You should all be here with us to enjoy the success!  But I'm going to keep you in suspense for a few minutes while I tell you about our dinner last night.  Eleni - our venue director - cooked a Greek dinner for the 8 of us staying at the hotel, as well as our competition staff, & served it on her balcony.  Her apartment is beautiful & the view of the sea is breathtaking.  Add to that a table loaded with a Greek version of Ms. Joey food & you have an amazing evening.  Danny said it was the best thing we've done here! 
Eleni had a gift for Paulette to thank her for all the help - her volunteer shirt form the 2004 Olympics, an Olympic pin, & a wooden rhythmic statue.  Eleni ran the torch at the Olympcs & let us all take our picture holding it.  How special is that?

Ana & the girls had dinner with our Slovakian & Norwegian friends at the athletes' village.  The athletes all sat at 1 table & had a great time - speaking in 3 different languages & never missing a beat.  Ana says the girls have behaved perfectly & when she says move, they MOVE!  No more pokey joes in the group.

Yesterday at the gym, a group of Greek moms & thier daughters excitedly called me over to the stands & asked if I'm the one on the DVD.  They told me I was in their houses everyday & was a part of the families because the girls watched the DVD so much.  They asked if I would take pictures with their daughters today & wanted to know how much it would cost to have a picture with me.  Not exactly a fundraising idea I had considered!

OK - now I'll tell you about the competition.  The girls were more confident than they were yesterday & everybody improved.  They all received many awards, but I will have to wait to tell you what.  I don't have a copy of the scores.  I hope to get the information tonite.  Just know that they made us all proud!  Looking at the athlete seating, it was hard to tell who was on which team.  They were all cheering for each other & giving high 5s as their friends walked off the floor.  We can all learn a lesson from them!  The announcers (2 girls who were Olympic medalists in Sydney) called the last names first:  Misitano, Dana really didn't like it.  So for the last awards, I asked the girls to say her name Dana Misitano & you should have seen huge grin on her face.  Afterwards, she went to thank them & asked if they could do the same for her friends next time.  Paulette was asked to present 2 sets of awards.  She looked great in her navy blue suit.  They announced her as Clara Paulette Harrison, technical official from the US.  She has done such a good job measuring equipment during the competition & managing the team that everyone has complimented her.

In all respects, the competition was a huge success.  Fotini, our competition manager, has been very nervous about making things right, but she can rest well tonite - everything was perfect!  As soon as awards finished & the athletes were on the bus, we started our planning for the World Games that will be here in 2011.  We worked on the schedule of events & then toured the venue to figure out where everything will be next year when we have 3 times as many rhythmic gymnastics competitors as this year, plus artistic gymnasts as well.  No rest for the weary!

Paulette & Danny went to the village on the bus with the girls.  Big barbeque tonite for Closing!  A bus with the parents just left and Chris & I are being picked up soon.  I can't believe it's our last night here.  Elena said it best when I asked if she had a good time, "I'm really going to miss this!" 

Wish us luck packing tonite!

PS - Fishhooks are the connection on the end of the ribbon stick.  You know - those things that make dents in your finger nails when you close them.