You might think, after having been gone for 3 weeks, I’d be unpacking and working all day at getting the house (and our WA lives) back in order.
The long flight coupled with possible lack of airline seats and hours of wait ahead of us in the Cincinatti airport, threw me into an utter panic. I reacted by buying candy and snacks and toys with abandon. This is what is LEFTOVER from our long day of travel. And trust me, those children did their best to eat everything before the final plane landed.
Nope. Instead I’ve been hiding and ducking my head in shame over the terrible lack of pictures in yesterday’s blog. To have my identity called into question, caused my dear husband to suffer deep heart distress, and forced my sister-in-law to actually read the post rather than just skim along looking at the pictures. We’re talking serious infractions here. And that’s only what I know from the few who deigned to comment.
The word is out that my faithful mother has mailed my camera cord and it is already on its speedy way here. If something happens to it in transit I have word from Debbie in NY that I can easily buy a little USB card reader for my camera. Whew! Life can progress along smoothly. Well, as smoothly as can be imagined with five children.
We went to a wonderful Fourth of July party yesterday. Most of the pictures are, of course, buried in my camera (so not going to go there) but I do have some that Tim took. The party opened with games at the nearby park.
Time for a little “Simon Says.”
Okay, “Simon Says” is not a new game. I mean, is there anyone who hasn’t played or watched their kids play this game? This question got me thinking about international versions (I think I’m easily distracted).
Jacques a dit — French
Santos dice — Spanish
Wilhelm sagt — German
This would actually be a fantastic game to use as a part of language study. Of course, homeschoolers might be more interested in a Latin or Greek version. Filing this little winner of an idea away to market later.
The crowd is thinning but Sarah and I are still in the game!
I was warned that Mr. L ran an intense game of ‘Simon Says” but I have NEVER played it quite like this. Our game leader was ruthless! He was easy on the kids (at the beginning) but then began whipping through the commands, disqualifying people left and right.
Sarah and I made through round after round. We even survived the tricky, “Simon Says it’s no longer Simon but Mr. L Says so Simon Says put your arms down.” I mean, we were unfazed by the subtle or even the obvious orders to shake, rattle and roll. In a moment of tragic distraction, however, I blew the whole game. Argh!! I bent over to speak to Sarah (who wouldn’t leave my side and was completely overwhelmed by the all the games no matter how friendly Mr. L was). In those few precious seconds, my brain failed to track the order of “Mr. L. now says that it’s back to Simon Says; Simon Says bend down and touch your knees.” The next thing I knew the other two gals had their hands on their knees and Sarah and I were thrown out of the game.
You can see it hit me very hard.
Sarah tries to comfort me but the loss is just too devestating. 
Rachel and I tried to make a come back at the next game – Inner Circle/Outer Circle. I can’t remember the actual name but it was something similar. Basically each grown-up paired with a child. The grown ups (and I use that term loosely) stood in circle (inner) facing their partner (outer circle). At the count of 3 the grown ups walked in a clock wise direction while the kids walked in a counter-clock wise direction.
This would work perfectly with music (sort of a moving musical chair thing). When our fearless leader shouted, the adults dropped to one knee and their partner had to run (frantically, knocking down small children and any grown ups not paying attention) to sit on the offered knee.
Again, I made it close to the final round of the game. I’m telling you, I was ON yesterday. Since I am not a game person, at least not this type of game, I was doing pretty well to participate at all. Give me a deck of cards or a Settler of Catan game board and I’m good for hours. Relay races involving balloons, eggs, and spoons in any combination?
No.
Thankfully Tim did not get a shot of Rachel and I losing. It wasn’t pretty.
Let’s just say I went home and took an hour and a half nap after our time at the park. A very strong cup of coffee and a change of clothes and I was ready to re-join the party for dinner. Enough said.
Kathy
Project 365 – Day 185
Pictures! Phew… I was hoping yesterday’s post wasn’t a trend in the making.
Thanks, Tim, for including some pictures for the blog.
The park games look like lots and lots of fun. I wish you had won, dear Katherine. But you were in there trying!! And being a good sport??
A fun July 4th, to be sure. Love you, AK
Truly, a ruthless game of Simon Says. Joshua and I were out within seconds of the start of the game … my military training made me putty in Mr. L’s hands as he barked out orders in quick succession.
