A couple chic bowlers

When you hear "bowling," your first thought is all about the fashion, right? 


A couple weeks ago, a friend asked if we wanted to try out this deal in one of the KC Parenting Magazines. It was for kids' bowling. Every Thursday morning, at the Olathe Mission Bowl, they offer kids' bowling for $3 a kid, plus a small drink. I said, sure. Why not? Always fun to try out new things with the girls.

So, we piled into the car on Thursday morning and headed over. I was a little worried that the place would be crazy busy and that it would be overwhelming. I needn't have worried about that. We were meeting two other moms with their kids. (Six kids total, but two are babies, so they didn't bowl.) When we pulled into the parking lot, I started to worry that we had the time or day wrong. There were no other cars in the parking lot. The sign said open, though, so we unbuckled all the kids and trudged in. Inside, it was typical old-bowling-alley style. But, nary a sign of any other bowlers. We made sure the deal was still on, and went ahead.

For $6 and change, we got two games of bowling, plus shoe rental and a drink for each of the kids. (Really, the drink didn't do us any good since neither of my kids drinks soda, but I guess it's the thought that counts?).  The girls were so excited for this. I had been telling them about it since the day before and they couldn't wait to go bowling. After we checked in, the lady at the counter handed them bowling shoes. Bowling shoes? For kids? How adorable is that? Both Molly and Charlotte couldn't wait to put on their new shoes. It was just like shoe shopping, which, of course, my girls love.

Charlotte was thrilled to get to wear bowling shoes.

We got all ready and headed over to our lanes. Because there wasn't a soul there other than us, we got two lanes for the four kids to share. Molly was up first, and I showed her the basic gist of bowling. Thank god there were bumpers, otherwise the balls would never have toppled a single pin. Her form left a little to be desired. Ok, a lot. She essentially carried the ball with both hands, set it down and tapped it forward with her fingers. It was not a fast operation. I think sometimes she even forgot that she had rolled the ball by the time it got down to the pins.

Look at that technique.

Call the PBA right now!

Next up was Charlotte. I attempted to show her the same technique. You know, it's not like she can actually use her fingers in the holes or anything. She did it one time with me. Then, I got her to do it a second time. After that, when I would try to get her up to the lane, she screamed, "I no want to! I no want to!" I really have no idea what could have terrified her about bowling, but after those first two times, she never touched a ball again. She preferred to tickle and entertain Baby Ava.

Charlotte stayed here, playing with Ava for the rest of the morning.

Charlotte instead played water girl, offering sips to the athletes.

After that, it was probably the two longest games of bowling in history. When it takes a minute and a half for the ball to reach the pins, it really drags out the game. We only had to walk down the middle to rescue a stranded ball about three times, though. So, it probably could've been worse.

Ella liked bowling. For the first couple turns.

But, really, all the kids were the most entertained with the ball return. It's actually a pretty cool concept, if you think about it. You throw the ball one way, then it returns back to you through this magic machine?!? Definitely the highlight of the bowling excursion for the kiddos.

It's like Magic!

So, Molly had a great time. Charlotte? Well, she had fun playing with the babies. It's her favorite thing to do, anyway. Plus, there were no other kids running around screaming, so I didn't have to worry when it looked like I was torturing Charlotte by trying to get her to throw the ball down the lane. And, hey, my toes were never crushed with any stray bowling balls, which was my number one concern going into the outing.

Successful bowling excursion complete! 

And, now, a couple days later, Molly keeps talking about how much fun she had bowling. Charlotte, though, keeps telling me how much she loved wearing bowling shoes. Maybe there is a little bit of me in her after all.

It's all about the shoes, guys. It's all about the shoes.