Our family was ready to tackle another long day at the CrossFit Games, but we were in no rush to get there early ‘cause our plan was to stay until the bitter end – or until the kids wilted, whichever came first.
No room service breakfast for us. Instead, we filled up on nuts, strawberries, and lettuce-wrapped tacos filled with roast beef and grape tomatoes.
Picky Lil-O is finally coming around and eating new foods! I guess persistence really does pay off…eventually.
My shoulders were sore from schlepping two heavy bags of food around the Home Depot Center yesterday, so I packed only a small bag filled with nuts, grapes, and my brother-in-law’s homemade salumi.
Day Two of the Games drew an even larger crowd than Day One, and once again, we parked way out in the fringes of the HDC lot and hoofed it to the venue with the kids. After spending the previous morning melting under the hot sun at the track, we decided to forgo watching the morning individual and team competition in person and wander around the vendor village instead.
The kids flexed their muscles…
…while I flexed my wallet.
Just like the day before, we visited our friends at the Steve’s Original stand, where I stuffed my bag with snacks.
Next, we hit the Trigger Point Performance Therapy tent to check out the various rollers available to soothe Fitbomb’s aching achilles tendon.
Big-O eagerly rolled out his tiny calves…
…while Lil-O chose to use the rollers as building blocks.
It’s good to know that the new set we bought will be used by the whole family, albeit in completely different ways.
When lunchtime rolled around, we queued up in a long line to order “Paleo Caveman” bowls and sweet potato fries from The Green Truck.
The Paleo bowl consisted of sautéed kale and summer squash topped with a few slices of grass fed beef and a green goddess sauce. Sadly, the bowl was teeny-tiny and the beef was overcooked.
As soon as I saw the paltry portion sizes, I knew our lunch wouldn’t come close to filling our bellies. I ran over to the Paleo Wagon and ordered a carne asada platter that came with a pile of beef, half an avocado, cucumber, baked sweet potatoes, and a low-calorie quercetin-supplemented energy drink (which I declined to imbibe).
Between the two trucks, I preferred the heartier meal from the Paleo Wagon…
…but the sweet potato fries from The Green Truck were crispy and well seasoned.
We enjoyed our lunch on a grassy, shaded spot next to the vendors with our buddies George, Diane, Bill, and Hayley. Diane broke out her very first copy of Practical Paleo (hot off the presses!) and passed it around for us to ooh and aah over.
I can’t wait to get my own copy because this book is awesome – over 400 pages of super-helpful information, beautiful photos, simple recipes, and cool tear-out guides. This book is the total package.
While we were relaxing in the shade, I finally met the adorable, sweet, and ripped Mee Lee – maker of the addictive MeeNut Butter.
Mee is incredibly sweet and doesn’t have her mind in the gutter like yours truly. When she asked us to flash The Shaka in our group photo, I initially thought she meant The Shocker.
After lunch, we wandered around the vendor village some more. We stopped by Steve’s Originals AGAIN…
…because PaleoKrunch is crack, I tell ya!
Then, I walked over to sample some snacks I’ve been dying to try, specifically, Paleo Ahi Jerky…
…and Paleo Treats.
And, yes, they were soooo good.
The kids and I spent the rest of the afternoon on a couch in the air-conditioned tent watching the individual clean ladder competition on the flat screens…
…while the hubby went to the stadium to spectate and take pictures.
Meanwhile, we bumped into Coach Trish, who is working tirelessly as a volunteer here at the Games.
One of the best things about being here at the Games has been running into old and new friends. It’s been fun connecting with readers of my blog and chatting with folks who influenced me to turn Paleo in the first place, like Mark Sisson…
…and Sarah Fragoso.
At six o’clock, we finally made our way to the stadium to watch the individual events. Needless to say, I was shocked and awed by these athletes.
When the final men’s individual heat finished, we were all tired and hungry. After a quick Yelp search, I found a place called Chicken Maison that serves up fast Mediterranean food.
We caravanned over there with S & B to get dinner and ordered the Kabob Feast which is an assortment of meaty kabobs and four side dishes. I don’t have any pictures of the food because they literally didn’t allow us to eat in the restaurant. We ordered at the counter at 8:45 p.m. and sat down to await our food. Fifteen minutes later, they brought us our food in takeout containers(!) and told us they were closing, and that we had to leave immediately. Look – I totally understand that tired restaurant workers don’t want to stick around and wait for customers to finish eating before closing up, but if they’d only told us when we were ordering that they closed at 9 and our eat-in order would be converted into a take-out meal, we could’ve opted to dine elsewhere.
After we were kicked out of the place with our take-out dinner, we drove back to the hotel and the kids had a picnic on the floor and the adults ate the kabobs caveman-style with our hands.
And with that, we dunked our kids in the bath, tucked ’em in bed, and stayed up for hours to blog in the dark. Fun!
