16 days of glory go by very quickly, and the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics have sadly already come to an end. Here’s a quick look back at all of the fun we’ve had!
Of course we had to stop by the Olympic Spectacular outside Francis Olympic Field at Wash U in St. Louis…just last month, (future) Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu visited these same rings!
Chickadee and I made our favorite edible Olympic torches:
And we cooked a ton of (very delicious) Italian food!
Biscotti
Zuppa Pavese
Frullato di Frusta
Italian Bread
Carbonnade à la Flamande
Insalata di Arance e Finocchi
Radicchio in Padella
Limoncello Spritz
Crostata di Ricotta e Visciole
Marinara
Basil Pesto
Ravioli
Zeppole di San Giuseppe
Italian Grilled Cheese
Peposo
Creamy Polenta
Italian Limonata
Sporcamuss
Pork Milanese
Antipasto Salad
Seltz Limone e Sale
Panna Cotta with Berries
We also picked up a few Italian treats from the store:
There were crafts:
And a girls’ outing to go ice skating:
We had fun keeping track of the medal count at the end of every day…here’s a final look at our chart:
I love the Olympics, both winter and summer, so much, and I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with myself now that they’re done…but I’m already looking forward to L.A. 2028!
We started the week with our every-Olympics-year pilgrimage to the Olympic Spectacular in St. Louis:
And then we got down to our regular work. Chickadee graphed more quadratic functions in algebra. We read about General Franco and the beginning of WWII in history. She continued to read As You Like It. In religion, we spent several lessons discussing the Lord’s Supper. She started a new chapter about waves and sound in science, starting with mechanical waves. We continued our study of the US Constitution, taking a closer look at Article One and the legislature. But the highlight of the week was the Olympics, learning about Italy thanks to Rick Steves’ Europe, and our outing to the skating rink!
We also did a small craft. I found a cute unfinished cutting board, which seemed like the perfect item to paint in the colors of the Italian flag since Italy is known for its great food!
Here’s a look at our current medal chart:
We’re looking forward to more Olympics fun next week!
I can’t believe that both the Olympics and summer vacation are over, but here we are. There were so many great moments, and today I’m taking a look back at our Paris 2024-themed summer school, starting with our visit to the Olympic Spectacular right here in St. Louis:
We made our favorite edible Olympic torches, and had a lovely toast to Paris 2024 with sparkling cider. I’m not going to lie, I was a little mad that we had already built the Lego Eiffel Tower years ago, because it would have been a nice summer school activity, but at least we had a ready-made centerpiece!
Our big activity for the summer was trying out some French recipes. We cooked a lot of different things, starting with a special series of meals for the Opening Ceremonies, and culminating with the pièce de résistance of the summer (and maybe my culinary career!), the Croquembouche. It’s nice that we’re finally at a point where both Ladybug and Chickadee can do a lot in the kitchen!
Croissants
Salade Niçoise
Vichyssoise
Bœuf Bourgignon
Macarons
Crepes
Salade Lyonnaise
Quiche Lorraine
Chocolate Soufflé
Gougères
Lavender Madeleines
Steak au Poivre with Red Wine Pan Sauce
Plateau de Fromages
Lemon-glazed French Sable Cookies
Croquembouche
I had a good book list, but coming up with crafts beyond cooking was a bit of a challenge. We did try to be fashion designers…do you think we’re ready for French haute couture?
And of course we made medals:
We had a lot of fun being creative with cooking and crafts!
I’m so glad Ticket to Ride Paris came out in time for us to play this summer! And we also played Ticket to Ride France (and watched all of the episodes of Rick Steves’ Europe we have set in France), which educated us on just how little we know about French geography!
Here’s a look at our complete medal table…Team USA definitely won!
Summer wrapped up quickly…on Monday, we begin the 2024-25 school year!
It seemed like the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics would never get here, and now they’ve already come and gone. Here’s a look back at our Japan-themed summer school.
We visited Origami in the Garden at the Missouri Botanical several times over the summer. The large-scale art installation was the perfect field trip to coincide with Tokyo 2020 (and was also postponed from last summer).
We also visited the Olympic Spectacular in St. Louis at Francis Field, home of the 1904 Summer Games:
I made a few fun treats for the Olympics…Olympics torches (white chocolate covered pretzels) and Team USA CHEERios treats.
