Unschooling Tools : Games

Ah, the first of our "these are a few of our favorite things" lists!  How fun.

(To find out about the intention of these lists, visit the first post, Unschooling Tools.)

I've been considering why it is that I like games so much.
It's not as if I suppose that if I don't engage my children in such a way, they'll be non-thinking, drifting, unenthusiastic people.  (Though I did ask myself if this were true.)
And it's not solely because they're fun.
I went to Trevelyn to ask him about it.
"I'm writing a post about games, Bud.  You like that we play games so much, don't you?"
"Yeah."
"What is it that you like about it?  About playing games."
"It's... it's the challenge."
"Ah.  You mean, you like that it engages your brain and you have to think about something in a different sort of way than usual."
"Yes.  Exactly."
Mmhmm.  That makes as good of sense as anything, I'd say!
Exercise for the brain.  :)

Games had always seemed like a good way to engage my children in mental play.  And then I read A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart.
And I watched John Bennet at a California Homeschooler's conference.
And I saw two mathematician's who believe that mathematics should be about excited logic and thinking, not dreadful, boring -useless- formulas.
And then I knew I was on to something with all that game play.  :)

Paul Lockhart's list of games :

• Chess
• Go
• Hex
• Backgammon
• Sprouts
• Nim

 John Bennet's list of games :

• Blokus 
• Mastermind
• Quads 
• Avalam 
• Quixo
• Quoridor,
• Pente
• Katamino
• Subtrax, 
• Quarto
• Zertz

A great place to start.
Soon after that I was checking out Game Awards... and reading reviews of looooots of different games.  And soon thereafter we were spilling out of our shelves.

I should say that game playing in our house is different than it might be in others.  I read a review of Quarto a couple of weeks ago, and the reviewer said something like "I don't like this copy!  It seems cheap compared to the one I saw years ago... there is no felt on the bottom of the pieces... someone could hand you a piece upside down to cheat, and you wouldn't know!" 
I thought, "What in the world?  You play with people that cheat? What would be the purpose of that!?!"  First of all, the idea of my child or my family needing to cheat in a game is.... very, very odd... secondly, the point is to have fun and be engaged, not to win!  Well--usually.  ;)  (Thirdly, it's a gorgeous game.  Not cheap at all.  And I can tell when they're upside down.)
So this is how our games go.  Once in a while it will be a serious "game on!" play, but most of the time game playing is very gentle...the purpose is to help the children flex their thinking muscles... to develop strategies, to think ahead, to aid them in seeing the game or another's play in a different perspective... they're fun and engaging, not "I'm going to lay you down!" lessons.  (Sheesh.)
So when we play, we play more like it's open-ended.  When we play the Amazing Mammoth Hunt (world geography), we play until we're getting tired -it's a long game- and then we say "eight more turns for each of us" or something like that.
When we play Apples to Apples, we don't stop at six or whatever it's s'posed to be, we play the same way, "three more rounds!".
In Checkers (Draughts) there are lots of "You sure you wanna do that?  Look here."  And "Woh.  Look carefully.  You could do a triple!", if they seem not to see it.  If they seem stuck, like they're trapped, "Remember that I can't move this one backwards, yet, so it's safe."
The point is, after all, to have them feel (and Be) competent and strong in their processes and intelligence, not to bully or shame them.

So!
Here are our games. 
A couple of these are games we've made up, and a few others are handmade versions of games that inspired us.
I am tempted to mark our favorites, but really all of them have been a favorite at one time or another, so I'll refrain.  :)  Just keep in mind that if we didn't like the game, it wouldn't be in our list.
'Young' means Maddie (age 6) can play, and has been playing for quite a while, 'Mid' means Trev (age 10) plays, 'Adult' means people with no children might have it in their house.
'Short' length means definitely less than ten minutes.  'Short-mid' means close to ten minutes. 'Mid length' means less than twenty.   'Long' means 'longer'.  :)
The links will be either to a page of ours showing how we made it, what it is, or to our Amazon bookstore (for my ease, as they're all in there, and I don't have to search out each one individually.)  If there is no link to the game then it's something that can be found in just about any store.  For the fancy games (like Quoridor), check your local luxury (high-end, educational) toy shoppe first to see if they carry it and have it for a better price before you buy it on Amazon.  I've bought a couple of games locally for cheaper.
Many (most?) of these games are international, Mensa, Dr. Toy, Creative Child, Game Magazine, etc winners.  I'm not mentioning specific awards because that would take me forever!  :)
Lastly, very common games (Battleship, Scrabble, Yahtzee) are not mentioned in our list, even though we own them, mostly because we we don't enjoy them as much as these others.  These listed are in our 'regular play' rotation.
None of these games are in more than one category.
On to it, then!

