London: day seven

After a short few hours of sleep Josh, Chelsea and I got up early and headed for the Olympic Village. It was our day to visit Trey there. He could only get a few people in at a time and boy did we luck out on which day was ours.

We went to the village, made it through security (where they make you leave your passport and exchange it for a pass), and met up with Trey. He showed us his room, we met his roommates and then went to the dining hall to have an early lunch. The food in the dining hall was amazing. They had food from almost every country represented at the Olympics. And it was delicious!

While we were eating, Trey's phone began to ring. It was the US team's media liaison letting Trey know that he was going on The Today Show in ten minutes! So he ran off to change his clothes and we met him back outside of his building. The Today Show was taping in the Olympic park and we didn't have the credentials to go there. But Trey's people snuck us in!

We watched him be interviewed and then he was swept back into the media building to do a barrage of interviews. We decided to head back to the village to wait for him. Well...we didn't make it far before security realized that we didn't have the credentials to be in the park and because Trey wasn't with us we no longer had proper credentials to be in the village. Josh, Chelsea and I wound up being held in a small area just outside the security check point for about 45 minutes, while security figured out what to do with us. The head of all Olympic security even came down...yikes. Josh managed to charm the pants off of one of the guards named Anastasia and she agreed to escort us back through the village and out to get our passports. They led us out like criminals but did stop and take our picture with the Olympic torch.

Once out of the village and through such a harrowing experience we decided that the best course of action would be to grab a beer at a nearby pub. We got a few drinks and chatted until Trey arrived.

While we were hanging out, Trey found out that he would be able to get a couple of tickets for his medal ceremony that night...but they would have to be picked up on the other side of town. We called my mom and dad to let them know except they were just getting in the shower and wouldn't be able to leave for a while. So Josh and I jumped in a cab to track down these tickets because there was only an hour to go before Trey would get his medal.

When we got to the ticket will call, Trey's tickets were not there! So we made arrangements to meet a USA representative outside the Olympic park to get them. We then raced back over to the park. Mom and Dad eventually made it there too and were able to watch Trey get his silver medal.

At this point, Josh and I only had an hour or so before we were supposed to be at the dinner that RedBull was throwing for Trey. There was no time to go home and shower so we killed some time at the Westfield mall.

When it was time we joined the RedBull staff, Trey, his friends and the whole family for dinner and a meet and greet with the giant medal. We had such a fabulous time at dinner and RedBull graciously paid the tab. It was so neat to be able to celebrate with Trey so soon after the win.

London: day six. Decathlon: day two

After only four hours of sleep we all got up and headed back to the track. We got to see some amazing races on day two...we saw Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world...we saw the first Saudi Arabian woman to compete in the games...and of course we saw Trey Hardee!

Trey kicked it all off by winning the 110m hurdles. Then he competed in the discus, pole vault and javelin before finishing off the competition with the 1500m. He did great in all of the events but especially well in the javelin. I know it must have felt amazing for him to do so well in that event in particular since he had Tommy-John surgery on his throwing elbow less than a year ago.

Going into the 1500, he had to stay within 30 seconds of the Cuban in order to secure the silver medal. He did just that and started his victory lap. I had made my way down to the edge of the track and was already in tears of joy before he got to me.

We are just so incredibly proud of all that Trey has accomplished. And as if Wyatt didn't already love his uncle enough...the silver medal certainly gave Uncle Trey a bump.

London: day five. Decathlon: day one

Day five started with an early wake up call. Trey's first event started at 10am but we needed to get over to the Olympic Park and go through security and find our way to our seats. So we all hopped on the tube and headed that way. We got in our seats with time to spare.

On day one we watched Trey compete in the 100m dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and the 400m. Trey did great and put himself in a great position for day two.

The stadium was amazing and all of the facilities were beautiful...crowded but beautiful. We bought a program and found a full page of Trey! Pretty cool that out of all of the athletes competing, they chose Trey to take up a whole page!

After the 400, we headed for the house. I believe it was already close to 11pm by the time we made it on the train. Needless to say we all hit the sack as quickly as possible since day two would have an early start as well.

London: day four

This morning I had one goal: get to the Louis Vuitton store. There is a bag I've had my eye on and I wanted Josh to see it...you know, in case he ever wanted to surprise me. Well he did surprise me because I walked out with it!

After LV, we grabbed a cab an headed back to Harrod's for lunch and shopping. We did quite a bit of looking around before Josh, Chelsea and I went to meet up with some of Trey's friends to deliver their tickets to them. We walked to Hyde park, delivered the tickets and went for a drink at a nearby pub. Then we make the trek back to the house on Drayton Gardens.

Now we're sitting in the living room watching the Olympic broadcast and waiting on my dad to get back with pizzas. We're staying in tonight because we have to leave at 7 tomorrow morning for the track. The countdown is on to the decathlon!

