Oops

Having trouble uploading pics to site. Sorry for that. Will keep trying

Thank you USA House!

Having fun with krispies!!!

Woohoo win #1

How would I describe the last 24 hours?
Difficult to put into words:
From the amazing opening ceremonies to USA’s first win this afternoon vs Finland, and to the support back home, our family is truly blessed!!!
Anne got her first Olympic point in today’s game!!! Yup, mama cried!!!
We will not be able to see Anne until after the third game, can’t wait to see her but the team remains focused and it is best for them not to be distracted by family.
Anne e mailed us this morning.
Hello! ..or as we say here Privet (Pre-vee-yet)!

Sochi welcomed my parents today! A couple days ago I caught one of their crew ships heading to the dock to gear up for their stay (pic below). From the end of our dorm building you can see these ships where they are staying! So they aren’t terribly far from the Olympic Park – in fact in that picture you can see a road/walking path next to the sea that they’ll be walking on to get to all the events – I’ll probably try to time some of their walks so I can throw a shout and give a wave! Team policy we won’t get to see them until after our 3rd game so we can stay as focused as possible on the task at hand! To most that seems odd but a lot of this has been a sacrifice to even get to this point so another one is nothing to us. There will be PLENTY of time at the end to hangout and hopefully CELEBRATE something great!

Speaking of sacrifices. We will NOT be walking in the opening ceremonies tonight (so don’t play “Where’s Waldo” with me ha) But DO cheer loud for TEAMUSA as they enter. I’ve been able to meet several of them already and they are all amazing people and appreciate your support as a whole! Team decision not to walk since we play at noon the next day against a tough Finland team. Opening ceremonies of what you don’t see has us on our feet for hours at a time and as you can imagine is an extreme high to come down from in such a short amount of time – so for all these and some very very good advice from many veteran athletes have myself and my entire team confident that this is what’s best! By getting our proper rest and concentration for tomorrow we will be putting our team in the best position possible to succeed. I’d much rather enjoy closing ceremonies with some gold around my neck than regretting this decision! So enjoy from the tv screen as we will be doing here also!.. bombard my mother if you’re looking for some sweet photos from opening ceremonies as they will be attending tonight!!! (I’ll try to steal some from her and send them later on if I can)

Other than that, pretty normal days here as we are trying to keep them that way for a reason. Practice, meals, naps, and treatments are the norm! Shoutout to my athletic trainer and massage therapist as they keep us at tip top shape for our games – they are miracle workers I swear! (stole a photo from each today during treatment)

PS – Did I mention it’s GORGEOUS here?! Sunsets are the best, and my favorite for those that didn’t know. I literally just snapped this from by porch before I sent this email. Enjoy!

Bye! …or Bacha (Bah – kah)!
-Anne

Hi!

We were not able to get wifi all day yesterday so was not able to blog. Off to game now, will blog later! Thank you for all the comments as it helps us to feel supported while so far away. Go USA !!!!
Opening ceremonies was AMAZING !!!
Till later….
Deb

Arrived!

Moscow

It is 5:45 pm in Moscow! We are both great! Flights were non eventful. The people in Moscow were wonderful. They had their English students meet us at the airport to take us to our next checkpoint! They were wonderfully friendly. We wanted to tip ours but he said no thank you … Thank you for letting me practice my English. He was adorable.
We met a women and her sister from michigan on the plane who were going to visit a daughter in India who is working there with Target. They told us how terrible the credit card breach is as one corporate person took their life over the pressure of it and another is in the hospital after attempting. They were sooooo excited for us when we told them where we were headed! They planned on bringing their mother with but at the last minute she fell and broke her hip so was not able to make the trip. However they told her they would bring her along and take pics for her. I just had to laugh…. See pic below …. Reminded me of Flat Stanley!!
Were sitting at a little pub. Sweet girl with little English waiting on us and tells us “little English just point” Well by the end we said thank you in Russian and we were giggling and high fiving!! Language is universal!
So till later spa c ba ( how’d i do mike?) that is the phonic spelling of “thank you ” for letting us share our journey with you!
Have a plane to catch… Till later…
Peace
Deb

A shout out to Brace for his photo of Anne on the St. Cloud times !! Thanks Brace for your great work!

Anne at press conference …. Loving her RW&B nails!

Our Sochi journey begins

Hello friends ! We have had quite an adventure thus far as we begin our journey to Sochi.
Our flight from Mpls to JFK was cancelled due to east coast snowstorm . We’ve been re routed to Detroit, Paris,Moscow, Sochi !! Will just come in 2 hours later to Sochi .
In the check in line we witnessed the attendant next to us climb down the luggage shoot to retrieve a bag with a dress on!!! She kept saying dont turn the machine on! There’s cameras down here and I’m wearing a dress!!! Hilarious! Everyone was laughing !! She was a good sport!!!
Having a great bloody before getting on our first legg to bringing gold home!
Thanks for all your support !!!
Bring on the world!!

Just got this from Anne:
Helllllllo!

Day off today! Not many of those but I think it was needed as everyone is finally starting to get used to the time change.

We had a team press conference this morning but then most of the day was ours after that! It was mostly a horizontal day for many of us until we figured today would be the best day to get familiar with the Olympic Park. Again, these venues are AMAZING, especially at night when the venues are lit up, everything is that much more worth “ooh-ahhing” about! Obviously stopped to take a couple pictures along the way for you. We got around via bikes that TeamUSA shipped in, courtesy of BMW sponsor. It was a very luxurious ride I must say. They build their bikes very similar to their cars 😉 lol (pictures below)
Will post when I can!

Lincoln Olympic day!

Awesome day at Lincoln!!

Cake

Look at the wonderful cake