olympics!!

we went to the london olympics!! yes, people, i know.. i am back from the trip now and can hardly believe it myself! 

rob has been planning this trip for us for the last 2 years. this has been a dream of his for the longest time. once the announcement was made that the 2012 summer games would be held in london, rob planned on us going! we absolutely love london, so we knew we needed to experience this there!

how did we get tickets? well, first rob entered us into the lottery. everyone one in the world who wants tickets enters this same lottery.. so it is no surprise that we did not get any tickets! we were so bummed though and started looking into other options. we ended up using this agency called cosport that sells packages of tickets and hotel stays. it worked out great!

the whole way to london, rob just kept saying, "i can't believe we are actually doing this!" it was so awesome to see my sweet husband so so happy!

first up.. track and field in the olympic stadium! i cannot even begin to describe to you all how surreal it was to walk into olympic park for the first time. to see live what we had been watching on tv and to know we were about to witness gold medals.. oh it was just unreal!

outside of the stadium, there was this structure called the orbit. i thought it looked like the olympic torch! anyway, you could climb up to the top and get a great view of london and into the stadium itself!

the first night, we went to see the women's 100 meter final. the way it works is you get tickets for the night.. starting between 7-8pm. you see several events going on all at the same time. so, on this night, we saw the conclusion of the heptathalon, the men's 10,000 meter final, men's long jump final, women's discus final, and the women's 100 meter final. we also got to see some other events int he semifinal phase.

we had some great seats!

jessica ennis from great britain won the heptathalon. you just can't help to be so happy for her and cheer great britain on while you are there. the stadium was going crazy! just gave you chills..

kelly-ann fraser won the 100 meter final.. go jamaica!!

once the events are over for the night, everyone leaves the stadium at once (all 80,000 of us) and all the other events around the park are also letting out (like swimming, diving, water polo, etc).. i don't think i would be exaggerating saying that 200,000 + people are exiting at one. it was unreal! it took us 1.5 hours just to get on a train home.. but it was so worth it, obviously!

the next night, rob and his sister, went to track and field again at the olympic stadium. they got to see bolt be named the fastest man in the world. so cool! we are big bolt fans around here.. and he never disappoints!

again, great seats!

yay bolt!

the next day, we hung out with the bel family. they met us in london and it was just so much fun spending the day with them!

picadilly circus..

double decker bus..

buckingham palace..

sweet husband and i about to walk through the arch that leads to trafalgar square..

trafalgar even got festive for the olympics!

sweet elliot..

the precious bel family..

big ben! it's our fav!

elliot and uncle rob walking to the riverboat on the thames..

once we boarded the boat, it took us from big ben to tower bridge and back. it is great way to see a lot of london without all the walking!

the london eye..

the tower bridge.. so awesome!

the next day, rob and i spent the entire day at olympic park.. we started the day with track and field and ended it with diving.

shalani and elliot came with us to the morning events. we got to see the men's 200m semi final. that meant seeing bolt again! he seriously looks like he is jogging, guys. it is so effortless on his part!

after the morning events, rob and i walked around the olympic park and checked it all out. we also went to the BMW pavilion to check out the olympic torch and some concept cars.

this BMW bike carried the olympic torch..

the torch and i.. 

i cannot even explain how many people were in the park at one time! i don't think i have ever or will ever see anything like it again!

our last event to go to was diving. it was so awesome to see. we didn't get too many pictures, but we enjoyed it so much!

we were so sad to say goodbye to london and the olympics.. we had so much fun. it was so nice to spend that time together and experience such a historic occasion together.

the only thing that made leaving london easier was coming home to our sweet robert! we missed him a lot and just couldn't wait to get him in our arms. a huge thank you to rob's parents for watching our little love. we could never thank them enough for taking such great care of robert!