When Karcyn was a few months old, I discovered the Wheelmobile was coming to Lincoln City, Oregon on a contestant search. I was utterly stoked!! This was the closest I'd ever be to the Wheel and I was not about to pass it up. At this time in my life as a mommy, the kids and I would watch the show together in the evening. The boys thought they were watching a game show with mom and while that was true, unbeknownst to them, it also had the added benefit of practicing identifying letters and spelling words, thinking of different blend possibilities, and learning the syntax of sentence structure, etc.
Jared was awesomely supportive of my longtime albeit silly dream to be on the Wheel of Fortune :) We drove over to the coast together that Saturday morning in July 2006. He dropped me and little Karcyn off (because I was still nursing her) at the casino where the event was taking place. Then he took Jake and Cooper to the beach while I waited in a very long line. There were three different sessions for auditions. I had missed the morning one but got in line for the second. At one point, I was holding my baby with a blanket draped over her so I could nurse her in one arm and had a diaper bag slung over my other shoulder while pushing the stroller with that free hand. It was a little cumbersome, but we managed. We waited for over an hour, but Karcyn was a hit with the other contestant hopefuls standing in line with us. Karcyn and I even had matching shirts that said, "I love the Wheel!"
Once the doors opened, we ended up sitting in the WAAAY back of the humongous room--one of the casino rooms, I'm guessing. I had the stroller so I needed to be on the end of a row to park it and the back just seemed the easiest spot. In case you're wondering about these contestant auditions, it's all completely random (see the Wheelmobile link above). While waiting in line, we had to fill out a page answering questions and listing facts and other interesting things about ourselves and then dropped them in a big box when we were done. THIS--was our ticket to audition. When it was time to get contestants, the people running the show would reach into this box and if they drew your paper, you were up on stage!
Before our show got started, I snuck up to the front of the room and had someone take my picture with Pat Sajak. He was a lot taller than I expected! :)
After the festivities began, the lady that stood in line directly in front of us got her name drawn. (Ohh!! Sooo close!!) And I couldn't believe what she did next. She got up on stage and the first thing she said into the microphone was, "There's this mom and her cute baby out there in matching shirts that say they love the Wheel!" I jumped up and cheered, holding Karcyn over my head in Lion King fashion for all to see and reveled in our 10 seconds of recognition. We never got up on stage, but it was totally thrilling to be there and feel the electricity of the event.
Jared and the boys came to pick up us girls and before we drove back to Forest Grove, we got our picture taken in front of the mega Wheelmobile.
Three years ago, the Wheel of Fortune came to tape a week's worth of shows in the green city of Portland, Oregon. I scored tickets to one of the tapings. Oh my heart!! While I totally wished it were ME on stage (I think I'd make a good contestant--I can totally show them personality and energy!), that experience was even MORE thrilling than the first--to actually be IN the audience, watching real contestants spin the big wheel, and try to solve real puzzles, watching Vanna walking in front of the big letter board, solving the puzzles under my breath before the contestants (which is totally normal, right? I'm sure I'd choke if I were actually on the show trying to figure them out), being in the same room as Pat and Vanna and watching how it all works "behind the scenes." Such a rush! Maybe someday I'll be on the other side of the cameras :)
This past Friday afternoon 2/20, Karcyn became our fourth child to come down with strep in the last 2 months. She was better on Saturday, but JJ's cold was intensifying. We didn't want to subject any other primary children to his germs on Sunday, so Jared stayed home with Karcyn (so she could rest) and JJ. Jake, Cooper and Calvin came with me to church.
After passing the Sacrament, Cooper took his place on the stand as the Bishop's messenger, leaving just me and Jake and Calvin in the pew. Calvin started a quiet game of tic-tac-toe on the church program with Jake. All three games were a tie. Then Calvin wanted to play hang man with me.
He was being quiet, so I played along with him while listening to the speakers.
The first puzzle had four letters. I got an 'E' in the 4th position and then it took me seven other tries before I realized it was J-A-K-E.
Calvin did a round with Jake. It was J-E-S-U-S.
Then back to me. Three letters only. I got an 'O' in the middle position. I suppose, because it took me so long to guess my firstborn son's name, Calvin gave me a hint and pointing to Jesus said, "It's his Father." Thanks, Buddy. G-O-D (At least he was going with a Sabbath theme....)
And another one. Six letters. I got __ __ S H __ P
Again, thinking I needed more help, Calvin quietly whispered it was someone sitting on the stand. (Yes, I know--Bishop). I guessed an 'O' and he wrote it off to the side indicating there wasn't one :) When I guessed 'I' he put one in both the 2nd and 5th positions. I solved it and then explained the actual spelling.
Then Calvin produced one more puzzle. This time--two letters only.
Hmm. I was thinking perhaps "HE" or "ME."
The one thing I've learned watching Wheel of Fortune, is that buying vowels can be very advantageous in taking command of and even solving a puzzle. So I started with those. I guessed 'E'. Not there. I guessed 'A'. Not there. I guessed 'I' and 'O' and 'U'. None of which were there either. Considering my experience with word games--even though I haven't watched the Wheel in years--I told Calvin in a sweet mommy/teacher voice that every word has to have a vowel. And that's when it dawned on me! The little saying from my early elementary days "A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y." I had forgotten about 'Y.' So I called it. Calvin proceeded to record it in the "used letter box" and added one more body part to my guy--who was all but hanged.
By this point I was stumped. I was just about to lean into Calvin to tell him that I give up when Jake looked over. He had been reading in his scriptures but noticed I wasn't making any progress and leaned over to tell Calvin the same thing I did. "Buddy, there's got to be a vowel or it isn't a word."
Calvin looked at Jake, then slowly turned to look at me and smiled knowingly. He knew he had won! He wrote two consonants.
J J
The name of his youngest brother. You've got to be kidding me. Yeeaah, about that rule of the vowel...
He smacked us down good! Jake and I got a quiet, hopefully reverent, chuckle out of that. Well played, Calvin!
3 comments:
Jotto is the Japanese five letter word game you described at the beginning of this post. one of Greg's classmates from BYU made an ap for it. Oh and we played it while I was in labor at the hospital. Good times!
This is such a fun post! Love your stories!
Dani, really?? Can you still get that game?
Thanks, Kim!! :)
Post a Comment