August 31--1st Time Seeing Eric in London

Today has been a GREAT day!  I'm loving London.  I know I mentioned in my previous post how I keep thinking this London trip is going to be like China, but there are so many things that are different which I'm loving!  Here's a list of just a few things:

1. The food!  In China I lived and hoped for finding a McDonalds.  Here, there are both a McDonald's and a Burger King in Victoria Station and it doesn't even appeal to me.  There are so many other places I want to try.  Tonight was a place in Victoria Station called West Cornwall Pasty Co. where I got a chicken and chorizo pasty.  It was basically an empanada which I loved and it took me back to my Argentine days.
2. The travel!  I was completely dependent in China on Taxis.  Here, as long as I know how to get from point A to point B I'm completely independent and love coming and going as I want.  I love seeing the countryside as today I rode the train for part of my trip instead of just being underground on the tube. I also appreciate the accessibility of everything.
3. The language!  It's sooo nice being in a country where they speak the same language.  I haven't had an issue with the accent at all.  That also means I can watch TV in my own language and I've heard all about the Republican Convention and loved hearing about Clint Eastwood!
4. The people (or lack thereof)!  London is a busy, happening place...but not nearly like China was.  I felt I was constantly bombarded by people in China.  The lines to go places were forever long and every where I went I was in a crowd.  I don't feel that way at all here and I'm very pleased with how quickly I get through security at the venues.  I loved being at the archery field today and how intimate it felt among the athletes.

So that's my analysis so far!  I was actually awake this morning to enjoy my "American" breakfast in the hotel.  It's buffet style and they have a cereal bar, fruit and pastry bar, and hot foods like bacon, sausage, hash browns  eggs, etc.  It was nice and I'm glad I get to have that to eat every morning.

After breakfast I went back up to my room and I had a few hours before I needed to leave to meet Eric.  Because my room is so small, the only place I have to sit is on the bed and before I knew it, I was back asleep.  Luckily I woke up in just enough time to shower and get ready to go.  As I said before, I was able to ride the train today and I enjoyed going over the River Thames, seeing the London Eye as well as some of the land side.  Thanks again to my brother in law, Robert, I had directions to the Artillery Barracks and arrived with no problem.  After I got off the train, my directions told me to catch a shuttle bus, but I could see Paralympic signs everywhere pointing the way, so I decided to walk.  One of the first signs I saw said it was a 20 minute walk.  No biggie and I figured I could even make it in faster time.  What they failed to mention was that it was uphill the entire way! :)  It made for an easy walk back to the train station and it will be good exercise for me! 

Saw these mascots on my walk uphill.  The Olympic mascot is on the right and his name is Wenlock.  Mandeville is on the left-the Paralympic mascot.

As a side note:  I have to admit that when I first saw the London Paralympic colors were going to be hot pink, teal and purple I was a little turned off.  But after being in London, I'm loving it!  The hot pink is so easy to spot and I always know which way to go from those bright pink signs.  All the volunteers wear purple shirts and most have bright pink foam fingers to point the way, which also make them easy to spot.  Just another positive for London in my book!

I got to the archery field and was able to meet up with Eric who had my ticket for today.  It was so great to see him!!  I was only with him for a bit when he had to leave and go to the practice field for a while.  I enjoyed sitting in the stands, watching the archery competitions and reading a book.  After a bit, he joined me and we were able to watch a few of his teammates shoot.  One of them was Matt Stutzman, the archer who shoots with his feet because he has no arms.  He is ranked #1 and is fun to watch shoot.  He moved on to the quarterfinals where he'll face another guy from the US on Sunday.  He is also Eric's roommate here in London and they have a great time together!

Eric will shoot tomorrow.  His first time is at 11am (3am in Arizona if you want to stay up and watch it!) and when he wins that, he'll shoot again at 1pm (5am in Arizona if you want to wake up early!).  I will try and post results as quick as I can, but here is a link that will post them as well.

Eric is confident and ready for tomorrow.  I called him tonight and he said he was just watching a movie before bed.  I asked him which and he said Miracle which I thought was quite appropriate. :)

On my home tonight from the field, I entered Victoria station from another way and I saw a theatre across the street playing Wicked!  I am definitely going to try and see that while I'm here.  I had to laugh at Eric tho, and I'm going to embarrass him too.  I called him just to make sure he didn't want to go with me.  He told me he would like to, but we'd have to do it after he was done competing.  I guess he could hear the surprise in my voice when I asked him if he was sure.  He told me "Yeah, I like plays, I just don't like musicals".  I laughed and told him Wicked was a musical!  He quickly decided I could go on my own. :)

It's been a great day and I look forward to watching Eric shoot tomorrow.  Thanks for all your positive thoughts and prayers sent our way...we can feel it!

