Board games and card games our family likes to play

Some of our favorites these days are:

Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne for the grownups.

With the kids (4 and 7): Apples to Apples, Jenga. Monopoly Junior, Chutes and Ladders, Candyland and Hi Ho Cherry-O. Othello and Connect Four. I'm probably forgetting a few... Oh yeah, card games: War, Uno, The Great Dalmuti.

If you live in our neighborhood, Berserk Games has a great store on Greenwood that's open even in the snow. Highly recommended! We have to rein ourselves in to stop from clearing out the place. (Ahem, don't tell the kids, but we're about to get Blokus, too.)

If you want other people's lists, see this SF Gate article: Board games for family fun

The range and quality of board games out there today far surpass anything we may have grown up with as kids, and in spite of the competing allures of online gaming, there is still something elementally satisfying about the roll of the dice and the click-clack of little wooden counters.

Also see the comments on the WilWheaton blog post that we found the SFGate article at:

Luckily, there are a lot of games that are fun for nerds like me and normals like my wife and kids, games like Settlers, Carcassonne, Spooks, Last Night on Earth, Apples to Apples, and classics like Sorry and Risk. But if you're not as seriously OCD about games as I am, you may not know where to start when you're contemplating a family game purchase.

Happy gaming....

More snow days

Second (and Third) Snow

First snow of the winter, 2008-09 edition

First snow

Dan & Zeb hack a calculator

Campfire, Sunset and S'mores

Campfire, Sunset and S'mores

Fishing at the lake

Fishing at the lake

At the cabin

This summer, the cabin at Long Lake.

At the cabin

In the Lake

From the cabin at Long Lake, Wisconsin this summer.

In the lake

I ain't ever satisfied

Or, "Picking the right president for the wrong reasons".

The undecided voters are going to end up making the difference between McCain and Obama.

And it appears the biggest factor in how that comes out will be how well they campaign.

(Obama's clearly MUCH better at that than McCain.)

Is that really what we want it to come down to?

Morning at the big red barn

Dan's on a conference call as usual. Melissa's just had the kids brush their teeth. Zeb, having completed his dental hygiene routine, has returned to setting up an elaborate Playmobil scenario in the playroom.

Melissa: "Zeb, time to pack your backpack!"

Zeb [exasperated]: "Can't a man just play with his toys in peace?!"

McCain is going to lose. A lot.

Double rainbows over Greenwood

Double rainbows over Greenwood

Kid hydropower

Kid hydropower

Blue Angels vs. garbage truck vs. grass

Given a choice between watching the Blue Angels, playing with a toy garbage (sorry, recycling) truck, and a pile of grass, guess which wins?

Eek! A bear!

Eek! A bear!

Red Sox vs. Mariners

Mariners vs. Red Sox with the Scotts

Isaac's Purplicious Party

We asked Isaac what kind of birthday party he wanted to have this year.

He said "Purplicious!"

We obliged.

Midwest vacation - with Justin in Chicago

Midwest vacation - with Justin in Chicago

Star Wars at the Minnesota Science Museum

The Minnesota Science Museum had a great Star Wars exhibit when we were visiting St. Paul. Of course we went!

Midwest Vacation - MN Science Museum

Hop Skip Jump Roll at the MN Science Museum

There are a few light-activated sound installations here. The ones on the stairs are lots of fun, too!