Right up their alley

If you are like me you are thinking bowling with 21 month olds???? When Auntie Kerry and Auntie Nancy invited us to bowl on Valentine's Day I thought they were crazy. First let me say that I am not a big fan of bowling - I'm not that great at it and never understood the attraction. But my family loves to bowl so...
Also they wanted us at the bowling alley at 9 a.m. on Sunday. Now, normally we are at church but we have taken a leave from the House of God (also known as Satan's petri dish) because of all the germs and sickness this winter.
So me and the boys met their aunts there as well as their two cousins.
It was so crowded! Not a few people but a ton - and they all seemed like regular bowlers. Apparently you either go to church or you go bowling - who knew?
So as we got our shoes and chose balls I kept thinking - five children 3 and younger - even with four adults can be a menace in a bowling alley. I couldn't have been more wrong! The children were all so well behaved. They seemed to understand that they had to stay in our two lanes and wait until the bowlers next to them were done. They never got up and ran around - and they loved to bowl!
Jackson would have thrown the ball down the alley all day if you let him. And Brett - you haven't seen a smile so big! Peyton enjoyed it but was a bigger fan of the snacks!
So, if like me you can't imagine toddlers bowling it is a whole new world. They have really light bowling balls the children could safely hold or carry. They have bumpers blocking the gutters that bounce the ball back into play and you wouldn't believe this awesome ramp they put up that allowed you to set up the ball and Brett was able to push it down the shoot and bowl too! An hour was about all the attention we all had for bowling - but they had a blast!


Peyton does the heavy lifting. Jackson had not yet learned to keep his fingers off the ball return!


Auntie Kiki and Jackson set up the roster


Me helping Brett launch his bowling ball


Brett and Auntie Kiki - he loved the sights and sounds in the bowling alley!


Auntie Amy helping her daughter Caroline


Caroline giving Jackson a big Valentine's hug

Afterward we headed to one of the boys' favorite places to hang out - Bass Pro Shop. By us it is a mega store with everything from boats to hunting gear. But it is a beautiful store. It has a giant tank filled with large fish, a waterfall, lots of taxidermy animals, an elevator, lots of tents set up for demonstration (or playing) kayaks and much more. Best of all - it's free. Tate loves to take the boys there and their aunties do too so they had so much fun running around with their cousins.


All the cousins on the cot!
Strangely their favorite activity was taking all of the water jugs off the shelf and dragging them around. It was in the far reaches of the store so it didn't bother anyone shopping!


We wrapped up the day with lunch! What a great Valentine's Day!