Geometric/Spacial games

• Tangrams (handmade tans, book purchased.  Young/Mid/Adult, however many players you have tans for, however long you'd like to play)   Description: Fun and smart seven piece puzzles.
• Blokus (Young/Mid/Adult, 2-4 players, mid length)  Description: Laying down your block pieces successfully.
• Rumis (Young/Mid/Adult, 2-4 players, mid length)  Description: Fitting your pieces into the tower.  Peaceful, slow, deliberate game.
• BaffleBlox (Young/Mid/Adult, 1-4 players, however long you'd like to solve puzzles)  Description: Fitting blocks into particular patterns.  A definite thinking game.
• Katamino (Young/Mid/Adult, 1-2 players, short length)  Description: For two players, a race to fill in your square; for one player there are many tough challenges of piece placement.
• Geo-dice Game  (Young/Mid and Me!, 2-? players, mid length)  Description: This was inspired by another game, but this version we made up.  You have to choose whether to use large pieces or small pieces to win the race to fill up your card.
• Mighty Mind (Young, one player, short-mid length)  A variation of tangrams.

Four-or Five-in-a-Row games

• Exago (Maddie is just starting to get this one, so.. Young-ish/Mid/Adult, 2-4 players, short-mid length) Description: Trying to get four or five in a row, depending on 2-4 players.
• Pixel ( Young-ish/Mid/Adult, 2-4 players, short-mid length) Description: a challenging four-in-a-row game, you can only place your piece at the corresponding point of the two sliders.
• Pentago (Young/Mid/Adult, 2 players, short-mid length) Description: I love this game! It's a five-in-a row game, the four sections pull out to turn, making you have to concentrate and think carefully about what you're doing. One marble is placed, and one rotation (of any of the four sections) per play.

Card games

• Rat-a-Tat Cat (Young/Mid and Me!, 2-6? players, short-mid length) Description: Four cards laid face down, trying to get the lowest score.
• Quiddler (Mid/Adult, 2-10? players, long, but can be easily stopped earlier.)  Description: Making words with letter cards.
• Bonanza (good reviews, haven't played it, yet)
• Lost Cities (Mid/Adult, two players, mid-long length)  Description:  An adventurous card game.

Strategy games

• Othello (Mid/Adult, 2 players, mid length)  Description: You attempt to 'win' pieces by trapping them between two of your pieces, then flipping them over to your color.
• Subtrax (Young-ish/Mid/Adult, one player, as long as you like)  Description: This is like the classical triangle "IQ game", but with different puzzles.  You aim to get it down to one peg.
• Mastermind (Mid/Adult, two players, short-mid length) Description: A sort of fun, deductive reasoning game.
• Quarto (Young/Mid/Adult, two players, short length) Description: A four of a kind game, making rows of one common feature.  More interesting to play offensively.
• Quoridor (Young/Mid/Adult, 2-4 players, short-mid length)  Description: A 'race to the opposite side' game - getting their before your opponent.  Each move you can either place a barricading piece, or move your game piece.
• Hex (handmade.  Mid/Adult, two players, short-mid length)  Description: A 'get to the other side' game.  Offensive play is the same as defensive play.
• Nim (Young/Mid/Adult, two players, very short length) Description: Played on paper, you draw a box with a grid, each player takes turns crossing out one or two (directly connected) squares.  The person to cross off the final box wins.
• Backgammon (haven't learned how to play yet!)
• Mancala (? Didn't know where else to put it.  Young/Mid/Adult, two players, short length)
• Forbidden Island (Young-ish/Mid/Adult, 2-4 players, mid length)  Description: A family cooperative card-style game. 
  
• Sprouts  Young/Mid/Adult, two players, very short length)  Description: A pencil and paper game, invented by a mathematician.

