In 1992 the games were held in Barcelona...I was very pregnant with Katelyn and the four of us had escaped Panama City and were staying at a condo in San Destin for a long weekend. Chelsea was not yet two, and Nicole was ten! We spent most of our time by the pool and in front of the television watching America's basketball "Dream Team" dazzle the world!
We decided we wanted to experience the Olympics first hand and so three years later we joined the "pool" for tickets to the games in Atlanta. We got tickets to the equestrian, badminton, and basketball events which we split up between the Dodd clan!! We stayed about an hour and a half north of Atlanta in Hidden Hollow Resort...and that was an adventure in itself!! Imagine us with 6 kids...5 under the age of 6!! Oiyyyy...
Nicole was the perfect age (14) to be inspired and though she couldn't cash in on any great athletic ability, she was a very successful pin collector! Most pin dealers in Centennial Park were sooo nice and accommodating and helped her out when she was buying and "trading" pins!
By the end of our Olympic adventure, Nicole had collected 55 pins...(and when she gets into that new house with all of the great storage...the pin collection along with the wedding dress and various other things will make the journey up interstate 65 to their new home)!!
Getting back to the 92 Olympics, you might wonder if we were anywhere near Centennial Park when the pipe bomb, set off by Eric Rudolph, exploded...Rich and Dave had gone to a basketball game that night and were actually in Centennial Park around midnight waiting in the long line for one of the buses to take them to the satellite parking. The rest of us were out in the mountains at the "resort" battling field mice in the bunk room...we had no idea! The one upside to that situation was that many people packed up and went home. We packed up and moved to a HOTEL closer to the city...we were still so naive about terrorism at that time...and besides we had tickets to see riveting badminton matches and horses jumping fences...what memories... Now we proudly cheer on the home team from the comfort of our home :)
I am curious if anyone out there is an Olympic fan? Do you like the ceremonies? Do you have a favorite sport or athlete that you follow? Do you enjoy the special interest stories that the NBC team digs up? Are you excited about the addition of Women's Boxing??? Check out London Summer Olympics 2012 – Intro just for fun!! Meanwhile, I will go do my 5 miles...and get my smoothie...I am training for old age!!
Stay tuned as this is the first post in my series...London 2012!!
