Unplug and Play!

I was recently sent a copy of Brad Berger's "Unplug & Play!  50 Games That Don't Need Charging."   While it's definitely a few years ahead of Andy and Alex's time, I thumbed through the thin, glossy book and immediately had a vision of a fun weekend in Lake Geneva with a couple of drunken friends- a Dan, a Mike, two Megs, and me and Chris.  The first night, in our rented condo by good old Lake Whatsitsname (not Geneva, possibly Delavan or maybe it was just a large puddle; my mind is start to fade), we had strong drinks, good food, excellent music, and a spontaneous dance party that may or may not have involved pretending bananas were telephones and/or cowboy guns.  We also sat around and played games for most of the night, laughing hard and having a blast.  This was before I was even pregnant with Andy, about five years ago at this point, and I am struck with many feelings when I remember this fun weekend.

1.  We should have had more weekends like this with friends before having kids.  Why didn't we do this ALL THE TIME?

2.  Yikes, was that really HALF A DECADE AGO?

3.  We shouldn't have had soooo much to drink that first night, because most of us paid for it pretty bad the next day.

4.  This book would have been perfect for that weekend.

In fact, "Unplug and Play!" seems to me to be the quintessential going on vacation book.  You're in a cabin or a condo or even a lovely motel room just off the highway, and hopefully you've left the iPad at home and have the cell phones off to the side.  It's the perfect opportunity for you and your friends and/or family (with kids at least eight years old or so) and/or traveling troupe of circus clowns to unwind, have some laughs, and really connect with one another.   You can flip to almost any page and find a fun game to play.  My favorite so far is "Who Drew That?"  where everyone draws the same object or idea (let's say "dance party with bananas") and then you have to guess who drew which particular drawing.  Of course, if you're playing that with my friend Dan, superb artist and comic book superstar, it would be pretty easy to guess which one was HIS dance party with bananas, as it would likely be extremely accurate and include a caricature of his bearded self.  Whereas my drawing might be covered with actual bits of banana, because all of this fruit talk would likely make me a little hungry.

Clearly, I digress.

Anyway, the games in the book, which require nothing more than pen and paper, definitely make me wistful for a cozy vacation weekend with friends gathered around a fire and a big old bottle of wine.  It also makes me think of Andy and Alex growing up, and the four of us playing some of these games either on our own vacation or just sitting around the kitchen table with a big old jug of chocolate milk.  And maybe a banana or two.