Family Minute to Win It

Whenever the family is together, they always want to know the itinerary. I usually post it on the refrigerator. It includes all activities, food and sometimes the job list. This time, I listed one of the activities as "grammy and grandpa's surprise." I planned a family "Minute to Win it" game. I knew they would get a kick out of it. We usually play all kinds of games from charades to kareoke, cards, poker, dice games, domino games, you name it. I knew that they would like this since it was something different than we've ever done before. It took quite a lot of pre-planning and organization to pull it all together, but they are loving it. I have 10 rounds planned. We did 3 tonight.

The first thing we did was draw for teams---5 with two people on each. I'm the MC. Everyone gets to do each challenge and you don't lose a life unless both team members fail.

 The first challenge was called "Be a Baby." You have to strap pedometers on your feet, lay on your back and then kick like a squalling baby to rack up 250 steps on the pedometers. It is so much harder than you think. Kicking your legs for 60 seconds is really tough---and painful. I told Victoria and Elizabeth that they would get an extra minute on all challenges. About half way in to this one, Victoria said she didn't want the extra minute! She watched everyone struggling in pain and didn't want to endure it any longer than necessary. Everyone managed to pass round one.

 The second challenge was to toss cards and make them land on other cards. Everyone succeeded here too.

 This one was hard. You had to knock down six empty cans by shooting them with rubberbands. Elizabeth went first. With her extra time, she was able to knock them all down. Butch also succeeded, but that was about it. Elizabeth said that she has taken gymnastics for 3 years, so she's good at everything. We can't figure out how that relates to shooting rubber bands. That girl does not lack confidence!

We called it a night after 3 rounds. We were all tired and it's already 10 p.m. Actually pretty early for us.

I spent 5 hours on the beach and in the pool today. I came in to take a nap at 2. The kids weren't far behind me. We ended up playing Racko and then scrabble until 5:30. I'm tired now. I love my naps. I get up early and naps get me through. All I need is an hour---30 minutes reading and then 30 minutes actually napping. Works for me. Rejuvenates me. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to make sure it happens. After all, it is vacation.

I'm ready to relax for a bit with my book. Another fun and busy day tomorrow---shopping, then more beach/pool time. Personally, I hate the beach---all that sand makes me nuts. I suffer for a couple hours to hang with the fam and then hit the pool. I'm okay with that. So are they. Usually the kids are back and forth, so I have plenty of company. In my perfect world, I take my nap in the pool. I did bring my float.