LARP It Up, Fuzzball!

So, how were your holidays?  Over here we didn't do much at all.  I say that a lot, huh?  Well I'm sure it's no secret since I bang on about it all the time, but boy oh boy do my children like to stay at home.  Every day I'd try to leave the house to go on a fun adventure with them and every day they'd stamp defiantly, as if leaving the house was a first step on the way towards...well...doing something I guess.  Which it was.  Because I was going out of my mind with boredom.

I had one week cross-over with the children's holidays where I was still at uni.  I guess their adventures on holiday care left them wiped for the following two weeks.  They both had a total blast going out sailing on their first day though so I guess that's something.  However with these two there is just no competing against their imagination.

James took off a couple of days from work to spend with them during my uni week and  by all accounts they seemed to spend the time at home doing little but playing pretend games and bouncing off the walls.

So - time to put that imagination to some good use.  To this end James unveiled a role-playing game for young children-type involving fairies and pixies and all manner of imagination-rich activities.  Ted volunteered to be our 'fighter' (unsurprisingly) and during the start of the game he leapt up, found the foam sword and cried out "And then I run up and attack him!", rushing the playroom with five-year-old vigour and brandishing foam aloft.

It turns out this is called LARPing (live-action role-playing).  If I had different children I may never have found out this acronym existed.



























The story was based around the Jack and the Beanstalk fairytale and we managed to complete it with only one set of tears towards the end (when Harriet only had one 'spirit' left - basically HP equivalence for those RPers who know of such things).

 Teddy even found the ginger cat that Jennie gave to Harriet when she turned one to be the cat lying with the giant ("What's his name?"  "Ginger Bing" replied Teddy with nary a waver of hesitation).


Sorry, did someone say "ginger cat"?  Because we've got one of those.  Oh boy, do we ever.  He is still beyond gorgeous and sweet as sweet can be.  He routinely performs what I call the 'kitten arabesque', where he moves from this position...

...to this one in a single fluid, graceful motion.  Don't you just want to lean through the screen and feel the velvety softness of that belly fur? 

And this holds no relationship to anything, but is just something fun to show the children.  Make sure you pop it on full screen.