Playing Paige Style July 2, 2010

We encourage Paige to be creative.  Her idea of playing may not fit in with what every 4 year old girl normally does.  Last night we went bowling.  We didn’t go with a huge group of people, just me, Ronnie, Paige and a couple of other adult friends.  Luckily, our adult friends are as warped on SciFi as we are.

Paige and I were wearing our Silly Bandz bracelets.  I’m currently wearing the Princess collection, and Paige is wearing the jungle animals collection.  One of my bracelets is a shoe; one of hers is a bug.  I’m sure you can see where this is going.  She took off the bug and had it attack me.  I certainly didn’t want bug on me, so I took off the shoe to smash the bug.  It seems smashing the bug wasn’t enough.  Paige pulled my iPhone out of my purse, opened the Sonic Screwdriver app, and used it on the bug.

Yes, my child used a Sonic Screwdriver app on a bug Silly Bandz bracelet.  Normal? Probably not.  Fun?  Most definitely.  We were giggling and having a great time.  At least she was being nice about it.  She didn’t open the phaser app and set it to kill instead of stun.  That would have been worse.

Jude Bowling June 23, 2010

Last night was Bowling Night in this house.  Most of us went: Paige, Ronnie, me, Aunt Wii, and Ryan.  Only Unc stayed home.  We took Paige’s friend, Korrie Jane, and met up with Paige’s boyfriend Jude and his parents.  We took up 2 lanes and had a blast in our little corner of the bowling alley.

One of the great things about bowling with small children is the bumpers.  When we get there the guy goes and pulls up the bumpers so that the kids don’t get gutter balls every time.  Mommy and Daddy like it too.  It’s nice for helping get the pins on the very corners without worrying about the gutter.  Watching the kids bowl is fun.  They each have their own unique little style.  Paige puts it on the floor and pushes it.  And a few times she’s tried to kick it like a soccer ball.  Korrie Jane throws it; the ball lands with a thud about half way down the lane.

Jude? Jude is special.  I wish I had video of him bowling.  I may try to get one next time.  Jude bowling looks like pinball.  He lobs the ball as hard as he can.  It travels pretty fast down the lane.  It literally bounces from one side of the bumpers to the other all the way down the lane.  It’s like watching a pinball game.  He’s very enthusiastic about his bowling.  When it’s his turn he runs up there, grabs the ball, and runs to his lane.  I love watching him bowl.

On a side note, we won’t be attending the concert.  The tickets were free, but you had to get them from Ticketmaster this morning starting at 10 AM.  The city of Gulf Shores was releasing 35,000 tickets.  There were 8 of us at work trying to get tickets.  We were all on the website hitting refresh at 9:59.  None of us got tickets.  None of us.  I did find some, on eBay, for $1800.  I wish I was kidding, but I’m not.  eBay has since pulled all of the tickets for the concert from their site.  I tried hard, but no tickets for us.  Maybe we’ll all get together and watch it on CMT.  Maybe not, we haven’t decided yet.

Summer Bowling June 2, 2010

It’s going good.  We’ve been a couple of times now.  While we get the lane rental free, we still have to pay for shoe rental.  By checking out a local sporting goods store, I realized how much cheaper it would be to buy our own.  Shoe rental at the bowling alley is $4.63 for a pair of shoes.  Academy Sports has shoes for $19.99 a pair.  I really tried to squeeze my feet into the $9.97 clearanced shoes, but they were a full size too small.  Shoes for Paige would need to be special ordered online and are a bit more expensive.  Overall, I think it would be beneficial to buy them for her, especially since her feet seem to have stopped growing for the moment.

We’ve made a standing date with a few other families to get together a set night.  It’s nice for the adults as well as the kids.  The kids get to play with each other and bowl when they remember it’s their turn.  Us adults get to watch the kids and talk.  That’s right, actual adult conversation.  And it doesn’t revolve around just work or kids, we can talk about lots more things.  The bowling alley is loud enough that most other people can’t hear us.  And the managers are pretty smart.  They keep us all together at one end of the alley away from the other bowlers.  We bought the family pass so up to 4 adults can bowl for free as well as the kids.  Our bowling alley never checks the names of the bowlers, so we could have others bowl who aren’t listed on the coupon.  So far that hasn’t happened, as most of the regular adult bowlers can make it.

If you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still time.  Check it out here.

Kids Bowl Free May 18, 2010

Nope, not a trick.  Click here to find a bowling alley in your area.  Of course there are restrictions.  My local alley only offers it on weekdays before 8 PM.  Each child can bowl 2 free games each day.  Also, there is an option for parents to sign up for their own bowling.  For $24.95 parents can sign up for 2 games each day as well.  I definitely encourage everyone to sign up, at least for the free kids bowling.  Nothing like cheap summer fun!