Knowledge games

• The Amazing Mammoth Hunt (Mid, 2-6? players, long length, but easily stopped earlier)  Description:  World geography.  If you guess the right spot, you get the little tile.
• The Scrambled States of America (Mid, 2-4 players, mid length)  Description: States and Capitals.  You don't need to know them to play well.
• Professor Noggin's History of the United States (Mid, 2-6? players, mid length.  Long if you have lots of cool discussions. :D)  Description: U.S. History facts.
• SomeBody (Young/Mid, 2-4 players, can be investigated and played with alone, short/mid/long length)  Description: Anatomy placement game.
• Lewis and Clark Exploration Card Game  (Mid, 2-6? players, mid length)  Description: A 'gin rummy' sort of card game with places and animals of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
  

Mathematical games

• Totally Tut (Mid, 2-4 players, short-mid length, depending upon how many rounds you play)  Description: A favorite of Trevelyn's, it's a math equations build-it game, using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  Sort of an intro to algebra.
• The Allowance Game (Young/Mid, 2-4 players, mid length)  Description: Coin identification, monetary addition and subtraction.
• Math Noodlers Grades 2-3 (Youngish/Mid, 2-4 players, mid-long length) Description: A souped-up practice of basic mathematics skills  There is also a 4-5 Grade version of the game.
• Big Brain Academy Board Game (Mid, from 2 players to groups of teams, however long you'd like to play)  Description: Many different kinds of mathematical, thinking practices in this game.  One of Trev's and my favorites to play.
• Math Animals (Young/Mid 2-4 players, up to x amount of points, your call.)  Description: Can play addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.  Each player can choose his own preference.
• Fraction Whirl (Mid, 2 players, short length)  Description: A fast-paced identifying fractions game.  Very simple, but enjoyable.
• Earthopoly (Mid/Adult, 2-6 players, long length)  Description: An eco-Monopoly game.
• Go Diego Go 123 Game   (Very Young, 2-4 players, short length) Description: Maddie has always liked this very simple counting animals game.
• Shut the Box (This one is a wooden box with dice - make up your own games, and play with as many people as you like.  All ages. We have a few games here.)
• Fractions Game  Games we've made up.

Deductive games

• Mystery Garden (Very Young/Young/Mid, up to however many players, short-mid length per game, multiple games)  Description: A sort of I Spy, 20 Questions game.
• Guess Who?  (Young/Mid, 2 players, pretty short length)  Description: A "check this off" sort of 20 questions game.

Creative Games

• Cadoo (Young -with help reading-/Mid, 2-4 players, mid-long length) Description: Race to find things, draw things, sculpt things, or act things out.  Very fun!

Pattern games

• Qwirkle (Young-ish/Mid/Adult, 2-6? players, long length)  Description: Lay tiles in rows according to patterns. Finish a row with one of each for extra points.
• Set Cubed (Young-ish/Mid/Adult, 2-4 players, mid-long length)  Description: set cubes into patterns of same and different.  It gets complicated!
• Sudoku (Mid/Adult, one player, long length) Description: Lay tiles in arrangements of non-repeating numbers.  A great thinking game for one player.  Puzzle difficulties vary.

Word games

• UpWords (Young-ish/Mid/Adult, 2-4 players, mid-long length)  Description: A Scrabble-like game that builds up.
• The Letter Game (Young/Mid, 2-6? players, short-mid length)  Description: I made this one up.  Go around the board collecting letters and making words.  Fun!  :)
• Boggle (we don't "play" Boggle, but use the dice for other word play, usually.)
• Apples to Apples (Young -with help reading/Mid/Adult, 2-12 players, mid-long length)  Description: A fantastic and fun vocabulary and debating game.
  
• Apples to Apples Jr.  (Young -with help reading/Mid, 2-12 players, mid-long length.) Description:  A fun version of the adult game, but with more kid-friendly content.

  
Just For Fun (Very Young)

• Duck Duck Goose (Young, 2-4 players, short-mid length)  Description: Filling up your nest before anyone else.  Super fun for very young and young.  Look for it locally.
• Twister (Young/Mid/Adult?, 2-100? :) players, short-mid length)  Description: Stretching and falling bodies everywhere.
• Operation (Young/Mid, 2-4 players, short-mid length)  Description: Remove tongue-in-cheek pieces of the body for points.
• Pirates' Gold (Young/Mid, 2-4 players, mid length)  Description: A simple sailing the seas pirate game.  
• Stixx (Very Young/Young/Mid/Adult, 2-6 players, short/mid length) Description: Collect your colored stixx before others get theirs or yours.
• Cootie (Young, 2-4 players, short-mid length)  Description: Make your bug fancy and complete before others complete theirs.
• Ned's Head (Young, 2-4 players, very short length, but as many rounds as you like)  Description: Draw a card, then race to find your object -by touch-  inside Ned's Head before others find theirs.

