Rio Here We Come!

After months of preparation, we finally had all the passports, immunizations, credentialing (for Jason), tickets to events, Team USA gear, plane tickets and hotels booked and were thrilled for the Olympic Games to begin.  Two days before the opening ceremonies and here's Jason at the Salt Lake airport ready to join Team USA!

Jason kept getting stopped in the airport and asked what event he was competing in.  I guess he looks more like an athlete than a team physician!  He had a layover in Houston before the overnight flight to Rio. He found the terminal in Houston to be a big party sending off the athletes to Rio, many of which were on the same flight as him.  He ran into several Olympians he had worked with last year at the USOC training center and Jared Ward (marathon runner from Utah) as well as meeting several other athletes on the team.  He hadn't even left US soil yet and he was having the time of his life being part of the excitement heading to Rio.

Jason arrived in Rio and went to work right away.  He was stationed at the USA House in Ipanema.  The USA House was the hospitality house for athletes, VIPs and corporate sponsors of the USOC  His hotel as well as the USA House were both beach front property.  The building was a school that the USOC had rented out and remodeled for the month.  The nuns who worked at the school were still staying there and enjoying the US Olympic spirit.  Jason was thrilled to be back in Brazil.  He used his Portuguese frequently.  He often got strange looks from Brazilians who weren't used to Americans that could speak their language.  He even had several ask why he was wearing USA gear if he was Brazilian!  At the USA House he was mainly taking care of the USOC staff and corporate sponsors.  The athletes were in and out of the house constantly though and he had a lot of opportunities to interact with the athletes as well.  He was working long hours from first thing in the morning until 11 pm when the House would close but loving every minute of it.  This experience was a life long dream for him and one he has spent countless hours, really years, working for.  Occasionally he'd get out for a run on the beach in the morning or get away to grab some Brazilian food.  Although he had access to great food at the USA House, it was American food and so he got away for some authentic Brazilian food when he could.  Here he is in front of his home base for the month.

We were anxious to get to Rio and meet him.  I had decided to wait a week to join him since we were leaving Skyler at home with grandparents and I didn't want to leave him too long.  We waiting for the second week of the Olympics so we could be there during track and field and the marathons.  It was so exciting to watch the opening ceremony with the anticipation of being there in a short time.  We watched as much as we could on tv although the week was so busy with preparations to leave that we didn't see as much as we would have liked.  Finally the day came, Friday August, 12.  We said goodbye to Skyler and  the four of us boarded a flight to Houston.  I wondered if I was slightly crazy taking three children on an international flight alone.  We had a short layover in Houston and just had enough time to catch the red eye flight to Rio.  Here are three of the most excited kids you have ever seen!

The night went about as well as you could expect sitting in coach.  I didn't sleep too much but that wasn't a surprise.  At one point I woke up and wondered where Andrew had disappeared to.  I finally realized he was sleeping on the floor at Kaitlyn and Jared's feet. At least he found somewhere he could get some sleep.  I tend to get motion sick and by the time we arrived in Rio I was feeling quite ill.  I'm not sure how much was motion sickness or if it was something I had been coming down with for a couple days.  I'm sure a night with no sleep didn't help the situation.  Jason had been hoping to arrange a ride for us but all the USOC drivers were busy so we were on our own to find our way from the airport to the hotel.  Luckily it wasn't too hard to find a taxi and communicate where we needed to go.  The driver tried to point out points of interest along the way although his English was worse than my Portuguese!  The kids were quickly introduced to the crazy driving habits of Brazilian taxi drivers!  We made it to the hotel without any incident and were thrilled to be greeted by Jason in the lobby.

It had been a long 20+ hours since we had left home. I felt terrible and just wanted to crash in bed but decided it would be better to try to stay awake for the day.  We had to go pick up some of our event tickets at will call, so the next adventure was trying to take an Uber across town to the ticket collection site.  We were on our own again since Jason had to get to work.  The Uber ride was a bit of an adventure again.  My phone had put the address in behind the hotel and we were waiting in the front.  The driver called me when he couldn't find us but of course didn't speak any English.  Once he did find us he couldn't find the building we were supposed to be going to.  We could actually see it but kept driving in circles around it but his GPS wouldn't tell him how to get there.  I was no help without speaking the language and the crazy Brazilian roads and drivers.  He finally got us there and I was ushered into a courtyard where we would wait for our tickets.  Other people were waiting as well and I was told some had been waiting for hours!  By this time I was really ill.  This wasn't just motion sickness and jet lag.  I had a fever and was shivering in spite of the fact it was a beautiful sunny 70 degree day and everyone else was comfortable in shorts and t shirts. I must have looked as bad as a felt because a couple men that were there also waiting for tickets asked if I was ok.  They found a sunny spot for me to sit and had the boys wait with them for my tickets.  Luckily ours came more quickly then some of the others and the Uber ride back to the hotel went much smoother. I finally gave in and crashed at the hotel.  I felt bad because the kids were looking longingly at the beach across the street but I just couldn't fight it anymore.  I was worried about what I had and hoping I wouldn't be sick the whole trip.  It had come too soon to be something I picked up in Brazil but I didn't want the trip ruined by all of us getting sick.  After some Tylenol (luckily I had brought a bag full of medication) and a nap I started to feel alive again and we wandered over to the beach for the little bit of time before the sun set.  Since it was winter in Rio the hours of daylight were short.  Jason got away from work long enough to take us to dinner.  It was some amazing meat that we grilled on a skillet in front of us.  Jason had brought pins for the kids and they got started on the fun of trading pins with people.  Soon Brazilian dancers were outside the window of the restaurant doing flips, dancing, singing and entertaining the tourists.  It was a great introduction for the kids to the Brazilian culture and the Olympic spirit and Jason was thrilled to have his family around after a week and a half alone.  The next morning I woke up feeling like a new person. The fever was gone and I was so excited for the adventure to come!