We went to London and forgot to write about it. Sorry! So much fun. The boys have been off exploring every day. We have been to Harrods and they have been to Hamleys (a huge you store here that is very big and well known) the kids have done madame tussauds and the London dungeon. We have been to the Olympic park but not the village yet. Here is what you don't probably see on TV. Transportation is wonderful. Not too crowded everything runs smoothly. The tube drops you off at the Olympic park which is just the public area for those without a ticket to any games. It can handle the crowds because it is basically a giant shopping mall. Think the size of the Galleria but not configured more like Northpark. Every store imaginable. Tons of restaurants. But the Village is like this highly secured restricted area surrounding the mall. You can only see the stadium at a distance. Those without tickets to an event can't get in. Not such a big deal unless you don't have tickets. Tickets have been a mess. I'm sure you heard about all the empty seats that were not used and not released to the public. Well each day they are releasing more tickets to the public. It's very important to note that the public is only considered to be those who have a visa card with a billing address that goes to a UK resident or some other European countries. These tickets are only available on line and only available to this select group. If you are an American, you are directed to a different web site that is specific to the US - which says they have not been allocated any tickets. So how do you get tickets if you are an American? Good question. The American way- find a scalper and buy them aftermarket - that doesn't work. They are CRAZY strict about scampers. They are called touters here. Apparently a Canadian spent 2 nights in jail for selling 2 tickets to a volleyball game he didn't need- and he was selling them at face value! Crazy britts! They can manage to get their knickers in a knot over the silliest thing. So here there are tickets not being used. No one able to get them legitimately and no easy way of getting them on the black market. Now it's important to note that all the ticket boxes to the village are inside the village. So if you get into the park, you can get lucky and walk up and watch an event if they have extra tickets. Rumors are that US basketball tickets were sold for a pound if you walked up right before the game. They were actually asking the military to go sit on sits at high profile events to ensure that the stadiums looked full. They have been giving away tickets to school children to fill up seats. The trick is to get to the door of the event. So today we had 4 tickets to basketball - great Britain gainst someone. These were our only tickets that we got through the lottery. Deacon and Dylan did rock paper scissors to see who could go in and who would be stuck with me.(rami stayed at the flat). Deacon lost. In went the others with the golden tickets. So Deacon and I went on a mission to figure this ticket deal out. I decided the best place to start was a hotel concierge. There happened to be one at the mall- a holiday inn. I walked in and asked and it just so happened that this was the hotel that was the designated hotel for the british water polo teams. They sold me tickets to water polo for less than face value. Now we are all in! Deacon left to meet the boys and I am waiting in a swank lounge sponsored by American express for rami to catch up. We shall see what adventures today brings!

I almost forgot to add this and it's so incredibly cool. I guess I got on a tangent about tickets. 2 nights ago Bobby and Dylan were walking in front of our flat about 12:30. Bobby looks up and guess who is walking by- Kobe Bryant and his ex wife. The street is deserted and he just walks past. Bobby said his jaw just dropped and he was completely speechless so he hit Dylan (who wasn't paying any attention to the only other people on the street- a six foot something black man no less). Dylan turns around and say Kobe! He turns around and the bits ask to take a picture and he says "No I don't want the attention but I talk to you guys for a second". So bobby and dylan had a nice chat with him outside the flat. He asked them where they were from and what sports they played. Made some nice remarks about the Thunder having such a good year. Bobby said he probably would have chatted longer if the boys hadn't been so star stuck. How cool is that?!!!