Family Game Night

I love a good game night. Board games, card games, Wii games and now...Xbox Kinect games!

Disclaimer: I am not a huge fan of video games. Well, just not the ones that require you to use a tiny little hand held controller and press different arrows and letters to somehow make your person/car maneuver through awful maze-like conditions. I guess I just don't have good thumb-eye coordination.

Kinect is a totally different story. If you can move, you can play.

Tonight JJ and I cooked dinner for our families and introduced them to our new toy. (Side note for anyone interested: We made tomato basil soup and a grilled romaine chicken ceasar salad with oven roasted tomatoes...mmm mmm good! We even made our own croutons! Let me know if you want the recipes!!).

Carolyn, JJ and I took turns showing off our dancing skills. Personally, I tend to excel at all of the Latin-influenced dance moves, go figure. JJ owned the Lady Gaga songs, and Carolyn pretty much jumped right in and could do everything. The best part of each song is it gives you about 20 seconds to "freestyle" and takes pictures of you dancing then plays it back for everyone to see. Some of the most unattractive pictures I have even taken.

Next, we got the whole family involved in the sports games. First there was boxing, where Carolyn TKO'd JJ in the 2nd round. Next, I lost to my mom in beach volleyball. I guess all those years of club and Xavier volleyball didn't pay off. I demand a refund! Well, technically my parents do...

Then we moved on to track...I challenged JJ in the pentathlon. I smoked him in the 100 meter sprint, the long jump and the hurdles. The other 2 events, discus and javelin, should have been so easy for me. Not to brag, but at one time (millions of years ago) I was nationally ranked in both. Piece of cake right? Wrong. Apparently the real life technique and skills do NOT translate to the Kinect version. But no need to fear! My dad was sitting on the sideline (the couch) coaching me. Just like he did for 9 years of my life in real track. And what was my response? The same as it was all those 9 years...eye rolling and complaining, "Daaaaaaad, leave me alone! I know what I'm doing!"

Ahhhh the memories.

We finished the night off with a little bowling. After we had all taken turns and everyone was getting a little tired, I decided to let Barney take my turn. I held him up on his back two legs, drew the ball back with his right paw, and...bowled a strike!!! Just so we are clear, not once on my own attempts was I able to bowl a strike but Barney got one on his first try. He is thinking about joining a league.

Next time you are in Phoenix, you are cordially invited to a dance off against JJ and I then Barney will take you down in bowling.