Bowling Beauty

Our first foray into the bowling alley was a great success. Two games were plenty, and took the five of us about two hours to play. Playing on a bumper lane was a nice change since I'm still a gutter ball every other time kind of girl. I did manage two strikes but my oldest won with a series of spares, or were they pickups?

I love this freebowlingforkids.com deal. I also just ordered shoes from Amazon.com so I won't have to shell out $18.75, every time we go, on rental shoes.

The girls decided that we would all wear lime green shirts and jeans so we looked like a team, and the five year old amped up the cute factor with a pink sparkly tutu over her jeans. She nearly won the first game. She may not roll hard, but the between the legs roll puts em out pretty straight. She also made whole body expressive reactions to each result. Watching her stand at the end of the lane and tap her foot impatiently while she waited for the ball to hit the pins was half the fun. The seven year old did a running roll reminiscent of Adam Sandler's golf swing, but less effective. The ten year old had the lowest scores but also the fewest hits on the gutter guards, so I assured her she would have won had they not been in place.

Their distinct personalities come through in everything we do. It's mind boggling to me how much of that must be born in them. When you have only one or two children it's easy to think their behavior is a result of your excellent, or inept, parenting. Have a few more kids and you discover it had so much less to do with you than you thought. It will take you down a notch if your first was easy, and encourage you if your first was hard.

Bowling is definitely an activity I would recommend. They did get a little bored near the end because they had to wait so long for each turn. Smaller groups would probably be advisable, or bring a backup activity they can do during the wait. Mad Libs should do nicely, or a sketch book to practice figure drawing for my burgeoning fashion designer.

See you at the lanes!