Sunday, November 22, 2009

Wii-kend

Who's slacking? Could it be me? I'd like to say I didn't post this weekend because I was too busy cleaning the house; but, looking around me here, I'd have to say that couldn't be true. The past 2 days went by so fast, I don't even know what happened to them.

I know I didn't spend them buying a phone battery at Target, because our house phone is still running out of charge after each 4.8 seconds of use. If you call me, talk fast. And if you called and left a message? Forget it.

And wouldn't you know, it's Thanksgiving on Thursday! Maybe I should find a turkey somewhere. Although, really, the kids should be perfectly happy with just corn, right? Corn and pie. Harris Teeter has pies on sale.

There! That's taken care of. I'm nothing if not efficient.

Efficient and unrealistic...I decided our family needed to do something different today, something fun that would provide our children with fond memories of parents who were willing to abandon the drag of the daily routine and hop in the minivan in search of adventure. Have potty seat, will travel - that's us!

So we trekked almost an hour away to see a friend's son perform in The Music Man. Music! Dancing! Skittles at Intermission! The young'uns were enthralled. Then, as if that weren't adventure enough, we went back to the friend's house for dinner. Just like normal people who aren't totally overwhelmed by the day-to-day requirements of living with children! Of course, now we're exhausted; apparently Larry and I are too old to have fun anymore.

By the way, our friends had a Wii. This was exciting, because my kids had never seen one.

I know! We live in a cave.

Anyway, I had no idea you just plug the Wii into a TV to make it work. I thought it would be way more complicated than that. As in, input cables and ethernet cables and special electronic boxes and all that...

So the children were enthralled, and I was grateful that we adults were allowed to talk in peace. But, folks? You know, you folks who say that the Wii is good exercise for the kids? Get out of town. Every time I looked towards the den, I'd see my kids standing in front of the TV (hey, at least they were standing - is that what y'all are raving about?) and sort of waving their forearms around in the air. It looked very abnormal and not at all strenuous.

I'm thinking that we've lowered the bar on our definition of exercise these days.

[Wii image credit: Technology Universe]

15 comments:

  1. I did play on a Wii once. All the kids laughed at me, flicking the controller randomly, in some sort of superhero combat game. Out of 10 wacky moves, one would do something effective, and that was enough. Hah! I can beat all you games Wii, with enough wackiness!

    The controller was way too light for your basic adult male (weighing far less than a package of "frozen corn"). Maybe the Wii-Fit should require on a controller that weighs, 6, 8, or 10 pounds. Once you start "winning" at 10 pounds, the (evil/fitness) machine should't recognize you and make you go out and get "real" exercise.

    Conversation with adults??!!!!!!??? What's your point? I'd rather be "good" at Wii.

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  2. Corn & pie sounds perfect to me, and closer to the first Thanksgiving than the beer, burgers, and football we tried one year (the kids were ready to call CPS, even though we didn't let them have any beer).
    My style of Wii Bowling makes me sore the following day; my oldest son scores better than I do by sitting on his backside. Maybe I'm doing it wrong?

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  3. My kids don't know what a Wii looks like either. Matter of fact, neither do I. And those WalMart commercials featuring "family moments" that all revolve around pricey electronics (except, the point is, not if you buy them at WalMart) really tick me off. Cuz off course we all need huge Wii systems to even begin connecting with our offspring.

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  4. Have a Wii, we like it. *I resisted the bad pun, so proud, so proud* There are games that use the balance board that are more, um, lively. Still, it is a video game.

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  5. Corn and pie - that about sums up my daughter's plate right there. I should be grateful she's so easy to please, right?

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  6. If you do the hula hoop, you break a sweat. Otherwise, you mostly just wave your arms around, but even that is more active than most video games, and the games are mostly much nicer than what they'd get on an x-box and there are many games that up to 4 can play together so it's much more interactive. I like the music games myself. Oh, and the cow races, those are the best.

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  7. I giggled at this because I've thought the same thing, but not in such a funny way. I thought I needed a new phone, but the way my friends kvetch about their phone batteries, I think I may stay with my relic a while longer, at least it's dependable. (That's probably what some old geezer said about their covered wagon when everyone started driving Model Ts...)

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  8. Yeah for breaking the mold! I am SO with you on how exhausting it is, and only hope that someday the kids are really able to appreciated it. And my kiddos have no idea what video games are - and I hope to keep it that way for a very long time!

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  9. I'll take just the sweet potatoes & dressing for dinner.

    I'm the odd one out here. We have a Wii and we seriously have so much fun with it. I have laughted til I was crying watching the kids play tennis and this one racing game.

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  10. We don't have a Wii either, though I am always hearing how great it is.

    We are past needing a diversion to allow adult conversation - but the Wii would have been helpful in years past...

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  11. We got the WII fit. You can get exercise with that. However, after starting off like gangbusters, I haven't touched in weeks. The WII Fit can be very harsh. We also went over a friends house once. Once. It was fun I think.

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  12. Try Wii boxing--you won't be able to move the next day.

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  13. We have a wii. The wii fit is good exercise which is why we haven't touched it months.

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  14. I am a dinosaur. I've never seen a wii in person, even. I'm SURE I would just use it for exercise, if I had one.

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  15. I'm actually thinking of caving on the no video games thing and getting a Wii Fit this Christmas. Having a fourth has just killed my parental willpower. I'm starting to see the beauty of setting them in front of the TV for a few minutes of peace and quiet while the baby is napping.

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