My New Favorite Family Activity ~ Bowling!
Thursday was my birthday. Since Bob was working, I hung out with my mom and the boys all day. It was a really nice day and a very happy birthday! I really appreciate that my mom took the day off work just to hang out with me. Isn’t that special?
Since I’m now 27 weeks pregnant and don’t have a lot of energy, I chose to take the boys bowling. It sounded like a great idea. No walking. Chairs. What I didn’t count on was that bowling and large hernias don’t really mix well (which I don’t think I’ve told ya’ll about my hernia….remind me to do that later). So only about half way done and I was hurting. All was okay though and Anthony finished my set. What a thoughtful child.
The boys LOVED bowling!
Please pardon the picture quality. I actually did take my good camera with me but left it in the car where it did me NO good whatsoever. So I took these with my iPhone and well, iPhone’s don’t take very good pictures in dim lighting.
We took the kids to Parkway Bowl in nearby El Cajon. It was only $2.00 per person (per game) and $3.00 for shoes. So it cost only $25.00 for a family of five to be entertained for nearly 2 hours. Yes, when bowling with 3 boys age 5 and under, it takes 2 hours to complete one game. It cost over $45.00 to take them all to the movies, so I think bowling was/is a great bargain!
I started out helping the little boys “granny bowl” but luckily for me, the people next to us left and then we got to use this ramp type device to launch their balls. This was a very cool apparatus. It turned out that it was an adaptive device to help people in wheelchairs or other mobility disabilities to be able to bowl.
Neat, huh?
It was so fun to watch the boys. They were all just so excited for each other and every knocked down pin was cause for a celebration. Lots of high-fives and hugging going on. It was awesome!
It’s hard to tell…but this is Gabe doing a happy dance! LOL!
By the time we were done, we had to call the attendant four times to rescue stranded balls. Me and my mom kept arguing over who was going to call next because it was kind of embarrassing. But the gentleman working that day was so nice and kind and he didn’t mind at all having to get the balls for us.
Here’s the shot of our final scores. Nathan was the clear winner and MOMMY was a big fat loser. Nothing sadder than a grown woman being out bowled by all of her young children!
I’m blaming it on my hernia. I couldn’t bowl with proper form. Yeah. That’s it.
Anyhow, if you’re looking for something to do with your kids, try bowling. I was really surprised at how much fun we had and after I have the baby we’ll be going back again. Have you taken your kids bowling? Do they like it? I think it’s a shame that there aren’t too many bowling alley’s left since it’s my new favorite thing to do.
Aww, it looks like your little guys have fun!
Those adaptive devices are great. I work with disabled children and gosh they are really handy!
My nephew has CP and when we learned what they were for we were thrilled and now we can’t wait to bring him bowling with us, too. My mom is a social worker for dev. disabled so we’re always looking for this kind of stuff.
I think most bowling alleys have them. It’s great that all children could enjoy this activity!
Hope your nephew has a blast. Although I’m sure he will! 
We’re lucky to have a great bowling alley about 5 mins from our house! My 12 year old son has been in 3 bowling leagues so far. The first was a Nickelodeon league. The price runs approx $13/week and it includes 3 games on the league day (which usually takes 1 to 1 1/2 hrs), rental shoes, 3 free games during the week, plus at the end of the league he got to pick either a Dora or Sponge Bob ball with either a matching ball bag or a matching pin. He got the Sponge Bob ball and bag. The next league was the Marvel league and it was the same thing, but he got a Iron Man ball and Marvel bag which had all the characters on it. He just finished an NFL Jersey league where he got an “away” and a “home” Raiders jerseys with his favorite players names on the back. You could pick any team you wanted. We LOVE these leagues because they will place you with other people if you don’t have a team of your own and you make a lot of friends. It’s lasts between 14 and 16 weeks and you really get your monies worth. The only pitfall is that the kids ALWAYS want popcorn and a drink and it cost more than at the movie theaters there! But like I said, it’s something to look forward to each week and you know your child is doing something fun and getting exercise – plus you get to get out of the house and meet new people too! Oh, and speaking of the disabled, etc., our bowling alley also has a league for the mentally/physically challenged people that meets once a week and they have a BLAST! Some of them bowl better than the semi-pros at the alley!
Julie, that sounds like SO much fun! We live 40 mins away from the bowling alley. They did offer some junior leagues that sounded like fun, but I wish it was closer. We live out in the sticks, so everything is 40 mins away. lol
Anthony would LOVE a spongebob ball! How cool.
Bowling IS really fun! Thanks for reminding me. I should take my daughter–she’s three and a half. Think she’s old enough to enjoy it now?
The twins are 3 1/2, so I would say “yes.” They loved it. I helped them granny bowl, but ask about the ramp thing. They loved doing it on their own.
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