Don't Shake Hook

Do you play board games with your kids ? Do you compete to win them or you let them win ? Is winning important ? Do you play until the end ? How fun is it to play ? Do they invent rules in the middle of the game ? You play with their silly rules or try to keep to the "official" rules ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

The Little Girl saw Jake grab a big gem right from under Captain's Hook pillow. Jake had nimble fingers and he managed to take out the gem without waking up Captain Hook. Captain Hook was sleeping in his hammock. It gave the feeling that the hammock would shake Captain Hook and make him wake up, but Jake's nimble fingers did the trick.

The Little Girl was excited, it was her turn to try and take a small chest from the top of the hammock. The exact same hammock Captain Hook was sleeping in. The Little Girl used Jake's sword to try and take the small chest. The Little Girl stretched her arm as long as she could with the sword tip almost reaching the small chest. The Little Girl approached a little more and could see the tip of the sword get into the small chest's hold.
The Little Girl was getting very nervous, she lift the sword slowly but the sword was not in a position to lift the small chest. the Little Girl placed the tip of the sword through the small chest's hold once more. The Little Girl stretched a little more her small arm and saw the tip get deeper through the small chest hold. Very calmly, very slowly the Little Girl lift the sword once more, and the tip of the sword was lifting the hold of the small chest. A little bit more of strength was needed to lift the small chest. The Little Girl made a big effort and lifted with strength the tip of the sword and the sword made an arc.

The Little Girl got nervous and reduced the strength.
"I Can't make it", cried the Little Girl.
All the friends encouraged her, Jake showed her a big big confident smile.
The Little Girl tried once more to lift the tip of the sword.
Gently, gently, the Little Girl stressed the sword and suddenly the sword straightened from it's arc and down came the small chest sliding by the hold down the sword.
"I made it, I made it!" shouted the Little Girl.
Captain Hook woke up, not because he got shook up on the hammock, but because the Little Girl woke him up with the victory shouts.
The party ended soon as Jake, the Little Girl and all the other boys from Neverland ran away from a furious Captain Hook.
Story based on Disney's game: "Who Shook Hook?"

The Helicopter

Papi is coming back, Papi is coming back, Papi is coming back.
Mami, let's go fetch Papi at the airplane.
Mami smiled in agreement to the Little Girl.
Can we go in the helicopter Mami ?
No Little Girl, we are going by train.
No, No, I want to go in the helicopter that Papi gave me the last time he went on a plane.
What helicopter ? Asked puzzled Mami.
The Little Girl ran to her room, and picked up the helicopter.
Mami, the helicopter, can we go in the helicopter ?
OK Little Girl, let's go then, let's get ready.
The helicopter started spinning, a whoosh of air suddenly came has the rotor came to life.

The "Prrr prrr prrr" of the rotor could be hear, and along with the sound little pieces of spit as the Little Girl looked enthusiastically at the helicopter.
It was a tough job for Mami to dress the Little Girl with all the wind coming from the rotor blades. But the Little Girl put on her red dress, socks and the beautiful red boots shed selected last time Papi took her to the boring boot library.
The Little Girl and Mami hopped on to the Helicopter has the rotor blades started to spin faster.

There goes the helicopter with the Little Girl and Mami down the staircase and to the street.

What a nice trip to see the road to the train from high above the helicopter. All the houses very small, and down bellow they could see the train station. The Little Girl waited for the train to arrive at the station, then with great skill the Little Girl went flying above the train to the airport.

Once reaching the airport, the Little Girl was excited, she was piloting the helicopter high above the train, and she could see all the big planes landing around her.

Papi is on that airplane Mami ?

No Little Girl, answered Mami.

Is Papi on that red plane ?

No Little Girl.

Is Papi on that blue plane ?

No Little Girl.

...

After 99 airplanes the Little Girl saw Papi.

Excited she flew with the helicopter to Papi.

Come Papi, com with the helicopter, we are going home.

