We took Littleman bowling for the first time today. He really needed some kind of reward for being such a trouper throughout this whole moving fiasco. His whole little world has been turned upside down and instead of playdates with friends and quiet nap times, he endured a week of entertaining himself amid a sea of boxes and busy parents. Not to mention, some serious daddy-time was needed.
So, the bowling. We took him to a place called Strikz. It's probably a national chain, but in case you are not familiar with this kind of place, it's NOTHING like the bowling joints our parents took us to when we were kids. It's one of those places on heroin. Yes, there are highly polished lanes with pins at the end and racks of bowling balls of various colors and weight to choose from. There's a snack bar and smelly bowling shoes to rent. BUT, there is also a full on arcade complete with skee-ball and "ticket redemption" area where 9000 tickets will earn you a plastic mug with "Strikz" handsomely printed on the side. The place is fully equipped with "cosmic" bowling, even on Sunday morning. So, we were bowling in "black light" with Jonas Brothers and High School Musical tunes attempting to really mess up our scores.
The really cool thing about the new-fangled bowling alley is the "computerized" lanes. When you pay for your game, they type in all the players names and which ones will require bumpers. So, every time it was Littleman's turn, the bumpers automatically come down and retract when his turn is over. Pretty cool. We had such a good time. We showed him how to swing the ball between his legs and after two or three tries he didn't even want us to walk up with him. He'd stand at the top of the lane, hands on hips, waiting to see if his ball would knock over any pins. It might be the cutest we've seen him yet. He squealed on the top of his lungs every time his turn was over and EVERY time Papabear and I had a turn. He gave good luck kisses and high fives. He LOVED that his shoe laces and spiderman t-shirt glowed. After each turn he'd run back to me and shout, "MY shoelaces are GLOWING!" That was apparently more exciting that knocking down some pins. It was a very fun time.
We were given $9 in complimentary arcade tokens. When we had $0.75 left, and 12 tickets to redeem Papabear was ready to head out for lunch. I told him to wait one second while I play our last bit on one of those token-jackpot type games. It's a bunch of lights in a big circle. You hit start and the light goes round and round and try to hit stop when the light lands on "jackpot." You can't lose. The least amount of tickets you can win is 5. But guess who hit the jackpot on her first try? Yup. 340 tickets!!! And what did Littleman want at the redemption counter? A dum-dum lollipop! (10 tickets) NO, we did not get him 34 of them. He got a tiny flashlight, some farting slime, and a squishy blue ball. What fun.
Bowling is a past time that fills me with all sorts of good feelings. After my parents divorce, my dad would take Chuckie and I bowling on many of the weekends we were with him. He taught us proper form (none of us are bowling league material, but we can hit the pins pretty consistently - I had 3 strikes and a spare today and I haven't bowled in over a year!). My dad also taught us bowling alley etiquette and that it doesn't matter how many pins you knock down as long as you're having fun. I'm sure my brother and I would get pissed if the other had a higher score, but really, I don't remember any of that. I just remember having fun as a family, together. And today I gave that to Littleman...and his future sibling, who I am sure loved the sound of the balls thundering down the lanes and crashing at the end....speaking of which, I hear an orange in the fridge calling our names.
Oh wait, you might also like to know that I beat Papabear 101 to 100 on the second game! I think Littleman scored 41 - whoo-hoo!
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