Monopoly

I read in Wil Wheaton's blog about his taking time to play frisbee with his stepson, and it reminded me that we had some great family time this weekend playing Shrek Monopoly.  The girls really just loved it.  We kept the game going all weekend, and during breaks in the weekend chores, we would play a few rounds.  That enabled us to get farther than we usually had; all the properties were bought up and people started putting cabins (or in Shrek's case, shacks) on their monopolies.  Sharon was able to exorcise some of her childhood demons by playing to this level, as she always quit as a child once the properties were bought up.  P was so into it that she didn't even sit down while we were playing - she stood at the end of the table and danced around, constantly moving, and even climbed up on the table a few times until she was asked not to.  It was a tough weekend, because we were working on going through clothes and such, which is a total nightmare because of the stuff we have accumulated.  But the Monopoly was a fun break from that drudgery, and it was great that the kids were now of the age to be able to play independently.  H wanted to be on a team with me, which was fine, as I was not always able to play when they did.  And the first thing they wanted to do this morning was get back to the game.  And then I got a call from H saying that mom's "row of death" had gotten her and we didn't have any money left and she had to mortgage one of our properties.  Poor thing was really upset about it.  But learning how to lose is more important than knowing how to win.