Toys & Games

Pokemon Go: Gen 2 Is Coming!

Daily Dose, Day to Day, Toys & Games /

Yes, I’m still playing Pokemon Go. Yes, I like playing Pokemon Go. YES, I’m very excited about the addition of Gen 2 Mon to the game.

I finally reached the point this week where I was at the mercy of the egg … and some extended walking of some Mon to eventually get enough candies for evolution. Being at the mercy of the egg is not a fun situation to be in. When the only Pokemon you need are those that come in 2K or 10K eggs… well, your odds are slim. And that’s disheartening.

So yippee, Gen 2!!

I also thought it might be interesting to me, later, to know where I was in the game when the Gen 2 Monsters arrived. So here are some of my stats.

I’m a little more than halfway through Level 31.
I’ve caught a total of 6,157 PM.
I’ve walked 1,111.7 KM.
I’ve hatched 375 eggs.
Evolutions, 1262.
I have 12 gold medals, 11 silver medals, 4 bronze medals. (And one not to medal level, yet. Total medals available to me right now are: 28.)

Missing from my Dex in Gen 1 are:
– Hitmonchan
– Dragonite (I need 63 darn candies)
– The regional Pokemon (sigh)

Missing from the launch of the babies at the end of 2016 are:
– Magby
– Cleffa
– I’m 5 candies away from evolving the Togepi.

So that’s where I am right now. I cannot wait to catch all of Gen 2. (Not to mention the last two from Gen 1… that darn Hitmonchan, man. Sheesh.)

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20-freaking-48

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Family Funk, Personality, Toys & Games /

Elly is always playing some new game on her iPhone and I usually just ignore her. Oh sure, when she was little I installed jelly car for her (I blame Teddy for that) and let her play that on my phone but once she got her own iPhone (and iPad) I just rolled my eyes at whichever game she was currently fixated on.

But on Sunday, I got sucked into 2048 — regular version because the doge version she was playing just looked weird. I installed it on my own phone because watching her play was making me twitchy. She kept moving the tiles into the wrong damn place and while I might have let her play games on my phone, there’s no way in hell she’s gonna let me play games on hers.

So yea, I downloaded it.

And I cannot stop playing. It might be worse than Candy Crush. If I don’t get the damn 2048 tiles matched up soon, I’m going to have to remove the bloody game from my phone. It shouldn’t be that hard — it’s probably rigged.

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You Know You’re a Grandmother When…

2 Comments / Family Funk, Kid Talk, Toys & Games /

You spend $300 on toys for your grandson to play with when he comes to visit… even though he lives thousands of miles away and he’s not actually old enough for most of the toys you’ve ordered.

That’s right, folks. I am that grandmother.

I ordered the complete set of Froebel Gifts for JMP. (I’m also calling them a birthday gift for TW because she loves them as much as JMP ever will and she can appreciate them all right now.)

I’m blaming my brother for this. If he wasn’t such a Wright fan and hadn’t come to visit, we probably wouldn’t have visited the Wright House and Studio in Oak Park and I wouldn’t have seen all of the Froebel Gifts in their awesome boxes and decided JMP needed them.

OK I might have decided this, at some point, because OMG they are so amazing.

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A Pogo Stick is the Perfect Welcome Mat

Christmas, Family Funk, Friends & Family, Kid Talk, Toys & Games /

A few years ago, RJ asked Santa for a pogo stick. Santa, being the obliging sort, provided. RJ pogo’d a little, but she’s not a great pogo-er so she put the stick aside. Prince J tried to pogo. Once. E loves the idea of the pogo stick but she doesn’t have enough weight to make it really pogo the way she would like. Chris and Michelle did some pogo-ing that Christmas. The half-child, who no longer lives with us, also pogo-d and liked it. But, mostly, the pogo stick sits on the front porch right next to the front door – forgotten and unused.

Except…

Except when Michelle and Christopher bring a new friend over to our house. Then, the pogo stick is a much loved, much used toy.

We will hear a car drive up. We will hear older teen and young adult voices outside. And then, we’ll hear a joyful “wowwwwwwwww a pogo stick!!!!” and then much bouncing ensues. And an awful lot of laughter, too.

These older teens and young adults love that pogo stick. It is really a great welcome mat.

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Parent Hack

Family Funk, Kid Talk, Memories, Toys & Games /

A couple of months ago, something reminded me of a toy my kids had. It was a barn, not a Fisher Price barn, but sort of like that. With little animals. When you put them into their “spaces” they would make animal sounds. I went looking for a picture of one online and of course I couldn’t find one. Then I searched my photo albums looking for a picture of this barn. Nada. How could that be? I took a LOT of pictures of my kids when they were little. I can’t imagine how this farm, which was shuttled all over the world, could not have made its way into at least one photo. But it didn’t.

Then today, I went looking for a picture of the Waterbabies that were popular in the early ’90s. I couldn’t find a good photo of one. So, I went looking through my family photo albums again. I cannot believe I do not have a photo of Michelle with “Chocolate Opal”. There is one photo of her with the “other Opal” but none of “Chocolate Opal”. Insane. That doll was carried with us EVERYWHERE. No pictures.

Learn from me! Take photos of the toys your children loved (and hated). 20 years from now, you’ll want those photos. Or your children will call you up and say “Remember that plane I used to love to ride at grandma’s house?” And you’ll be able to proudly present the child with a photo. (Thank goodness I do have photos of that fabulous toy!)

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The Toys of London

2 Comments / Family Funk, Kid Talk, Toys & Games, Travel Log /

If you ever find yourself in London, you should DEFINITELY visit Pollack’s Toy Museum.  It is apparently off the beaten path because there were almost no people there – like two other families and that’s it.

It’s a tiny little museum but full to overflowing with fantastic toys.  Really great stuff.  My “new step-father” would be in heaven there.  It was full of everything he loves.  If you go, look closely because every corner of the place has something to see and it’s easy to miss something behind you or above your head because you don’t expect there to be MORE or something hidden under a stairwell.

The gift shop, also fun.  Lots of tiny little toys and wooden toys and miniatures and just fun stuff.

After that, we headed to Piccadilly Circuse to the “biggest toy store in London” – Hamleys.  Huge.  Much better than FAO Schwartz in either NYC or San Francisco.  The kids were beside themselves.  The young folks who are paid to demonstrate the toys are very good at their jobs.  I was impressed with their enthusiasm.  So impressed that we bought a UFO and I’d have bought more of the goods they were hawking but these darn kids prefer their old stand by faves – Sylvanians and Game Boy games.  Boring!

Toy day was a hit.

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