The Volcano

I always feel like my children are adventuring when we go to a theme park. Do you take your children to theme parks ? Do they get a feeling of exploring a new world ? Does it feel like an adventure always bringing new surprises ? Do your kids feel like it'S real life for them ? Do you role-play the adventure with them ? Do you make them play their part in the adventure ? Do you tell stories the next days enhancing the experience of the memories created ? Tell me your story, here is mine...

The Little Girl entered the dense forest. The forest was dense and as she walked through she had to get the giant palm leaves of her way. She couldn't see except for the next giant leaf in front of her. She remembered stories of people who used the giant leafs as plates to eat food. It was said the food was tastier when you ate the vegetables off the giant leafs with your own hands. Fried bananas on the leaves with rice was the favorite food of the Little Girl's friend.
She wondered what fruits she could see on the plants, she believed she saw bananas, mangoes and coconuts. And she liked all those fruits.
Another giant leaf in front of the Little Girl. The leaves were so big that it was hard for the Little Girl to push the leaves so she could pass. A monkey came by the Little Girl, he was standing in a branch just above the banana tree leaves. The monkey looked curious at the Little Girl, and the Little Girl looked back curious at the monkey.

The monkey gave a big shout and the Little Girl stopped. When the Little Girl looked down in front of her, she could see a river, and she was on a ledge. The monkey saved the little girl from falling. The Little Girl gave the monkey a big smile. The monkey came down from the branch and gave a piece of mango to the Little Girl. That piece of mango was so sweet, the Little Girl delighted herself with the sweet mango.

She started climbing down the ledge towards the river, and the monkey led her way down through a safe passage. The Little Girl climbed down the ledge excited, she could see other kids crossing the river in wooden rafts. She wanted to cross the river in a raft.
As she approached the river, there was a dock with an old man with a big beard. The old man looked like Nicholas, but was not dressed in the red suit the Little Girl found very funny. But it was not snowing, the red suit would be to hot now.
The old man said: "Hello Little Girl, do you have something for me ?". The Little Girl remembered the coin Papi gave her. She fetched the silver shiny coin from her pocket and gave it to the old man. the old man pulled a wooden raft and helped the Little Girl get on top. He then pushed the raft to the river with a long staff. The Little Girl was excited has she crossed the river. The monkey sat on the raft, sticking it's fingers in the water as to test the temperature. She reached the other side of the river and continued her journey. The monkey followed her.
The trail was full of dangers, first a big pit, the Little Girl needed to swing on a rope to cross the pit. The was a muddy slide, as the Little Girl slide down, she could feel the increasing speed and the shouts of the monkey behind her. They soon reached the bottom of the slide and continued the muddy trail. They had to push many balls that where in their path to reach the other side. Once they reached it they found a huge net which they climbed. A narrow passage was in front of them, and the Little Girl just ran sideways into it. Soon after they reached the end of the trail, and they saw a majestic volcano.
Guarding the path to the volcano was a mighty dragon. Each of the dragon's teeth was the size of the little girl. But that did not inspire any fear on the Little Girl's heart, instead she leaned forward with the monkey and jumped on each giant leaf surrounding the mighty dragon, the leaves acted like a trampoline and the Little girl jumped high enough to go over the head of the mighty dragon as it breathed the fire. She followed the monkey. She jumped once on the dragon's head and slide down the dragon's tail. She was again in the path of the volcano, and nothing more to stop her from reaching it.
The volcano laid in front of them, and the Little Girl started to climb, but the climb was slippery, for the volcano spit a liquid mud that made the climbing difficult. The monkey could not climb any further, but the Little Girl did not quit trying, she continued to climb. At a moment it looked like for each step she gave forward that she slide back two steps. But she continued, she insisted, and as the climb became more slanted the Little Girl climbed more slowly and more carefully selecting with precision each placeholder for the hands and feet. She climbed, some moments she almost felt quit, but somehow she felt encouraged to continue. She saw other kids failing to reach the top, one after another she saw them returning to the volcano base. But not her, she continued and pressed on with all her courage and determination.
She reached the top of the volcano! She sat for a while, admiring the surrounding, seeing everybody from high above, seeing the other kids failing halfway. She was victorious. Today was her day.