumps to see him just nail it under all that pressure. I was like, Yes, Nathan, Yes! Atta boy. 🙂

The boys were watching until about 9:15-9:30 and then they hit the hay. (I recorded it and they watched Chen during breakfast this morning.) They really want to watch Shaun White take on the half-pipe tonight!

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Speaking of athletes, my own little athlete had a hot day on Sunday, too.

Asher had a swim meet and had the best meet he has had in a long time. This whole season has been solid but a little stagnant for him, and he was feeling a little frustrated. For a 12 year old, he has had a pretty chill attitude about it all and hasn’t really let it ruffle his feathers too much though. He has a pretty mature mindset most days and instead of getting upset, will say things like, “Well, I know I won’t always get best times every time I swim” (very true) or “It’s okay, I just have to keep working and it will all even out in the end.” (also very true)

But now that the season is wrapping up, I think he was really hoping to wind down on a high note, with State coming up in a few weeks. He opted to not swim the Saturday session and just competed on Sunday only this time. He nailed it, too, getting 3 consecutive State cuts back to back to back. He was HAPPY!! We were excited for him too. There are lots of ups and downs in swimming, so it’s fun to celebrate the ups when they come back around.

On one of his races they announced it was a “hot heat”, which meant that whoever won that race would get to pick a special prize afterwards. (It’s just like the Olympics, you see. They also call the swimmers up to pick a prize out of a bucket when they win, too.🤣) He was extra excited though for that fun little boost, he won that race and he got to pick a prize! (It was a $3.95 pack of stickers. lol. But still- fun!)

After the meet we were STARVING…it was after 2:30 pm and we hadn’t eaten anything really all day. We tried to go to Chili’s but they had a staffing issue going on and a huge waitlist, so Asher asked for Olive Garden (which is next door). He said he wanted “steak” to celebrate his good day. Hmm…. Normally we don’t order steak for our 12 year old for an average meal out, but we decided to let him have at it this time. It was basically lunch and dinner in one, plus leftovers, anyway. 😉 And it felt like a day worth celebrating for him.

Ok, back to work now! These late Olympic nights are killing my morning routine.

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for a 40 degree day coming up here today!! It’s been soooooo cold these last few weeks. I’m really hoping to get out for a walk. Asher and I went for a walk Sunday after being stuffed full of Olive Garden breadsticks, and it was relatively mild and beautiful out then, too.