London: day three

As soon as Josh and I woke up (yes I finally got a couple hours of sleep) we walked down the street for pastries. It was nice to get a minute alone. When you're in a house with 11 people, minutes alone are few and far between.

When we came back, we showered and loaded on the tube and headed over to Olympic Park and the Westfield Mall. That mall is not a place that I wish to return, although we did see some cool things there. This mall was designed to hold maybe 5,000 people but is actually holding about 50,000. Shopping wasn't exactly pleasant. But we did see a replica of the Olympic stadium made out of 100,000 Legos and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth made of jelly beans.

We grabbed a bite at the mall and then took the tube to the London Eye to take a river cruise down the river Thames. The cruise was chilly and it rained on us towards the end. But we did see some iconic sites and had a very funny tour guide.

We walked in the rain back to the tube and then had dinner at an Italian place...again. Guess we just like Italian food.

I decided not to mess around last night and took some medicine to help me sleep. Slept like a baby!

London: day two

I awoke to Josh's elbow in my side and him telling me that my cell phone was "blowing up". It was messages from Trey and Chelsea...she had arrived and was headed our way via the tube. Josh and I were to meet her at the station and walk her back to the house. We had all of fifteen minutes to get up and get out the door. We scrambled around and then headed out...looking lovely I assure you.

We found Chelsea and started walking back. Halfway there we made a quick pit stop for pastries and muffins. We made it to the house and poor Chelsea barely had time to shower before she, my dad, my mom, Roby and Bernis headed off to the Olympic Village to see Trey. (he can only get a few people in at a time, so the rest of us will have to wait).

Deborah and Jon went off sightseeing and then came back to take a nap. Josh, Nonna, Papa and I decided to go to Harrod's. It's only about a mile from where we're staying so we decided to walk. This is London, so of course it started raining while we walked. We stopped into an Italian deli to eat a bite and hopefully wait out the rain. It showed no signs of stopping so we hopped in a cab and rode the rest of the way.

Harrod's was spectacular. You can literally buy anything there. They have a market, a candy shop, all manner of designer goods, an opera singer, a pizza parlor, an ice cream shop, a "Christmas world", and many more things than I could even list. I was loving every minute of this.

We had reservations for tea at 3pm, but most of our party of 11 was unable to make it. So the four of us plus Deborah, Roby and Bernis had afternoon tea together at The Georgian in Harrod's. It was everything I thought an English tea would be. I only hope we get to do it again while we're here.

Once we were done at Harrod's we took a cab back to the house. Josh and I got to Skype with the kids a little before the others returned from the Village. It was so nice to see their sweet faces. Technology is an amazing thing.

Everyone regrouped a little and it was time for dinner. This time we ventured a little further from the house and had a wonderful dinner at a small Italian place. It was fun and there was a lot of laughter--how could there not be with this motley crew?

As is what I'm sure will be our ritual, we all came back and went directly to bed. For whatever reason I slept for two hours and am now wide awake...I figured what better time to blog. :)

London: day one

We arrived at London Heathrow about an hour later than scheduled-- thanks Delta. We picked up our baggage and headed for "the tube". A very nice gentleman helped us figure out which pass we needed and we were on our way. At first the train was comfortable. But with each stop we passed, more and more people got on. We kept thinking people would get off but they never did. Sixteen stops later we were tighter than sardines in that thing. Getting off with three suitcases and carry on bags at Gloucester Road was definitely interesting.

We got off the tube and headed up to street level. After several stops to check the map and a ten minute walk, we arrived at 28 Drayton Gardens. The owner of the home, Susanne--a gorgeous blonde Swede, greeted us and showed us around. She left us and Josh and I settled in.

The rest of the family was supposed I arrive four hours after us at noon, but we quickly learned they would be delayed as well. All nine of the rest of our party (Papa, Nonna, my mom, her friends Roby and Bernis, my dad, my stepmom, and my other brother) were delayed in Atlanta for five hours due to mechanical issues. I can't even imagine how painful that must have been. I noticed that I only listed eight people a second ago...that's because the ninth is my brothers girlfriend, Chelsea, and she would be arriving the next day.

So Josh and I had the house to ourselves. We took a walk, hit the grocery store, had showers and took a much needed nap. It wasn't long before they all finally showed up. They were relieved to have made it and relieved that we had stocked up on wine and beer.

Once everyone got their stuff into the house, we picked rooms. I'm not entirely sure how Josh and I ended up in the master bedroom of this gorgeous five bedroom house, but we did. We are more than comfortable there. After some visiting and story telling, we headed out for dinner. Everyone was famished so we literally walked into the first open restaurant we found. It was delicious. Traditional British food along with some things even Americans can appreciate (macaroni and cheese, chicken pot pie).

Once our bellies were full it was bedtime. I'm pretty sure that we all slept like rocks...I know I did.