Play Day

Today was "Play Day." The one big thing that helps combat the depression that inevitably sets in after Christmas is this: toys! December 26th should not be "Boxing Day," but rather "Play Day," a day set aside to play with all the toys you got on Christmas. We can watch movies, play video games and play with all those toys we got the day before.

Here's Daddy and Madison playing with one of the toys we got yesterday:

It's a Kinect, a game system that has no controller. Or, to be more precise, we are the controllers. One completely fun feature is that the game takes photos of you as you play, and you can retrieve them later on from their website if you like. Most of the time, the photos are pretty funny. What you're seeing above: Madison and Daddy had arms flailing about as we flew through Neverland. We also were battling pirates, using cricket bats to knock back explosives that were hurled at us by pirates. We had an incredible time! Madison was in hysterics, laughing so hard as we flew over London. Inevitably, we'd bump into chimneys or towers, and that just made things even funnier. But what a wonderful moment. Seriously, this is the sort of moment you imagine as a kid - what if you could fly over London like Peter Pan, just like in the ride at Disney World? Right now, you fly about on a guided, pre-determined path - but imagine the future: where you can explore and fly wherever you want. Essentially, this game does have a lot of that, but not in London or Neverland. It has it at Disneyland. That's the name of the game, by the way: Disneyland. It's a perfect name, because that's what the game is. You're at Disneyland in California, and you're walking around the parks and meeting characters and getting autographs, and taking pictures, and looking for hidden Mickeys, and going on side quests, and enjoying the rides, and visiting fantastic places like Neverland, or Wonderland, or any of the other magical destinations.

Madison is getting the hang of it quickly. At first, using your hands for a controller is a novel idea, but she's got it figured out fairly quickly. In no time, she was walking down Main Street and snapping photos left and right. What an amazing technology!

Today's list of activities was small: play games. We did stop to eat occasionally. And Daddy changed a lightbulb. Mommy worked on genealogy on the computer a bit - that's been her latest hobby. But we went nowhere. But others did come to see us.

It was fun when Ye-Ye, Nana, Aunt Shain and the rest of the family came over. Immediately, we had them in Disneyland - and they were loving it. All of them were flying over Neverland or London and having such a good time that I think everyone will be coming over here for New Year's Day this Sunday!

What a fun day with Madison. We giggled, laughed and played together all day. She's our best friend, and we had a great day together: a Play Day.