Oh wow. What I love about this group is that the challenge is real and this one was tough. {Traditions} 🙂 Christmas, family, decorate. That pretty much sums up my traditions. I had to put my thinking cap on.

I kept asking myself, is this a tradition, and if I look hard enough at it, yes I could call it a tradition, just one that we have not been together to do for a long time. It started when the kids were little. I was big on them doing exercises that stimulated their minds. However it was back when Cameron was 9 that the tradition of boardgames and cards really sunk in. He spent a lot of time in hospital and one of the things I always took along with me was a pack of cards. Something to simply pass the time while we waited for him to go into surgery and then until they let him go home, which was sometimes a few days. We used to play rounds of rummy. That was the simplest card game I could remember playing with my family growing up. It always kept Cameron occupied.

Growing up we used games to help them think strategically, to learn to lose, to play as a team, and to have a whole lot of fun. Whenever we went away, I always packed board games to take away with us. Normally it was rummikub, scrabble, mancala, backgammon, or a pack of cards. Games night was a regular in the house, and I confess that I do miss it. We did try playing via zoom, but that soon stopped as everyone had things to do. These days, my board games have found their way to Cameron’s house. I only have a few sitting in my cupboard.

However, we were heading away to a cabin in the Georgia mountains and so I asked Cameron to bring some board games. So Cameron packed Pictionary, Sequence, Rummikub, Cluedo and Boggle and I took along Jenga (which somehow stayed in my cupboard, and after this trip I may need to watch out that it does not disappear).

This blog is going to be longer than 6 images just a heads up.

We played Cluedo the first night, and it took a while but eventually a few players picked up my strategy and started to do what I was doing. I do not remember who won that evening but it was fun.

I did not play Boggle. I think I was getting dinner ready while the kids were playing but I could hear a lot of arguing about made up words and had to intervene with answers a few times.

We did a lot of driving around over the 3 full days we were there. After a painting afternoon, dinner, time by the fire on the last day, the kids finally decided that they wanted to play one last game. Richard was off to bed. I realized that I had not shot for my blog and this was the perfect opportunity. Out came the Jenga box, and Cameron, Kathryn, Amy, Daniel and I played.

Rules of Jenga – you can only use one hand. It starts out easy. Moving the blocks is not challenging

But some dexterity is needed, especially if the block moves out more easily to the other side of where you are sitting. Dexterity also applied to me as well. The table was a bench like table. I was squished in the corner with a zoom lens on my camera.

Some blocks are just easier than others.

Of course, balancing it on the tops has it challenges, especially when the tower becomes more precarious.

My turn was always interesting because I was the furthest away, I had to put the camera down, disengage from position on the bench and move closer. Cameron said I was going to crash the whole tower. However, this old lady taught them something new – how to shift the block over to make it easier to get the challenging block out. You can see below Cameron is using his fingers to balance the tower while pulling the side block out.

Eventually the tower had some lean to it. Trying to straighten up while holding your breath was fun. We got to a point where Kathryn decided the that one of us was going to knock the tower over and out came the phones ready to capture the crash..

The other rule that we played by was that you cannot remove from the top 3 rows. Eventually you are going to end up with only two blocks per row and no where else to pull from.

At this point there was only one place to pull from aside from where Kathryn was taking out. Next turn was Daniel’s and then mine.

We managed another row. Phew!!

Amy now pulls the middle block out which means that we are now in limbo. Nowhere to go without some gentle moving.

Cameron managed to get the 3rd from bottom block out by shifting the side piece gently over to the center and pulled the piece out.

It was Kathryn’s turn and she attempted the same sort of move but on the opposite side from where she was sitting.

She was doing okay, but sadly she did not get the second block far enough over so when she pulled the side block out…..

….they all came tumbling down.

What a fun end to the evening and the last day of our trip there. The morning saw us all going in different directions. Rich & I to Charleston for 2 nights, Cameron & Kathryn back to Orlando, and Amy & Daniel to Atlanta for 1 night. Look out for some more blogs in the near future. We did some hiking to waterfalls, some time at a wine farm, some fishing and some good old family time.

As I said {Traditions} when I first looked at it was hard for me but I loved that we were able to actually take one of our fun traditions and enjoy it while we were on vacation.

Thank you for joining me for this month’s Share Six blog post.  This is a circle blog.  The sneak peaks that are shared are stunning.  The challenges always stretch us just a little bit further. I blog with an incredibly talented group of ladies.  Please take time to visit my friend and very creative artist Elizabeth from It’s Still Life Photography by Elizabeth Willson who always amazes me with her images to see what she has for you this month. To view her  Facebook page click here and her Instagram page here.

Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month. Don’t forget to leave a little love on their page as well.

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