Then I was out twice in a row in the kick-ball game … not a banner day for Edgrens in games. That’ll teach us to show up in our matching red ‘Team Edgren’ shirts. At least we were able to provide strawberry-mandarin-lemonade blends at the end of the soccer game.
The circle game Kathy was trying to describe is called Bird on a Wire.
It was unprecedented weather for the 4th of July, though. Usually Summer doesn’t start here in the Northwest until after the 4th, so that all the picnics and boating parties can be marred by a cold rain. Maybe global warming isn’t so bad, for those of us in northern latitudes.
Thank goodness the pictures are back!!!! I do like to do things out of order – look at the pictures first and then go back and read the blog to see how the pictures fit in….
Your game of Simon Says sounded like it was a lot of fun – complicated yet easy..a great family day of games! Go Edgrens!
Kathy, stay tuned for my blog…Tim is going to help me set it up. I didn’t like all the other blog sites I tried.
Okay….looks like WAYYYY to much fun. The competitor in me wants at that Mr. L’s Simon Says.
I’m glad you had a great day yesterday and don’t worry Kathy….you’ll get ‘em next year! I’ll train you….you’ll be swift and severe! Mr. L won’t know what hit him! hehehe
Thanks for the great pictures! It was a tough one yesterday. This all looks like so much fun. I am very much into those types of games and extremely competitive! You did a great job hanging in there.
I’m not much of a “game” person so you’d find me sitting in the shade visiting. Glad there were some pictures today! And.. hey… even if you couldn’t find a cord or inexpensive card reader you could always have gone out and purchased a new camera/computer so you could have a computer that reads your cards (LOL)! Can you believe I didn’t even KNOW my computer had a card reader until a year ago… ugh…. That was certainly a nice discovery…. anyway.. you should be prepared do *ANYTHING* to keep your readers happy!
Cynthia!!!! Don’t even get me started. How did you know Tim has started to talk about needing a new computer??? Every few years he starts getting a little antsy. I think it’s the military brat in him. Since we don’t pick up and move to a new place every three or four years, he compensates by buying a new computer. Of course, it doesn’t help when people (who shall remain nameless) buy him new computer games. He happily runs off to install the new game (all eager and excited) and finds it won’t run on his “old/ancient/decrepit” computer. Within days he starts dropping hints about upgrading to a new system.
There’s just something wrong about needing to buy a whole new computer in order to play a $20 game!!
Now, he’ll use the whole ‘card reader/just thinking about the sanctity of your blog, Kathy’ thing as ammunition. Oh how we programmer wives suffer.
And people wonder why we have so many old computers kicking around the house. With a house full of gamers and a bargain computer shopper as head of the family, we’re doomed to a life of computer overload.
Well, it is true that I get a little antsy after a couple of years … about jobs and homes, and definitely about computers. For that matter, we have moved around a bit — five homes in fifteen years is a lot for some people.
Back to computers. It doesn’t help that I often buy the low-end business computer (you can get ‘em new, with an operating system, for as low as $300) with a low-end graphics card. Such machines are often not easily upgradeable (like my current desktop), so there you are, needing to buy a new one.
Kathy probably wants a new computer for her upcoming birthday, don’t you think?
Fun pictures. It looks like you and Sarah are not very good losers. LOL
Tim,
YES!! I think Kathy is secretly hoping for a new computer for her birthday, but she’s to modest to tell you up front how nice it would be to not have to mess with all those cords and such….. and she’ll probably want a new camera too… one of those ULTRA 2 gig ones so that she can take really fast action shots and lots of video all on one teeny tiny memory stick… take the memory stick out and put it in the camera.. no hooking up and unhooking of cords, etc. I was SO EXCITED when I discovered our computer had a card reader!
Tim got me going on the whole “new computer” thing that I forgot to say what I really came back to say and that is WOW.. that was a LOT of sugar and candy for kids who are going to be cooped up on an airplane for an extended amount of time (LOL).
Wow, it looks like you’ve been enjoying your summer so far! Both at home and in Mich.
After 40 days of rain and flooding here, we’re still waiting for summer. I’m tired of breaking weather records every month now. I just want Britain’s climate to be the way it was when I was a kid. {sigh}
looks like fun:D
Kathy, your caption walking away from the game is a riot!