Simple Pleasures: Diamantopoulos Family Reunion- Part 2

Friday, September 2, 2011

Diamantopoulos Family Reunion- Part 2

On any given trip when you are in close proximity to others for an extended length of time, you get to know certain things about them that you may not have known, or at least fully realized, before.
Even with the siblings that I was closes to in age and home schooled with (i.e. Peter and J.D.), there are little things that come out that make you realize afresh how wonderful they are.

(We are missing Rebekah in this picture, but I love her too =: )

Take games for example:

On our vacation, second night in, Peter announces to us all that we are going to play Things. Well, if you have not played this game, you need to. Particularly with 12 of your closest family members. Oh, and make it late at night. And throw in a few alcoholic beverages (just a few mind you, no drunken revelries here!). And of course there has to be that random silly answer that keeps popping up in each session that rhymes with moo but starts with a p. (but with all kinds of prefixes and suffixes and titles as to make it fresh each time). This notorious word has been winding it's way for years through the Diamantopoulos 'Things' marathons, and has not yet ceased to have its merry effect.
Speaking of merry:

Third night in, Peter again gathers us all up after the babies are asleep and makes us play A Minute to Win It. Now I have only seen maybe 5 minutes of an episode of this popular tv show, so I knew the jist. Silly stuff, in less than a minute, prizes....you get the picture. Although the prize in this night of craziness was not money, but something much better: Laughter. True. Ridiculous. Howling. Laughter.

I dare not post the pictures I have of this night for all to see or I might be disowned by some of my dear family members. So just imagine this:

First challenge: Contesters must start with an oreo on their eye, and carefully, without using any hands, slide it down their face, into their mouth, and eat it. Have you tried this? Have seen some one try it? Have you seen my MOTHER try it? Well, she hopped at the chance, and my husband, being very fond of oreos too, challenged her. Mom won (but only by a fraction of a second).

Thing I realized afresh: my mother is VERY competitive. And so is my husband!

Another challenge that JD made up (during an interlude for blueberry pie) was picking up a bunch of pencils with only your toes and putting them into a basket. I have never seen my chemical-engineer brother perform such a non-graceful act in my life...you had to be there!

New thing I realized: I miss J.D.'s laugh, and well, everyone's =; )

But I believe the most hilarious part of the evening was the challenge of hitting plastic cups off of four chairs placed in a circle in the room, with your tail (comprised of a scarf tied to a belt with a pompom at the end). Can you picture this? Ok, now add to your picture my very smart, handsome, TALL, college professor brother-in-law in his capri-lenghth pj's and unbrushed hair figuring this whole thing out. And as you may well know, the best technique for this kind of thing is to spin around and swing your hips and stick your butt out all the while twirling your arms to have some eloquence. It worked pretty well for him...but not so much as far as time (remember, fastest time wins!). So then went Rachel. Her technique was a little different. It just involved spinning and spinning with all her might...Well, it looked so fun that half of us had to try the tail swooshing act...My mother, Francis, Ed, ...again, if you want to try this at home, make sure it's with close friends or family that you don't mind making an absolute hilarious fool of yourself in front of!

Thanks Peter for providing the ideas and action to make some nights we won't soon forget!

I hope there will many more fun game nights in our future...