Ho Hum Cherry-O

Whoever invented the game Hi Ho Cherry-O ought to be shot. Or better yet - should be forced to play the game with a four-year-old. Now, I was very excited when I got the game for Tipton. I remember playing the game as a kid, and loving it. It was one of my favorite games. What on earth was I thinking? The game goes on forever. Whenever someone gets close to winning (and thereby ending the game) they spill their bucket, or get attacked by a bird. And then it starts all over again. It's like the little kid equivalent to Monopoly. All that to say Tipton and I had a marathon gaming session yesterday. We started with 4 rousing games of Candy Land. Then moved on the the mind-numbing Hi Ho Cherry-O, twice. Next was the always exicting 3D-Labyrinth, Jr (or as Tipton calls it "the spooky maze game.") We played that a few times, until Tipton got upset that he didn't draw the card for the crystal ball - funny how that happens when I shuffle the cards and don't let him stack the deck...) It was a good lesson, though. He learned that you can still have fun, even if not everything goes the way you want it to. Will he remember this lesson the next time we play? Who knows. We ended our game marathon with a marathon game of Chutes and Ladders, I swear the game went on for 30 minutes. But it was still better than Hi Ho Cherry-O.

I really like that Tipton is able to play games now. I like to play games. Dave and I have a ton of games. I'm hoping that we'll get back into the gaming habit while we're over here in Sweden. Maybe I should start scheduling a Game Night. It could be a family game night - we could start with Ele-fun - Lilli's favorite game. She loves that it has an elephant. She loves that butterflies shoot out of the elephant's trunk and rain down on her. She hasn't quite mastered catching the butterflies in her net, but she's quick to grab them off the floor and put them into her net. Then after Lilli goes to bed we could play one or two of Tipton's games. He's getting quite a collection. When I was unpacking all of our games, I set several aside that I think Tipton is old enough to play. Maybe we could play one of his games and one of the 'new' games. Then after Tipton goes to bed Dave and I could play a game - something that involves strategy or maybe on that doesn't involve any thinking at all. Just something.

In other news, we're actually supposed to get snow tomorrow. I'm nervous and excited. Tipton has been asking when it's going to snow. Lilli has never seen snow. I want to be able to play in the snow and teach them how to make snow angels and have a snowball fight and build a snowman. I want to go sledding. But then there's another part of me, the nervous part... Will I be able to drive in the snow? We still have the spare tire on the rental car - I am supposed to take it to Lund tomorrow - will I be able to? Will we be snowed in, will we have enough food and milk? We go through a lot of milk. But I know we'll be fine. I can always take the car another day. I can keep Tipton home from school so that we can play in the snow. And maybe we'll have another marathon game session.