Throwing a Fit

Wii finally broke down and bought a Wii Fit. Wii had been interested in one for a long time but lucky for us(me), the stores were always sold out. My luck ran out when we just happened to check out our local Target store. The shelf was empty and I exhaled yet another sigh at my good fortune at dodging another bullet to the exercise train. My victory was short lived though when Lady Di asked the clerk if he could look up availability at another store. When he checked it out, he discovered that his store actually had two Wii Fits in their back room.

You could actually hear me deflating like a Whoopee cushion.

Once home with our 'prize', we immediately (eventually) started it up. It was kind of fun to set up though. The Wii exercise board took measurements of our weight and BMI. I didn't care for the results, but it still was fun to watch it work. The game even plumped up my Mii to more closely match my girth. The all-knowing Wii board then computed my Wii fitness age based on my weight, height, BMI,hair style and shirt collar width. It turns out that my body is actually seven years older than I really am. Which is very good if you are talking about your reading level, but quite poor for fitness. Now, if it would have taken maturity level into consideration, it might have lowered my age a bit more.

So now the 'fun' part. Exercising. In reality, I do have fun exercising with it. I'm a master at Super Hula Hoop. The kids are pushing me to stay ahead of them though.

As long as I can keep Hula-ing my hips, I'm sure the extra seven years will just melt away.

I'm looking younger already.

Sweet Pea can shake it with the best of them.

One thing I have noticed with all of our Wii games is that, no matter how good you are at the Wii, it doesn't translate well into the real life game. Number One Son made the comment that he will probably bowl really well because he can roll a 200 on the Wii. He found out that an actual bowling ball weighs a little more than the Wii remote. And just because you can rock to Hot For Teacher in Guitar Hero, it doesn't mean you can play a real guitar.

I'm going to test this theory the next time we visit the toy store. I'm going to grab a Hula-Hoop and put on a spectacle. Or probably just make a spectacle of myself.

Wii Wiish You a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a festive and safe holiday. We enjoyed a quiet day at our home with just our family. We spent most of our Christmas Day jingling bells, roasting chestnuts on an open fire and spreading peace on earth and goodwill to each other.

Actually, you can probably guess how we really spent Christmas Day by the title of this post.

We broke down this year and finally got a Wii.

For years, we have been fighting against the X-Boxes and PSP's of the world. We had seen too many young and not-so-young brains turn to mush playing Mario Bros. for twelve hours at a time.

Here is how our road to mush started.

After the kids opened all of their other gifts from Santa, we had them open a wrapped Wii remote. It took about ten seconds for them to figure out why they only had remotes. Once they checked the TV for the game consul, you could see the realization on their faces. For the next few minutes we heard many shouts of something about the greatest day of their lives. We then officially surrendered our TV to the kids for the day.

Number One Son bowled a 216 right off the bat. Both kids quickly ran through all of the Sport games before starting the Guitar Hero rock off. Lady Di then had to step in just to see if the game was working correctly. After the kids scored more points than her on Livin' on a Prayer, she decided something must be wrong with her guitar.

Here is Sweet Pea perfecting her slide steel guitar technique. She is dressed in her rock star pink, froggy, footie pj's.

N1S is rocking out a little more conventionally. Maybe camo thermal pj's will catch on with the rock and roll crowd.

At lunch time we forced an intermission on the kids from the game. Lady Di prepared a monster Christmas banquet and we all indulged to excess. We were all feeling a little groggy after eating so the kids suggested that we get some exercise to work off some of the turkey and stuffing. So we played some baseball, bowled a few games and boxed a few rounds.

That is one good thing about the Wii. At least we get more activity out of the game besides just our thumbs.

After playing for a while I asked the kids if they wanted to get some real exercise and help me outside. They just popped in the Wii snow shovelling and floor sweeping game and said, "That's OK. We'll just work in here."

Toward the end of the afternoon, Sweet Pea was asking for some gel to put on her back.

"Why do you need gel?", I asked.

She answered, "Look at my back. Every time I move my arm, my back hurts."

Her first Wii-related injury. We may have to invest in the Wii Athletic Trainer game in case we need to virtually wrap an ankle or rub out a cramp.

God Bless us, everWii one!