Today was Olympic Day at Grace's school, which she's been looking forward to pretty much since September when we bought the t-shirt which you see on every kid at her school in the photos at left. It was a huge improvement on what used to be called Track and Field, back in [my] day: there were a bunch of different and cool stations through which the classes rotated, and kids could opt out if they wanted, and they weren't competitive or even all athletic in nature. 
We'd be warned that the expectations were high regarding lunch, so I did the honors and brought Panera Bread for a picnic, and we joined hundreds of other kids and parents spread across the school grounds and happily ate. I picked up Peter a bit early and we attended the closing ceremony, which (oddly, to my ear) involved a heartfelt rendering of "God Bless the USA" and a speech thanking our armed services, while students waved their American flags. And then the Olympic theme song, and the (faux) torch got carried around the parking lot, the kids each took the flag of the country their class has been studying all year and marched behind it back to their classrooms, and the day was done. Grace loved it all - the ceremony, the fun games, the matching t-shirts, lunch with mama, the noise and the marching around. Peter was somewhat overwhelmed by the noise (sometimes irony strikes, and it is funny!) and the big kids and the orchestrated activity, but he had a pretty good time. It's fun to see him taking ownership of the school where he'll start kindergarten in a few months - he told Grace pointedly that this was only his *first* Olympic Day, and it's true.
We'd be warned that the expectations were high regarding lunch, so I did the honors and brought Panera Bread for a picnic, and we joined hundreds of other kids and parents spread across the school grounds and happily ate. I picked up Peter a bit early and we attended the closing ceremony, which (oddly, to my ear) involved a heartfelt rendering of "God Bless the USA" and a speech thanking our armed services, while students waved their American flags. And then the Olympic theme song, and the (faux) torch got carried around the parking lot, the kids each took the flag of the country their class has been studying all year and marched behind it back to their classrooms, and the day was done. Grace loved it all - the ceremony, the fun games, the matching t-shirts, lunch with mama, the noise and the marching around. Peter was somewhat overwhelmed by the noise (sometimes irony strikes, and it is funny!) and the big kids and the orchestrated activity, but he had a pretty good time. It's fun to see him taking ownership of the school where he'll start kindergarten in a few months - he told Grace pointedly that this was only his *first* Olympic Day, and it's true.
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