Hockey, anyone?

Air hockey, that is. Now we have a (tiny) air hockey table in our basement that I got at a garage sale for $20 over a year ago and which serves mostly as a place to keep bins of toys either on top of or underneath. It's been played a few times - mostly when we have had boys over, for some reason. At least they're usually the ones begging to clear it off and play. ;)

But the place that where we had Hannah's birthday party has a 'real' air hockey table. Complete with electronic scoring and even boxes for kids to stand on if necessary. Yes, at this place the kids can run, bounce, slide and jump in piles of plastic balls - but for me the fun is the air hockey table.

Not that I am terribly good at it, mind you! I have a tendency to leave the left side of my goal open, even though I play left-handed. Any goals that I score are generally from luck. But I still love to play.

At Hannah's birthday party a couple of weeks ago, the conditions for some air hockey were ripe. There were dads around to help chase keep an eye on the kids. I had tokens burning a hole in my pocket - given to us as part of the party. But since most of the game machines were out of tickets and we didn't want the kids bugging us for additional tokens over and over anyway, I appropriated a few for myself the grown-ups.

The odd thing is that I only played one game. And I lost, of course. After my humiliating stoic loss to my friend Kristi, I then challenged someone a bit more my speed - Abby. Yes, my 6-year-old. And I was winning too, until I saw Kristi's son Noah begging his mom to play. So I gave up my spot to let him play against Abby. And thus began the kid-to-kid challenge - the great Air Hockey Cup Bowl (why are these things all named after tableware?) Series of 2007.

Round 1 - Abby versus Noah:

And who won? Honestly, I couldn't tell you. I do know that they both scored several times and it was really a fast-paced, riveting game - those two were fairly evenly matched. And they had a blast!

Round 2 - Hannah versus Aaron:

You really could tell the age difference here - a much slower, more leisurely game. Again, I can't tell you who won, but they had fun playing and it was a great activity that the adults and kids could all enjoy together.

I think it's time to clear off our mini air hockey table at home and put it to use. I'm up for the challenge! :)