If anyone has any questions about any of these games, or about current favorites, or whatever else, I'll be happy to respond in the comments.

This post is part of the Unschooling Tools series.
Other posts are Unschooling Tools : Math Play
Unschooling Tools : Television
Unschooling Tools : For Creativity
Unschooling Tools : For Reading

♥ Thursday ♥

It's a Happy sort of day around here.
Not for any reason, really.... woke up and played happy.

water and oxygen molecules

Maddie and I surely were listening intently for the UPS man.... we were expecting two boxes of goodliness today.  So there was that.
But that wasn't the reason for our Lovefest, I don't think.
It was just the four of us.... piddling, playing, talking, choring (not the babes)... just a mellow sort of joyous Living.

Madd and I played two of our new games.  Have I told you that we love Quarto and Pentago?
The babes love them because they took like five seconds to learn to play.... I love them because they're excellent "wrap your head around it" games.  Challenging, complex, intriguing, thinking, strategical... you get the picture.
Games aren't for everyone, I know, but they're one of our preferred ways of flexing our mental muscles.  Hi-yah!

Maddie plays with her electrical circuit kit... "The question is.... will my Mommy get cool with this tiny fan?" she says in a dramatic voice.  Then, as she got an idea, "Do you think we should put this on Myth Busters?"
Mmhmm... we've been watching lots of Myth Busters.  :)  So love Netflix.

Oh.  UPS man is here.  :)  I surely do feel guilty about all these marvelous packages arriving on our front porch.  On the other hand.... last shipment from Home Science Tools was two-and-a-half years ago, so there you have it.  Not very, very guilty.

new oil pastels for me!

Drawing... with new drawing books.

How to Draw : Forest Animals, How to Draw: Horses, How to Draw: People, and How to Draw: Pets.  ($5 each, and they're pretty fine books.)

Checking out the balsam wood pieces.  (Got those for her for building, hammering, gluing, engineering, nailing, hinging, drilling.... )

Binoculars.  A pair for each of them.

Yes, they love them.

"Maddie.  I've read the instructions for Quoridor.  Wanna play with me?"

She loves it.
It's another one of those gorgeous, heavy, high quality, beautifully textured games.  Really digging these games.  It's also another one of those 'learn to play in five seconds' ones.  Suitable for a child, or two high-iq sportin' adults.  :)
(And it's also a multi-national award winner: Prix D'Excellence des Consommateurs Quebec, Best Bet of Toy Testing Council Canada, Mensa's Top Five Best Games U.S.A., Parents' Choice Gold Award U.S.A., Grand Prix du Joet France, Spelgut Deutschland, Game of the Year U.S.A., Toy Award Belgique.)

Next, was Katamino.  Which was sort  of vexing, as I still don't get how to play most of the games.  Sometimes instructions baffle me.  (Like when I read about 'how to play "Go"'  ???  Don't get it. I so much want to learn to play, but I just don't understand how when I read the instructions.  So if you know how to play, come over and teach me.)
Maddie didn't have a problem worrying how to play... she just went after it.  (Which is indicative of how things work around here.)

Anyway.
Madd and her Daddy left for parts Costco,

and Trevy and I got onto dem new games.

Quoridor!

And then two-player Katamino.
He loves both of them, I am happy to say.

The rest of the day was spent singin' into the echo microphone,

jumping on the trampoline,

wrestling with Dad,

drawing horses,

researching,

and even more Myth Busters.

It's a fine, fine life.

Wednesday

Maddie wanted to learn to play our new games this morning.
This first one is Pentago.
You're either black or white, each turn you place a marble anywhere you like, and then pull out and rotate any one of the four sections 90º.
The winner is the first to place five marbles in a row.
It's a wonderful thinking game!
(And, for those interested: Mensa Select National Competition Winner, Best Strategy Game 2006 Grand Prix Jouet in France, Golden Dior Game of the Year 2005 Sweden, Game of the Year 2006 Finland, Dr. Toy Best Vacation Game 2006, and Creative Child Magazine's 2007 Game of the Year.)
Our version comes with a lid, so it would be a great travel game. To the touch it's sturdy and rich, it doesn't feel cheap or brittle.