We did a lot of cooking and tried a lot of Japanese foods. I worked really hard to find things we hadn’t had before, and used a variety of cooking methods and unfamiliar ingredients. We tried:
Spicy Ramen/Udon
Pork Gyoza
Coffee Jelly
Okonomiyaki
Matcha Mochi Cake
Vegetable Tempura
Potato Korokke
Fluffy Japanese Cheesecake
Kani Cream Korokke
Chicken Katsu Sandwich
Matcha Green Tea Cookies
Oyakodon
We were supposed to go out to a Japanese restaurant this summer, but COVID-19, so we got a party platter of sushi instead:
I’ve been holding on to the Lego Architecture Tokyo skyline since last year, and we finally got to build it!
Our American Girl dolls got into the Olympic spirit:
In between watching as much of the Olympics as we could, we also did some more traditional school work. We learned about Japanese history and culture, as well as the history of the Olympics. We read a lot of books…some I read out loud, and some were book basket choices. We also watched a selection of Olympic documentaries:
First—London 2012
The Everlasting Flame—Beijing 2008
Atlanta’s Olympic Glory—Atlanta 1996
16 Days of Glory—Los Angeles 1984
Athens 2004: Stories of Olympic Glory
Seoul 1988
And we also did several crafts, including origami, paper lanterns, Koinobori (Japanese carp windsocks), pipe cleaner and tissue paper cherry blossom branches, and medals (of course!):
I’ve been holding on to Ticket to Ride: Japan since last year, and we finally had a chance to play! I really enjoyed the new game mechanics introduced in this edition, and it was fun to get to know the geography of the area a little bit better.
We updated our medal chart every evening…here’s a look at the final results…we were very excited that the US won the gold medal race and had the most medals overall!
And, better late than never, our Family Olympics, which was delayed due to heat. We only had four events this year (frisbee throw, broad jump, soccer kicks, and a running race), thanks to time constraints and a lack of basketball hoops on the backboards we normally use. Technically, Turkey came in first, but since we participate as a family, we all won gold!
This summer school was a long time coming. I think we all still have mixed feelings about the fact that the Olympics were held at this time, but we had to just accept that that was out of our control, and embrace the Olympics as we usually do. It’s always hard to say goodbye when they extinguish the flame, but the Winter Olympics are less than six months away, and we only have to wait three more years for Paris 2024!
Did you know that the Summer Olympic Games were once held in St. Louis?
The 1904 Olympics were supposed to be held in Chicago, but the organizers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also known as the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, were not thrilled about that idea. They actually began to plan their own international sports contest, forcing Pierre de Coubertin himself to step in and move the Summer Games to St. Louis. The central location for the 1904 Olympics was Francis Field, located on the campus of Washington University, and named for David R. Francis, a former governor of Missouri and president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. (Other venues included Forest Park, Glen Echo Country Club, and Creve Coeur Lake.) Among the events contested at Francis Field in 1904 were wrestling, gymnastics, athletics, lacrosse, tug of war, and roque (the only time that sport has been an Olympic event!).
The stadium is a U.S. National Historic Landmark, but is also the current home of the Washington University Bears football team, as well as the track and field and soccer teams.
Although there was controversy surrounding the 1904 Olympic Games (something we can definitely relate to today!), it’s still pretty cool knowing that St. Louis is one of only three U.S. cities to host the Summer Olympics!
Earlier this year, it was announced that St. Louis was going to receive an “Olympic Spectacular.” What is an Olympic Spectacular? you might ask. Aren’t all Olympics spectacular? And what does St. Louis have to do with the Olympics? An Olympic Spectacular is a large-scale sculpture of the Olympic Rings granted only to cities who have hosted the Olympic Games. It’s been 114 years, but St. Louis was the host of the 1904 Summer Games (the III Olympiad!), and the city was finally granted the right to display a Spectacular of its own!
Last month, the sculpture, which sits on a podium-like base, was unveiled on the campus of Washington University, adjacent to Francis Field, which was the site of many of the events at the 1904 Olympics. We stopped by to see it after church yesterday, and as someone who has loved the Olympics since I was a small child, it was a thrill to see it!
Eventually, a second Spectacular will be installed at another St. Louis Olympic site, possibly in Forest Park or near Creve Coeur Lake, which hosted the 1904 rowing competition. For now, though, St. Louis has finally been recognized as an Olympic city!
