Games Night

I grew up in a family that played games. We played cribbage, Scrabble, Monopoly, Aggrivation, Balderdash and Trivial Pursuit, as well as all kinds of card games. I now own a lot of board games, but I don't get to play them that often. Mr. Freeze doesn't like to play any kind of game, board or card, the boys are too young and I'm a bit shy to ask my friends if they'd like to come over to play in case they think I'm even more nerdier than they already know I am.

A few days ago, of my band friends mentioned that she likes playing board games and that she and a couple other women in the band had been talking about getting together for a night of game fun. We decided that we'd get together Sunday and after emails and phone calls, I ended up hosting. (Damn cat allergies! ;-))

There ended up being 5 of us and we all had at least 2 games to contribute. We had Apples to Apples, Pictionary, Balderdash, Taboo, Cranium, Scrabble and two editions of Trivial Pursuit. there was one other game but I can't remember what it is called.

We started off with Balderdash. That game went pretty fast. I loved it when I was younger, but now, not so much. Most of us were able to pick out the right definition, and more than once, one of us gave a definition that was pretty close to the right one.

Then we switched to Taboo. But first we ate. Someone brought a cake, someone else brought chips and salsa, and I had a crab dip I'd bought plus I made my famous bean dip. We also finished the first bottle of wine and started the second. Weirdest wine name prize goes to "Cat Piss on a Gooseberry Bush".

Taboo was the most fun. We know each other well enough that we could often use our shared experiences to get around the taboo words. We'll play Taboo again.

Then we played Trivial Pursuit. We threw out the rules after a couple rounds. We gave hints and if someone else knew the answer, they could steal the pie, except it's not stealing when the rest of the players insist you take it.

We ended off the evening with Scrabble. Scrabble champs we are not! I got stuck with the Q. I think the highest word scored was worth 28 points, and that used a double word score, as well as forming a word across and down.

By that time it was pretty late (for us) so Mr. Freeze drove everyone home, so nobody drank and drove. I hope this becomes a semi-regular event!

Ski Bums

We went skiing again today. I can see a big improvement in Hamster’s self-confidence, just compared to last week. Last week he really didn’t want to ride the chair lift. I went up with him every time and had to hold his hand when we got off. One time it stopped for about 5 minutes and as it bounced and swayed, he sat there saying "It’s okay, it’s okay, we won’t be stuck up here, it’s okay." We took Slow and Easy down the hill each time and the one time we thought we’d take Lift Line he decided it was too steep.

This time was a different story. He rode up with me a couple times, once more under duress because he really wanted to go up with his dad, then it happened. He didn’t wait for me at the bottom and got on a chair by himself. I could see him trying to put the bar down but his arm was just a little too short. I was scared for him, but the lifty couldn’t do anything. I got on a couple chairs later and yelled to him to scoot over and lower the bar from the side. The people in front of me yelled back that the bar was down. He’d figured it out for himself!

It was the same with the skiing itself. He wanted to ski with me for the first couple runs, then he was off with his brother. Down the Lift Line. The next run I did the Lift Line with him but I couldn’t keep up. I decided to let him go it alone the last time, I stayed on Slow and Easy, he did Lift Line.

It’s been a different story for Squid. He loves to ski and has from the first time he tried it. He got boots for Christmas and a friend loaned him skis, so he doesn’t have to wait for us to get our rentals. By the time we got our skis on, he’d already gone up the chair lift and was back down. He probably did twice as much skiing as I did today.