I Can Read A Map!!

Wednesday was seriously such a blur!  I got off the airplane around 10am and found my person to take me to the hotel without any problems.  Got checked into the hotel and showered and ready for my experience on the tube.  I have to give ALL the credit to my brother in law Robert for helping me print out directions to and from all my destinations yesterday as well as a map of the tube.  I would NEVER had made it without his help and expertise.

My hotel has an entrance to Victoria station and when I walked into the station I was taken aback.  I felt like I had just walked into a Harry Potter movie.  It was sooo busy and was filled with lots of shops and restaurants, some of which I even recognized.  I knew I would at least have a place to eat every day.  I was able to locate my line right away and off I went.  I had to go get my ticket for opening ceremonies and it was about a 40 minute tube ride away.

Victoria Station just as I walk out from my hotel.  This picture doesn't do it justice!

After getting my ticket I headed to the Olympic Park because I wanted to make sure I got there in plenty of time and I wasn't sure how long it would take and what the lines would be like, etc.  Again, I had smooth tube ride (thanks again Robert!) and arrived without any problems.

By this time it was around 3:30pm and I hadn't eaten anything since the croissant on the plane and was on about 1 1/2 hours of sleep.  I found out the gates didn't open for the ceremonies until 5 pm, so I went into an adjacent mall and found something to eat.  Again I was pleasantly surprised of the familiarity of it all.  After being in China 4 years ago, I guess I assumed everything would be so foreign and I'd be eating McDonald's for all my meals again.  I found a place in the food court called "Tortillas" and it was exactly like Chipotle.  Heaven on Earth!  After that, I found a big over sized chair and crashed for about an hour and a half waiting for the gates to open.

After my cat nap I found another piece of heaven on Earth before leaving the mall.  A pretzel place that makes their pretzel dough right there.  It was delicious!  Got through security and started walking around the Olympic Park.  It is huge and contains buildings for swimming, water polo, basketball, as well as others, including the Olympic Stadium.  They have the Olympic Megastore, which I browsed for a bit.  It's got anything and everything a person could desire with a paralympic/olympic logo on it.

A picture of me for my kiddos-loves to you both!  I was waiting for opening ceremonies to start.

Found my seat for the Opening Ceremonies and from the moment it began,  I could tell it was going to be different from Olympic Opening Ceremonies and for the better.  I was touched right from the beginning as they focused on people overcoming their disabilities.  The message I took from it was to be who you are and be proud of who you are, because one person can make a difference.  What a message we could all learn from!

Right after the torch was lit!

I wasn't able to see Eric in the crowd of US athletes walking in due to my nosebleed location, so I loved seeing that the camera captured him and thanks to Lonnie posting it on Facebook.

A view of the Olympic Stadium as I was walking to West Ham...my tube interchange.

After ceremonies were over at 12:15am, I walked with the masses to my tube pick up location and surprisingly got right on and found a seat.  I knew exactly where I was going, with no transfers and so I became very relaxed.  Too much in fact because I fell asleep, only to wake up as the tube was pulling away from Victoria station--my station!  I got off at the next stop, but because it was 1am, the return track wasn't running and the guy at the station told me to get a bus.  By the time I figured out the bus system (because of course it is different at night than during the day) I realized I could sit and wait for the bus for 30 minutes, or I could walk it, as it was only about an 8 minute walk.  With the bus map in hand, I felt better about walking the streets of London than being a sitting duck. (Attention: Mom skip to the next paragraph so you don't have a panic attack!)

It took me a minute (or two) to figure out where I was on the map and the best route to take.  It was a cool night, after having rained in the early evening and the streets were well lit.  There was literally no one on them (note to self: if it's necessary to walk the streets at night, do it at 1:30 am! hehe)  It took me a little longer than 8 minutes due to a couple wrong turns, but I really enjoyed my walk and got to the hotel around 2am.  Remember, at this point I'd only had about 3 hours of sleep in the last 40 hours.  I was exhausted but still couldn't believe all the things I'd accomplished in the last 18 hours of being in London.  I was literally running on adrenaline and couldn't even fall asleep right away.  I think it was around 3am before I fell asleep.

Let's just say, I had an adrenaline crash and I spent most of day sleeping...about 20 hours total.  It's now 5:30 in the morning and should be good for the rest of the day today.

Today I get to see Eric and I'm soo excited!  A few of his teammates are competing today so I'm going to head over to the Artillery Barracks to see Eric and watch them compete.  One of them being the armless, "Inspirational Archer" so it will be exciting.

