Scrabble Queen

My Gran just got an iPad for Christmas, and all her grandkids downloaded "Words With Friends" to play against her. This reminded me of my Scrabble past:

The Summer between 5th and 6th grade, my family took a trip to Alaska. As you can imagine, and as you can infer from our coats pictured below, it is cold in Alaska even in the summer. So most of our trip was spent sightseeing from trains, boats, and busses. We played lost of cards and some board games.

My immediate family cheesin' in 2003.

My aunt teaching me to make a s'more.

I don't remember much about the trip at all except for a few things:

• I shared a hotel room with my brother, sister, and aunt. The room had two sets of bunk beds that flipped down from the wall. It was awesome.
• One of the Harry Potter books (Order of the Phoenix) was released during this trip. We were in a small town without a bookstore but we got a taxi driver to take us to a grocery store to buy the book. My aunt tried to take us to McDonald's and I threw a fit and she got me a Lunchable from the grocery store instead.
• We took a train ride, and my brother and sister made friends with some old ladies and played cards, but I was too shy to talk to strangers.
• We tried to pan for gold and found nothing.
• Everyone was obsessed with salmon but I hated fish and still do.
• At some family-friendly barbeque, there was a lady singing folk songs about hunting a moose. We didn't buy her CD but my whole family still remembers her dumb song, "If you wanna catch a moose you gotta get up early. You gotta get up early if you wanna catch a moose."
• My dad and I played Scrabble on a train ride, and I actually beat him.

The day I beat my dad at Scrabble, pre-braces half smile.

When I beat my dad at Scrabble, I immediately gained the reputation in the family as the Scrabble Queen. As a fifth grader, I was proud for five minutes and then decided not to care anymore. I honestly think I have not completed a full game of Scrabble since then. My dad definitely still cared, and my reputation was born. 

Every year at Christmas I can count on some scrabble-themed gift. PJ pants, a coffee mug, chocolate letter tiles, you name it. If something is scrabble themed, they assume it should belong to me. It's not a bad title, but I just don't think it still suits me.