Rafalca will not be the only Romney attending the Olympics this year. The Romney family engages in the Romney Family Olympics every summer at Mitt and Ann's $8M lakeside estate in New Hampshire, with Mitt presiding over them.
Mitt Romney has not gotten to where he is today ($250M net worth, offshore bank accounts, multiple vacation homes, car elevators, Olympic horses, etc.) by playing fair or by the rules. And he has taken this spirit of win at all costs to his family vacation, where the games are known for being highly competitive.
The family vacation is not optional and all the adults are expected to participate in a mini-triathlon of running, swimming and biking. Previously, Mitt was embarassed by nearly losing to a daughter-in-law who had just given birth two months before. So he has added 'sports' which he excels at, to stack the deck in his favor. Against his family.
"We added some things I excel at so I don't come in last every year," Mr Romney said.
The family now competes to hammer the most nails into a board in two minutes, saw the most logs and hang onto a pole for the longest time before losing their grip, according to the Washington Post.
Doesn't that sound like fun? And what, no Etch a Sketch competition?
The fun is not restricted to sports activities though.
Each adult contributes to the running of the 13-acre lake house by choosing a task from the "chore wheel" and in the evenings they gather for long discussions about each son's next career move.
Romney sounds like a maniacal control freak. One of the sons couldn't get vacation time from his job with the LA Dodgers, and was told 'you'll be there'.
Wisely, he may forego his usual mode of transportation to the grocery store:
Mr Romney's media aides are expected to advise him against repeating his favoured trick of showing up at the small town's grocery store on his own private boat.
And in another example of forced conviviality (conformity), they line up for a family photo for which the boys must wear long sleeved blue and white checked shirts while the girls wear polka-dotted dresses.
Yep, sounds like someone I want in the Oval Office running the country.
8:03 PM PT: And let's not forget, this is the family vacation Ann bragged about as being far superior to the Obamas' 'overseas' vacations:
Ann Romney, the wife of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, said Monday that she doubted she and her husband would vacation overseas as frequently as the Obamas if her husband were elected.
Romney was responding to a question from WJR Detroit's Frank Beckmann, who asked Romney if her family would be vacationing abroad as frequently as the Obamas.
"I doubt that," Romney replied. "Our vacations and our happiness come from being with our children and our grandchildren."