This gorgeous game is Quarto!.
I've wanted it for two years.  :)

The board is heavy and rough... to the touch it feels similar to stone over wood; really pleasant for the senses.
The pieces are wood, and they have four characteristics; tall or short, light wood or dark, square or round, and hollow (a hole at the top, in the center) or solid.
The object is to be the player to place the last piece... the fourth piece in a matching row.  For the win, the row must have one shared characteristic between all pieces; shape, size, color, or solidity.
Both players try to get the fourth piece in the line. 
A piece is chosen by the first player, and given to the second player for placement.  After placement, that player chooses a piece for play for the second player.
When four-in-a-row is made, regardless of who placed the other pieces, the placer of the fourth piece calls "Quarto!" and wins the game.
(Also an award-winner: Toy Testing Council Award in Canada, Toy Award et Jouet de Lannee in Belgique, Prix des Consomateurs in Quebec, Mensa Top Five Games U.S.A., Games Magazine Top 100 Games U.S.A., Parents Choice Award U.S.A., Game of the Year Finland, Super As D'or France, Oscar Du Jouet France, Des D'or France, as well as four other international awards.)

'Course, Maddie was all over her electrical circuit set this morning, as well.
As she's loving it so much, I ordered her the Snap Circuits Jr. set.  I'm sure she'll absolutely love it, this little engineer of mine.

The UPS guy came!
Ah, one of our favorite people.  :)
Madeleine has been interested in molecules, and since I was looking for more science supplies, I found this molecular model set at Home Science Tools (one of my favorite places).

The set feels good... the pieces are large enough to be handled easily.
We only played for a minute as there was a whole box full of new stuff!, but are looking forward to more play.

Typical Madd, she wanted to do everything at once.

While she was waiting for me, she went into the kitchen and got a couple of paper plates, from the cupboard over the stove... "Here, Mom.  I'm ready for the owl pellets."  :)

So we invited Trevy, went downstairs to retrieve the forceps and pellet bone chart, and set to work.

 

 Play with Trev.

Included in our gift box from the girls at Circle the World In Big was a gorgeous geode.
'Course, that put Maddie in mind of our own, so when I placed our order the other day I ordered several geodes for cracking ourselves.

Sculpt!

 This is Sal.  I made him.  And I'm crazy about him.  :)

No doubt our days will look like this for a few.... brown packages and ideas are a flowin'.
Life's good.

tuesday : a juicy life

 
Okay,
maybe you don't have to visit lots of cool places

and get lots of cool new things once in a while

in order to keep life interesting.

But...

 'People colors' crayons!

Quarto!

Learning Mates 'Electricity Kit'

Pentago


it

sure

is 

fun!

Wednesday

Yesterday we received a box in the mail.... a box of goodlies from the lovely Jen and Evie at Circle the World in Big.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you how excited we were.  :)  Jen wanted to send us a few a few Magic School Bus dvd's, and thought she'd brighten us up with a few other things, too.
Maddie was beside herself. 
Wanna know what a box of Juice looks like from one unschooling family to another?

It looks like pulleys!  And lots of rocks and minerals.  Fossils. And a henna kit.  An airplane glider. A couple of clothing-design paper dolls. A little puzzle game.  And a kit for making a pan flute.  :)
Oh, Jen and Evie.  Thank you so much!  We love all of them!

Maddie watched Haunted House (which is about sound, and sound waves) all day yesterday. 
Naturally, since we were immersed in sound vibrations, we just had to start on that pan flute.  So we read the little paper from Chile, and learned a bit about Chile and that the pan flute (anciently known as the syrinx) is thought to be the oldest and most widely-distributed instruments of all instruments.
Very cool.

A rock shop was opened with the loose stones and minerals that were sent to us.

They were arranged according to type, color, kind, or other things.  (I'm thinking that a Vinn diagram might be fun for this sort of play.)
Madd had abandoned her shop for a few minutes, and Annabelle stumbled over her store display, and up jumps Maddie, "Oh!  My first customer!!"  :)  Made me laugh.

The day was winding and slow...

