Wii

Sectaurs gave us a Wii for Christmas and we love it. It came with the Sports package, and he got an extra controller, so we are all set for fierce competition. Or cooperation. We have found that we can see much better if J and I play tennis on the same team, so we have a full screen court, even though we have a large TV.

We've made Miis for a lot of our family so we don't have to have strange computer players on our baseball teams. It's amazing how much you can make them resemble their namesakes! I also wonder why Grandpa Bob hits so much better than I, when it is me doing the swinging. I shake my fist at Sectaurs when he catches my pop flys. Should that be 'flies'? That doesn't seem right either.

My parents decided to get a Wii for themselves after we enthused about it in the family emails. They thought it would be good exercise, since the ice and snow keeps them from walking. Plus it sounded like fun. Sectaurs was a little surprised that they would want one, but not me. Grandma has always loved games and I remember playing Space Invaders when that came out. She was also the one who thought our kids should have a computer and gave us a Commodore 64 way back when. The six of us would sit together taking turns being the little wizard sliding down ropes and running up stairs. Or Duke Nukem. Fun times.

Most of my side of the family are game players, and since we tend to be a bit competitive and a little loud, get togethers can get pretty rowdy. Board games, dice games, card games or outdoor games, we like 'em all. Certain games are not played as much though, like Risk- just too cutthroat for some people- not naming any names. Ameranth will not play Sorry to this day, due to an unfortunate episode (with Grandma). And what is the name of that game where you try to corner the market on corn or wheat? Pit, that's it, and that involves yelling out the number of ccards you want to trade, so 5 or 6 people are shouting 1 1 1, 3,3,3 all at the same time. Really have to be in the mood for that one.

We used to have a permanent set of cedar posts for volleyball in our yard plus a softball field for a few years, complete with a backstop. Nowadays it's mostly croquet and horseshoes. Oh and we got a bocce set last year- that's a lot of fun too. Though we do tend to lose the little target ball in the dips of our lawn. It used to be a cow pasture, so while the grass grows green, it is not a smooth, picture perfect surface.

Meandering around to the Wii again(surprised?) it has a secondary use for us, warmth. We are trying to keep our thermostat set lower this season, so we will play a game or two instead of turning up the heat. Healthy and economical! J prefers bowling and is trying to keep his score high enough to keep his sparkly PRO ball. With my back problems lately, I can't do the bowling very much. J tends to do better than I, but I am blaming that on my back as well. :) We shall see, my pretty, we shall see.