For those of you who don't have Facebook, here's Eric account of the ranking round yesterday. He's at peace with where he finished, 11th.  He will shoot tomorrow.  When he wins his first matchup, he'll face another competitor tomorrow as well, so I'll get to see him shoot twice.  I will try and post information as soon as I can, but this page will also give you results.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped make this trip possible.  It truly is a dream come true!

I Made It!

I'm here!!!  The packed flight was miserable and the only thing that made it better was they served ice cream sandwiches around 1:30am!  I'm checked into my hotel and my room is itty-bitty, but nice.  I'm already getting used to the London way of transferring to get to different levels;  I have to take two different elevators to even get to my room! :)  Time for a quick shower and then my Tube adventure begins as I go get my ticket for opening ceremonies.  Go USA!

I'm Getting Closer

My mom, Logan, Natalie and I all arrived in Northern California Saturday night after a delayed but otherwise uneventful flight.  This was Logan and Natalie's first time flying that they can remember and they loved it.  We are so thankful my sister Jennie has taken us in and will take care of everyone while I'm gone.  She even gets to homeschool Logan, which should be loads of fun, haha!

I leave tomorrow morning from the San Francisco airport and arrive Wednesday morning early.  I'll get to my hotel and I'm hoping they'll let me check in early.  Then I immediately get to figure out "the tube" because I need to go get my ticket for opening ceremonies from the US Paralympic office.  Then, I get to figure out how to get to Opening Ceremonies.  Let the adventures of my "Amazing Race" begin! :)

I'm so excited to get there.  I don't know how soon I'll be able to see Eric.  The day after opening ceremonies is his ranking round, which I'm not able to attend.  Then we have a day off, possibly two if he gets a bye in the first round, and I don't know if I'll be able to see him any of those days.  I might just have a lot of quality alone time in London the first few days!

Eric posted this picture today on his fan page.  He's doing great!  I've been able to talk to him a couple times as he can call from the media room in the athlete village.

This was his quote, "Royal Artillary Barracks Ranking field with the finals stadium in the background. Had a great day of practice and am headed back to the Village for lunch (aka: McDonalds, hehe)"

I will keep everyone posted as I get there.  Go Team Eric!

Got Coverage?

The biggest question we are asked is if the Paralympics will be on TV.  Unfortunately, the answer is no. :(  But here's the rundown of Eric's competition, times and best chances to see results and maybe a video or two.

How the competition works:  All 32 archers in my division shoot 72 arrows for a ranking score on Aug. 30th.  We will then be placed in a single elimination bracket where we shoot head-to-head until the Gold medal. 
The Ranking round is closed to the public so there won't be any video but the results should post live.  The eliminations start on the 1st of September and will hopefully be broadcast on one of the outlets below.  If I make it to the end I will be shooting for the Gold on the 3rd.

Social Media

Eric will be updating his fanpage as much as he can.  I will be updating the blog often.
Eric's Facebook fanpage can be found at:  www.facebook.com/bennettarchery

International Paralympic Committee

The IPC will be streaming 500 hours of live coverage at www.paralympic.org 
We don't know how much archery will be shown :\

United States ParalympicsStarting on the 29th, US Paralympics will be broadcasting a daily highlight show on their youtube channel.  www.youtube.com/USParalympics
Again, we don't know how much archery they will show.

World Archery

World archery will have scoring results as the matches happen.  There won't be any video but you can find results here.  www.archery.org

US Archery

US Archery will have updates and results but they provide much better coverage if you "like" them on Facebook.  www.usarchery.org

NBC Coverage

NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) will air one-hour highlight shows on Sept. 4, 5, 6 and 11 at 7 p.m. EDT.
Following the Paralympic Games, on Sept. 16, NBC will broadcast a 90 minute special from 2-3:30 p.m. EDT.
All NBC and NBC Sports Network Paralympic highlight shows and specials will re-air on Universal Sports Network and UniversalSports.com

Thanks again for all of your support.  The plan is to have a Gold Medal around Eric's neck when we return on September 10th.

We Are Ready!!!

This blog is about to see a lot of activity!  I can't wait to keep everyone updated on our adventures in London.  Eric leaves on Wednesday (Aug. 22nd) and I leave on Saturday the 25th.  We've been busy getting ready and here's Eric's new paint job on his release.  We love it.

Before we say anything else, we have to THANK so many people who have made it possible for us to be going on this adventure.  The contributions through the blog total close to $4000.  But with T-shirt, pen and jewelry sales at Corner Archery, the Scentsy fundraiser, our Chick-fil-A night and cash donations we have raised over $7500, which well exceeds our expectations.  We seriously could NOT have done this without you.

We are excited to keep everyone posted on our experience so stay tuned!!!