Fun and Games – OKC Visit Part 3 of 5

Our weekend in Oklahoma City Saturday May 19th and Sunday May 20th was filled with interactions with grandkids and gaming with their parents. We offered Robin and Jeremy the opportunity for a "date" since we were there to babysit. They chose to go out to lunch on Saturday. Frank and I planned to take Autumn and Isaiah to a McDonald's with an indoor playground for lunch. Shortly after their mom and dad had left, we were about to head out the door when, "Wait," Autumn exclaimed. "I have to accessorize first!"  Frank and I exchanged looks and then waited while Autumn ran upstairs to her room to don some hair bows and bracelets.

Both kids ate well and then Autumn ran off to play. Isaiah wanted a little hang time with Grandpa, first.

After he'd cautiously observed the playing options, Isaiah, too joined in the activities.

Autumn had made friends with three other kids within minutes.

But that did not stop her from hanging out and playing with her little brother.

They had a great time on the slides and other climbing apparatus. One of Autumn's hair bows even remaining in place during the rough and tumble activities. Frank and I looked on in the cool comfort of an air conditioned building. Thank you, McDonald's. What a wonderful option!

Later that evening I offered to play a game with Autumn. She trotted off to the game shelf in their family room and told me that she would select a "child appropriate game".  She picked Monster Trap. In this game the players take turns drawing a card that determines which monster they are to do away with.

Then the players used two orthogonal swipers to herd the monsters through a maze to a central trapping well. The monster must be caught within the time limit of a draining hourglass of sand. It was a stressful game but I was relieved to learn I could handle it!

Then Autumn and I played Castle Logix, a three dimensional puzzle solving game with four blocks, three towers, and a puzzle book containing 48 configuration challenges at the four levels of Starter, Junior, Expert, and Master. The wooden pieces are visually and tactilely pleasing. It is a puzzle that is addictive and lots of fun to do. It was "child appropriate" per Autumn but I might add it was "adult appropriate" also.

You can find a video of how the game is played on YouTube. There is also a video at the Amazon site for the product. Autumn and I took turns and she zoomed with ease up and halfway through the Master level, putting the blocks effortlessly into the pictured configuration before quickly flipping the page for the next building challenge. When Grandpa ambled over to see what we were up to, Autumn graciously gave him a turn. She was proud to praise him and reinforce his progress by telling Frank he was doing, "Good, Grandpa!" When he would pause briefly to think, she was quick to reassure him that the picture he was trying to build was indeed "challenging".

Sunday afternoon, after church in the morning, Autumn was excited that her Grandma  and Grandpa were going to be there to watch her TOT demonstration. TOT is an acronym for Teams of Tomorrow and is an earl preschool program to develop basketball and ball handling skills in 3-5 year olds.

The uniform shirts echo the sentiment of the program, "We're big on skills, just small on size."  Believe me, getting her to hold still long enough for the words in this photo to be non-blurred was an accomplishment in itself. After many tries, that is Grandpa holding on to her to momentarily halt the jumping and twirling.

The program is a few months long. Each child is issued his/her own ball that they get to keep.

The ball is brightly colored and neatly personalized.

Dad Jeremy fulfills his role as equipment manager, assuring Autumn's ball is properly inflated for the exhibition.

In the photo belowAutumn is receiving her wrist band at TOT check in. Note that she accessorized her hair well for this event.

The program for the exhibition was short and to the point. It was a combination of singing and hand motions as well as ball manipulation before the distribution of trophies.

To be honest, it was my granddaughter so of course I would be there. But I was expecting to watch a bunch of preschool kids fumbling and chasing after balls that would be rolling across the court in some random chaotic fashion. Was I ever wrong! The event was well organized. Each school or daycare was represented by a different color of pail and ball cone lined up in a neat array of rows and columns. The wrist bands the kids wore assured everyone moved or faced right or left at the same time.

There was ball rolling back & forth and in & out between their legs and figure-eight-ing around their calves or ankles. Keeping the little bit of bouncing very close to the floor all but eliminated the need to chase escape balls. I was fascinated. It was fun and impressive to watch. All the kids had big smiles on their faces and enjoyed  "performing" - no stage fright here. I took few pictures because I was enjoying watching so much and any I took were far away and grainy. In the next photo, Autumn is the second blond in this column of girls.

The show even kept the interest of soon-to-turn three Isaiah perched on his dad's lap.

Afterwards trophies and treats were handed out. I think I may have gotten better smiles if I had taken the photos before the lollipops were deployed. Nah... those smiles are just fine!

Isaiah especially enjoyed being carried around the court on Grandpa's shoulders. When Grandpa is nearby, Grandma is chopped liver.

Hmm. Maybe a dunk shot is in the cards from this vantage point?

After we'd arrived back to California, Robin and Jeremy sent us this video.

In the evenings the adults played a few games. There was Sequence. The Diane/Robin girls' team beat the Frank/Jeremy boys' team every time! "Luck, not skill," grumbled the male egos good-naturedly.

Jeremy introduced us to a new game called Mysterium. It is a cooperative game where the players compete against the game. It is comparable in concept to the game of Clue. Players must match a suspect, a place, and a weapon to determine who committed a murder, where, and how.

 

Much like the game of Dungeons and Dragons, where one player is a dungeon master, the overriding spokesman for the game is a ghost. Except the ghost does not speak. Rather he communicates by pictures. There is a set of pictures for murder weapons (top), and a set of pictures for the murder suspects (bottom). There is also set of pictures to communicate suspect,  scene of the crime, and weapon thing through abstract art images (middle). The ghost hands out these image cards as his communication method, likened to visions occurring during a seance.

The abstract art images are quite beautiful and, as with any abstract art, open to a myriad of interpretations. Does the green of the two left images convey greenery, thereby garden as a location? Or does the cane of the guide hint at bludgeoning as a manner of death? Does that lilac colored card portray a dagger with the brown crossed item in the foreground. Or does it hint at strangulation or hanging because of the rope? Or does it mean drowning because of the water? Or is purple the color of the curtains in a certain room? Hmm. Quite a conundrum. And nearly every team member will have different interpretation. Caucusing and consensus are the means to determine the correct scenarios for the murder. We only played it once. As with learning any new game, it took a while to catch on to the rules let alone the best course for figuring out the mystery, but I am eager to try it again.

Apparently it can be a different game depending on how well the players know each other. I found this link on possible strategies for the ghost. This ghost who authored the article "listens carefully to his players when they discuss the images and draw their conclusions. It can help a lot to know who looks for details in a picture and who responds to color or shape." This is a fascinating game and once I could let  go of my micromanaging tendencies and obsession to understand all before charging ahead, I really enjoyed myself. Plus the picture cards are so intricate and curious and colorful they drew me right into the game.

So thus ended our weekend – low key but high fun. Monday would be back to the workweek adult and kid routines for the Oklahoma locals. Frank and I planned to take a side trip to Wichita the next day to broaden our horizons and give our hosts a brief break from company.