kiwords

A few weeks ago I got an email, asking if I wanted to try a product and blog about it. Being the sort of blogger I am, with rigorous integrity and all, I SQUEEED and said YOU LIKE ME, YOU REALLY LIKE ME! and agreed with the same enthusiasm as the time I was in eighth grade and the cool girls asked me if I wanted to try out for basketball with them.

Well, the eighth grade basketball thing didn't work out that well (I sat on the bench, except when the coach was threatening to put me in the game, and I was begging him, seriously BEGGING him not to), but this, I think, was a fine idea.

They sent me a Wii (!!) and a game - Active Life: Extreme Challenge. Because of my aforementioned rigorous integrity, I have to tell you that these did not come packaged in rainbows or butterflies or unicorn poop or anything. They just arrived in boxes. See how unbought I am by filthy lucre? I tell it like it is.

The game, however, is pretty darn cool. There's something of a learning curve, because there are ALL THESE DIFFERENT SPORTS - street luge, wakeboarding (which, hello, all this time I've been calling that WAVE boarding, I am still an eighth grade dork), rock climbing, bmx, skateboarding - fifteen activities in all, and each one of them is played differently. Some of them just use the pad and your feet, others you hit the pad with your hands, some require the remote, others not so much. Getting all that figured out was a little overwhelming. The first night we played, all five of us were gathered around, everyone shouting out opinions on how to play the different games and wow. That was not actually fun. Be prepared to send your fourteen year old and your husband out of the room to talk it out, is all I'm saying.

But once we figured it out and established an orderly turn-taking system, it was better. And best of all was when the kids went to bed and Clay and I went HEAD TO HEAD IN FIERCE COMPETITION. I won't say who defeated who, but I will point out that I DID have a BABY a short FOUR MONTHS AGO and also my darling husband is an ENORMOUS CHEATY CHEATER.

Ahem.

I also thought, as we were duelling each other in fierce double-dutch competition, that it was fun but not THAT much of a work out. Fer reals.

But then the next morning I tried to walk and my legs were made of pain. So. Perhaps I was hasty on that.

Fortunately, there are different levels for all the sports. We're mostly all on what Clay calls the stupid level, although Raphael is moving up into the intermediate level. He is VERY IMPRESSED WITH HIMSELF, and does not hesitate to tell you. There is a coolness aspect of the sports included that really appeals to the kids. "WATCH ME DO THESE SKATEBOARD TRICKS!" You would think they were actually out there, trying to maim themselves on a skateboard. For me, well, I still think bowling is cool. So there is that. Also, I say "COOL." Multiple times in one post. Plus, just tonight, Tre was playing and he hit a button and a screen popped up with buttons, one of which read "How to Play" which would have come in handy back when we were trying to figure out, you know, how to play it. Clay and I both said, "Hey WAIT! How did you do that?" And Tre responded, "Oh, you just push B." (I think that's what he said.) And then he smirked at us. Whippersnapper.

That's our experience so far with ACTIVE LIFE: EXTREME CHALLENGE. At the moment it's the hot ticket in the house. Can it stand the test of time? Will Clay ever stop cheating and let his long-suffering wife WIN AT SOMETHING? Don't you think WAVE BOARDING makes more sense, really? For the answers to these questions and more, STAY TUNED.