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A $7 Game Lead to This

Every family has those moments, those things that will define them as a family. This one is ours. A whim of a $7 purchase lead to a decade of a family lifestyle - skateboarding. 

Longboarding has become the norm in our family now, as tricks didn't seem as important as just getting outside and coasting around. But for nearly ten years skateboarding ruled our roost. It wasn't just the video games, it was getting out and actually being on your board, going to camps and events. It was a lifestyle. My son grew his hair very long for a a while because of the skateboarding lifestyle. 

Other than coasting around campus on her longboard for my daughter, or my husband cruising around on his longboard, it has faded out. Partly because my son recked just about every board he had, which is fine, it meant he was out using them, having fun. He does need a replacement. 

Heck I even followed a few of the skaters on Twitter for a while, amused by the lifestyle. 

What was an even more amusing part of this story, not recorded on a page, was getting out the old Tony Hawk video games tonight so we could get the list of characters from Underground. It turned into an evening of firefights and fun between my husband and son, and a great walk down memory lane.

Below you can read the story on the page if you wish:

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It All Started with…

Skateboarding took over the family with a spur of the moment purchase at Gamestop in the spring of 2007, lead to an entire family movement.  

Actually skateboarding was first discovered at the State Fair in 2006 when we stumbled into the XZone and watched a 3rd Lair skate demo. We were all enthralled. Around that Christmas the kids both got some inexpensive boards from Target.

The following spring, Rory and Sandy strolled through Gamestop, and Sandy saw Tony Hawk Underground for the Gamecube, as a used game. For $7 thought it was worth a gamble. 

The game quickly took over all three of their gaming time, outside of Pokemon. Sandy spent hours watching them. 

That summer Blake took a week long camp at 3rd Lair and got a skateboard at the end of the week. He was really young to be there all day with the older kids. He held his own just fine. But would sleep all the way home and until the next morning. 

We rolled through most of Tony Hawk games over time: Tony Hawks Underground, Skateland, Wasteland, Project 9, Downhill Jam, THUG 2, Proving Ground. 

Eric Sparrow, everyones favorite friend to hate. Getting your SPEC Meter, as Gretchen called it, filled to do special tricks. Your special meter. 

Evil Tikki. Firefights. Build your own park, Grind and Barf with Bam Margera. Jumping taxis in New York. Driving a zamboni in Dra-Canada. Breaking your board in half and say “piece of …” which Gretchen and Blake took to mean “pizza”.  Get your hot nuts in New York. 

Sandy created one character - Flippy Spinaltap, who was everything she was not. She was green skinned, mohawk wearing, barefoot riding, headphone wearing muscly tough chick. 

This was one of the early games where you could create and dress your own characters. That is part of why Rory ended up with so many characters. We learned that the shape of the character really effected its skating ability. Tia Dalma, with her short stature and wide hips had the best balance of anyones character. 

Gretchen was by far, the best at manual tricks. She could manual for minutes. 

Rory’s talent was grind and vert tricks. 

Blake was good at combos. 

Sandy was good at just surviving each task, and watching the others play.

Skateboarding was an integral part of our family. Lots of boards, lots of time at 3rd Lair, including seeing a live Tony Hawk demo in 2014, and eventually a whole rack of long boards. 

Skateboarding ruled the roost. And it really took off with $7 whim of a purchase!

May 3, 2017

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Supplies used: Project Life App on iPhone 6+, Boys Rule collection 

I hope this inspires you to document those defining items or moments in your family. I still have more to record on the whole skateboarding scene in our house. "rolls" of pictures! 

Thank you for stopping by today, Sandy

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