Cousin Reunion #4: Reindeer Games

I was not the only cousin proving my physical prowess this weekend. There were several ongoing physical activities, mental puzzles and games that I thought I would highlight in this post.

#1: Beer Pong
My brother William built a beer pong table for the cousin reunion. Let me just repeat that. He BUILT A BEER PONG TABLE. I don't even have the words to describe how cool I think that is. It's collapsible, so it can be carried with ease to any function or event, and it was custom lettered for us cousins with "Kink's 11."

In a recent Time Magazine article, Billy Gaines, the host of the World Series of Beer Pong, was quoted as saying: "Beer pong is severely misunderstood. It's a sport. It just happens to involve alcohol. People are not playing the game to get drunk but because they love the challenge of throwing a table-tennis ball into a cup with some type of liquid in it" [source: Time].

If Mr. Gaines is correct, then my cousins just love challenges, and they just hate getting drunk, because we played a lot of beer pong. Cousin was pitted against cousin. Brother against sister. Older people versus younger people. Probably my favorite part was when Catharine and Elizabeth shared the cups of beer while also sipping on their vodka tonics.

#2: Ladder Golf
Once you got your arm good and warmed up, it was time to head outside for a few games of ladder golf. Not to be outdone by William, my brother George constructed this game. It involves throwing golf balls, which have been drilled and placed on either end of a rope, onto a ladder made out of PVC pipe. You get points based on which rung of the ladder you land on and whether the other team knocks your plays off the ladder. To be honest I didn't understand the scoring. I would just throw when it was my turn. To date, Time Magazine does not have any articles on how Ladder Golf is misunderstood but they did think I'd be interested in articles on Super Bowl perks, Morocco and salmon. According to Wikipedia this game also goes by the name hillbilly horseshoes and redneck golf.

#3: Apples to Apples
We all played Apples to Apples. Not a physical game per se, but occasionally you did have to kind of stand up and lean in to get your cards into the center.

#4: Dancing
Some people, especially once they had a beverage or ten, enjoyed dancing. And they just danced and danced and danced. Some particularly good dancers included Catharine and Mary Henry. Catharine gets the award because she danced non-stop once she started. For hours and hours she danced. Mary Henry was more of a wild card, because she'd be lying there talking about how she was going to sleep, and then one particular song came on and she started jumping and taking her clothes off and dancing. Other good dancers that I remember include Sarah, William and Grant. I can't comment on the other cousins. Either I didn't see you dancing because I was hiding in the hood of my sweatshirt, or I found your quality to be shoddy. It's probably the former.