Keeping Busy as Kids

I have this habit of watching movies over and over again until I have them memorized. Granted, I haven't been able to learn a new one for a couple years, but I still remember the ones I've learned. A few are as follows:

You've Got Mail
Liar Liar
Jumpin' Jack Flash
Finding Nemo
Aladdin
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
and....
The Little Mermaid

Now we used to take trips to Minnesota when we were little - 5 or 6 hours in the car. How did we keep busy?? My sisters used to use me as a human VCR. Any movie they wanted to see, they just put the imaginary tape in my mouth and pushed play (my nose). I'd recite the movie just as it is, and sometimes they'd fast forward and rewind just for fun. I usually kept up with them.

What else did we do in the car, you ask??
The Yay and Boo Game! TELL me you've played this. If not, make your kids. It's great fun. While driving, wave at cars (when you get good at the game, you'll be choosy about who you wave to) and if they wave back, you get 1 point. If they don't see you, you get 0. If they see you and don't wave back, well, then you get -1.

The alphabet game. Find letters A through Z in order one by one. I don't think we ever beat my dad at this game - and he was most always the driver. Either he's really GOOD or we really stunk. It has to be the first of the two. If anyone of us ever beat him, there was probably some cheating going on. If there was only 2 or 3 players, sometimes we said the letters aloud as we saw them, and then only one person could use the Q on Dairy Queen if we all saw it. The easier way was to do it silently and just say "Z!" when you get there. Letters you get stuck on are J, K, Q, X (unless you are on the interstate with EXIT signs), and Z.

Then there was the obvious, "Do I need to turn this car around?" game, or "Do I need to pull over?" game was okay, too. My brother sat in the back seat on the drivers side usually, with me next to him, and the guy has to part his stinkin' knees about as far as they would stretch and here I am cramped up in the middle and my sister on the other side. Then the middle sister sat in the front in between Mom and Dad. So then we have the "Jerry's hogging the whole back seat and I can't even move my legs" game. Those usually ended with the obvious first two games of the paragraph. We all know he would have pulled the car over. No empty threats from my parents. Ever. Good work, guys.

But the highlight of the trips may have been "THE Ski Hill". That was the landmark that told us we were almost there (unless we took the trip to the cabin with no stops). None of my or my sibling's kids have gotten even remotely close to being as excited about this landmark. Could it be all the room they have to play in the vans and toys to keep them occupied? Do they even know what the yay and boo game is??? Will they ever play tin can alley (kick the can)??? Ghost in the graveyard??? Red Rover?? Croquet?? Tag - water balloon fights - snow angels - King on the Mountain?? Come on! When was the last time you saw kids outside playing Annie Annie Over? What ever happened to Do-Overs? Are the classic games lost somewhere in the midst of portable DVD players and iPods and Playstations? For cryin' out loud - these gAmEs WiLL NOT DIE!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

What? NO, I don't need sleep! What kind of question is that?