Lots of dino research and Jurrassic Park play for Trevelyn... very cool because he got his zoo up to 3 1/2 stars.  (A very big deal.)....

and lots of hmming and idea gathering and novel-reading and lying about for me.

Sort of a "resting between" day, methinks.  :)

Mmhmm, it's good!

Thursday : New Depth

Monday and Tuesday I had the thought that the babes were going to find themselves edgy and aggravated if they didn't get to exercise their bodies, soon.  So far they were holding up really well, but I didn't think that would be true for much longer.  Wheezing and hacking coughs keep them from jumping on the trampoline or running very much... bike riding was also out, as well as our skating and bouncing kid paradise place... neighborhood walks are an option, but they'll want to scoot or bike ride...

aah.
swimming.

We discovered at late summer that the babes swim well enough to jump off the diving boards at a local outdoor pool.  That was huge for me.... not such a big deal to them.  :)  (Not a big deal to them because they had learned to swim completely organically, by playing in the pool in their own back yard... huge to me because they had learned completely organically, by playing in the pool in their back yard...)
We also discovered that Trev has a pretty serious desire to learn to dive.

Now I don't know the way it works in your home town, but that's not actually an easy thing to accommodate around here, surprisingly enough.
We've got these little kid paradise pools... structures for climbing and sliding... all pools have a huge slide... there are lazy current rivers... beach entries... but not really much in the way of swimming.  They're only about three and a half feet deep, at their deepest.   They're large and fun, mind you, they're just not much for swimming.

At our preferred pool (the one we've always gone to), there are swim lanes, but they're in a completely different room.  And it's not the greatest according to Trev, for there is a constant strong current everywhere in the pool, and you can't just float in still water, anywhere.

A friend introduced us to another pool in her neighborhood, and it was great!, even though it's kind of far from us.  In the same room it had a "deep end" - nine feet deep - at one end of the pool.  And they let you jump (and dive) off the side!  Can't use the (competition) diving blocks, but whatever.
I looked it up yesterday, but it seemed like from their website the leisure pool wasn't open.  ???  Called them today to find out if the leisure section was or was not open (not just the swim lanes)... it said it opened at 3pm, but it's just Right There (in the same area), so I wasn't sure.. I did okay until he told me -for the third time- that "because All The Kids Are In School".  I heard you!  "Well, mine aren't!"  I finally said.  Sheesh.  So it wasn't open.
Looked up a neighborhood pool.  Don't like it--the water is too cold, but if it has a diving section, we'll go.
Nope.  Closes at 11:30am every day, and doesn't reopen 'til 4pm.  sigh.
Call Murray--our usual place.  Since Madd can be in the water by herself (she's six), I can go over to the lanes (in the next room) to see how Trev's doing.  Call Murray... no diving.  Swim lanes only, has no deep end.  Hmmph.

I could think of two more options... one on the other side of the valley that would take us twenty minutes plus to get to, and it's totally out of our neighborhood and usual driving range, but if it has what we need...
And another that's really pretty much in our neighborhood.  We've never been there because I've actually always thought of it as "a club", and never considered it an option.  But called the Lions club.
Their pools are all in one large room.  Open daily from noon to 8:30.  Has swim lanes (which is excellent for Dad, for when he takes the babes).  Has play structure, beach entry, large slide.  Has a deep end.  Has a deep end that is not Lane Swimming Only.  "But... can you dive?" I asked.  "Just a minute... not sure... let me transfer you."  "But can we dive?" I ask.  Oh, yes.  You can dive.
Excellent! 
Now.  If we just like the pool....
Sigh.
Perfect.
I wasn't planning to swim, so I had made myself ready to sit in a hundred degree steamy pool room for a few hours... shorts and tank top.  Laptop.  Camera.  Peanut butter sandwiches.

And just look!  Perfect! 

A mama can sit right there in the middle, close to the bottom of the slide, close to the deep end, can see the whole place from the view... wonderful.
We have a new hang out, ladies and gentlemen!!  Phew.

Spent the day at the pool.  Got there sometime a few minutes after noon, swam and swam and climbed stairs and swam (with no coughing the whole time) for about four hours... left starving... stopped for a Right Now supper (I didn't think they'd make it long enough), and Wiped Out for the rest of the day.  :)  Well--the one hour or so left 'til dark, anyway.

So that took up our whole day... but now we know, and it was so worth it!
I'm so glad to have discovered it!

Now.  About those diving lessons...