For the fourth year in a row, Ryan has participated in Extra Life’s “Game Day,” to raise money for the two Children’s Miracle Network hospitals in St. Louis. This means that he commits to playing video games for a 25 hour (because of the time change this weekend), marathon in November. He streams his games on Twitch, so anyone can watch, and takes donations, some of which had incentives for the donors. The great thing about Extra Life is that the hospitals get 100% of the donations to use at their discretion, for things like medical equipment, medication, even stuffed animals for children too weak or sick to get out of bed, but who could use a snuggly friend…it’s a great cause that we love supporting!

The game play began bright and early yesterday morning…Ryan always begins with Rock Band, and then other games follow.

This is a family affair. In addition to family multiplayer games, each child gets to pick a game to play with Ryan for an hour on Saturday afternoon. It’s fun to see what they each choose…there was Overcooked, Minecraft (chosen by two children!), Animal Crossing:Amiibo Festival, and Raving Rabbids 2.

He played lots of other games, as well…this year, there was a lot of Rock Band, and a whole lot of Lego Dimensions in the final hours of the stream. In the end, he raised $650, which was less than his goal, but still a great gift to our area children’s hospitals!

This is a fun family tradition that we’ve all come to look forward to, and once we get caught up on the sleep we missed this weekend, we’ll be eagerly anticipating next year’s event!