The Luddite family finally has a Wii.

It's a first for us. We have resisted much of modern technology (well, the frivolous stuff, anyway). My husband has done so because he's busy, and cheap. Me, I just don't have much use for the stuff, much preferring to read a book or sit outside and watch fireflies.

But now we have our first video game unit (if you don't count the early Pong game out in the storage house, which I hang on to because it's cool and retro.) (I hung on to my turntable, too, and see, now those are back in style.)

The Wii arrived last week, a surprise gift from my husband to me and the kids. We got it primarily to watch Netflix movies on demand.

My son has been suffering the most from my resistance to video games. That night, after I tucked him in, he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, quietly chanting to himself, "I can't believe I got a Wii ... I can't believe I got a Wii ... I can't believe I got a Wii ..."

The day the Wii arrived, my daughter had a friend spending the night, which was fortuitous, because she helped my husband set it up. She even designed my Mii character for me — the little roly-poly avatar that stands in for me in all the games. While part of me wanted to give myself blue hair (because I couldn't give myself a long blue tail, like those other avatars), my daughter's friend tried to make me lifelike.

She did a great job. She got my hair and my glasses down pat. She finished up her first attempt and was examining it critically when she announced, "No, you're not that skinny."

Sigh. She's right.

Me and my chubby avatar have been reluctantly dragged into the luxurious Wii Resort. There are no cabana boys there. Only games.

My husband sticks primarily to golf. My daughter races WaveRunners. My son is all over the place: skydiving, shooting hoops, flying planes, whacking people with swords.

Me, I have been talked into a few frames of bowling.

It's about the only sport I can play in real life.

Sigh.

I'm still not entirely comfortable with having the thing in the house. As my husband said, waving around the Wii remote in its little rubber scuba suit, "Look, the scientists were busy making a wireless remote that buzzes in your hand, when they could have been curing cancer."

The Wii is promoted as a way for couch potato kids to get some exercise (presumably, their back doors don't work). I must admit, our family room has never seen this much activity.

Thanks to the wild gyrations that the Wii remote demands, we are constantly moving ottomans from here to there, shoving the couch back and then up, knocking over houseplants and sweeping up potting soil.

I am also getting the opportunity to exercise my lungs, yelling at the rest of the family to MOVE AWAY FROM THE BREAKABLES!

But hey, I broke 100 in bowling for the first time this week.

Contact Lisa Davis at 256-235-3555, ldavis@annistonstar.com.