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!

Half crazy?

Well, I'm back from Oklahoma City, guys. And, I can now officially be registered as a Half Fanatic. Yes, in fact, there is a club dedicated to the fanatical running of half marathons. And, I have now met the criteria for entry.

Fanatic: noun. person overenthusiastic about an interest. synonym: crazy

Yup, it's official. I'm crazy. Woohoo!

Ok, let's backtrack a little bit here. Remember I'm participating in the Heartland 39.3 series? A series of three half marathons within six weeks of each other. Apparently this particular series was started for the very purpose of giving people a way to qualify for entry into the Half Fanatics. Well, that's the rumor around town anyway. Originally, I was just going to run the three halfs that make up the series. But, then came a little hiccup in the plan. 

A friend had also signed up for the series. But, after signing up, she realized she couldn't run Rock the Parkway (RTP) because she was going to be out of town. She still wanted to do the series, but substituted a different half marathon in the place of RTP. (Shhhhh ... probably not technically allowed, but another friend ran in her place for RTP, and she's still doing three halfs in six weeks, so it's still the same amount of work.) She's from just outside of Oklahoma City, and the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon happened to be taking place smack dab within the time frame. What luck! She signed up for it. Then, she convinced Kelli to sign up for it. Then, they convinced me to sign up for it. 

Peer pressure. What are you going to do? (I am going to be a horrible example to the girls for standing up to peer pressure. But, really, peer pressure to run versus peer pressure to do drugs? A little different, right?)

Anyway, that is the story of how I got to a third half marathon in three weeks:

Rock the Parkway - April 14

Kansas Half - April 22

Oklahoma City Memorial Half Marathon - April 29

Running with the Cows - May 12

Hospital Hill - June 2

Honestly, the best part of this third half marathon was that it was in Oklahoma City. Not that I particularly love that city (though it was much cooler than I was expecting), but that it was not around here. Which meant we had to road trip it out of town. And, we road trip in style, let me tell you. We rode down in the rockin' mini van with no kids. No kids, I tell ya. Now, you may think that would mean fewer restroom breaks. But, with three women who are trying to hydrate before a race? Well, let's just say we got to visit a variety of rest stops between here and Oklahoma City. Between those and all the cows we saw ... it was just a really exciting drive. It's a good thing we had lots to talk about. (Though the cows did put me in the mood for the next race on the agenda!)

So, we got into town and realized the entire downtown of OKC was under construction. And, not only that, but our hotel was just a stone's throw away from the arena the Oklahoma City Thunder play in. And, they had an NBA playoff game that night. We decided to just park the car and hoof it around town the rest of the day. We explored the expo (not much to see), then went on a walk around the downtown area. It was actually really cool. They had a river walk area with places to eat, and you could even ride on boats down the river. Kansas City really needs an area like that.

OKC's Bricktown area.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Charlotte rides a duck

Between music class and picking Molly up from preschool, Charlotte and I had a few minutes to spare today. So, we stopped off at a park close to Molly's preschool. Charlotte slid down the slide approximately 486 times. She would say "one more time" as she climbed the stairs to go down the slide. Then, she would say it again. Then again. And again. I'm pretty sure she's confused on the exact meaning of that phrase.

Other than sliding down the slide a billion times, Charlotte also wanted to ride the duck springy-thing. (Ok, I honestly have no idea what to call it. Anyone have any clue?) Anyway, I took a picture and then remembered taking her picture on that same duck years earlier.

So, without further ado ... 

Charlotte at 7 months riding the duck springy-thing:

And, Charlotte at 2 years and almost 3 months riding the duck springy-thing:

You may now thank me for fulfilling your daily cute quotient. You're welcome. 

And, seriously. Any idea what that thing is called?