The cover story: we’re picking up Dad after work and going out to dinner.  The real story?  Only those who have figured it out on their own know.  They are all 9yo and up.  The big girls put us up to it this time.

CURRENT Q & A:

Why are we taking suitcases?

It’s part of the recent dejunking we’ve all been working on.  We have too many suitcases, so we’ll be dropping these two extra suitcases at the Goodwill while we’re out.

Why are we taking the dogs to Aunt Stephanie’s house?

Because a prospective owner is coming to look at the puppies while we’re gone.

But why did we take all the dogs?  Why not just the puppies?

Because we might be out very late at dinner, and it would be mean to leave poor Precious locked up in  her kennel for so long.  She’ll have much more fun playing with the puppies at Aunt Steph’s house.  And the pups might want their mom there.  We can’t leave Lady all alone!

Why did we take all the rest of the dog food?

Just in case we’re out too late.  Then we might just let the dogs spend the night at Aunt Steph’s house.

Why are we taking clothes for Dad?

He wants to change out of his work clothes before dinner.

Why did we take a whole bag of disposable diapers?

We need to return them to WalMart since we use cloth diapers now.  We’ll add that to our list of errands.

PROJECTED Q & A:

Why are we bringing the playpen from Vision Forum?

It’s an extra that we brought to VF, but nobody uses it here.  We’re going to drop it at the Goodwill when we stop there for the suitcases.

Where are we going for dinner?

We haven’t decided yet.  I know it’s a long way.  We’ll probably try someplace new. What sounds good to you?

Can we order dessert?

No, let’s go somewhere else for dessert.  It’s a long way too, but it will be worth it.

Are we there yet?

Did we stop yet?

to be continued…

In a Pickle, from our friends the Shepherd family

Speed Scrabble, courtesy of  The Common Room.  Ditch the Scrabble board for this one, and feel free to combine more than one set of  Scrabble letters.  Everyone starts with 7 or 10 letters.  No need to keep them hidden.  The rest of the letters are turned face down in the center of the table.  Everyone works at the same time using their own letters to build their own miniature crossword on the table in front of them.  Each time somebody – anybody -  has used all of her letters she calls out “GO!” and each player takes a new letter and continues to build and rearrange her own letters, trying to use them all.  The game ends when all the letters are gone and somebody has used up all of hers.  In theory you could each add up your score at the end and declare a winner, but we think the fun is in the play.

Dutch Blitz, discovered in the Vision Forum break room.  One of the interns brought a deck to work during the crazy the 4th quarter and life hasn’t been the same since.  Yesterday our new set arrived here at the  house.

Pen, another discovery from The Common Room.  This one is fast and furious fun!  It requires a single die, one pen, plus a sheet of paper for each player.  Take turns rolling the die.  If you roll a 1 or 6, grab the pen and start writing numbers from 99 down to 1.  Other players keep taking turns rolling as you write.  As soon as another player rolls a 1 or 6 she grabs the pen from you and starts writing her own countdown.  Players don’t start their countdown over each time, but continue their countdown on subsequent turns.  Play continues until somebody reaches zero.

Younger players may be given an advantage by starting their countdown at 50 or 20, or even by counting up rather than down, making this truly a family game.  I laughed when the Headmistress mentioned in her instructions for Pen that girls should tie back their hair.  Then we learned the hard way when somebody nearly lost a handful of hair in the excitement.  Incidentally, if my instructions don’t make sense then read the Headmistress’s.

Greed, an old standby.  This one takes 5 or 6 dice and a sheet of paper.  The instructions on Wikipedia are so similar to the way we play that I won’t bother to type my own instructions.

Set is not new in our house, but it’s another great favorite.  This is one of the few challenging games in which a fairly young child stands a chance against an adult.

We also enjoy Cribbage, Dictionary, Tonk and Rummy.

What games does your family play?  Extra points if they don’t require special equipment.