My daughter and I have a young guest hanging out with us. It is an exceeding hot and humid day, so after a morning at the zoo and a quick but hysterical lunch at Friendly's, we head back to my house for a couple of hours in the air conditioning.
This is where I am supposed to say, "So, we set up the video games and let the kid play while we relaxed." Except I won't say that because truly the video games never even crossed my mind. At my house when a small crowd gathers, we play games or we play cards. We rarely play video games together unless the kids want to watch me fail at Mario Kart or unless my daughter decides to sing with Rock Band.
Instead of something an eleven-year-old might want to do,we decide to teach him how to play the board game Clue. Better yet, I still have the original Clue game I've had since I was the kid's age. That's right; we're not only going old school with board games, we are actually playing the old school version.
After two rounds of Clue, we break out the Chinese checkers. I have a beautiful wooden set that used to be my father's. The three of us play against each other, jumping the pegs on the board like our checkers are playing an elaborate but tiny game of Leap Frog. We are halfway through when it's time to pack up the kiddo and return him to his parents.
I have to be honest here -- I'm not sure who had more fun today: the kiddo, my daughter, or me. Could be all of us. A trifecta. An old school trifecta, especially when we still have all the game pieces. If you ever want to play cards or play old board games, stop by. I'm woefully bad at video games, but I might be able to kick your butt at Clue or Chinese checkers or Cribbage or Barbie Queen of the Prom or Mall Madness or...
