A fun day of bowling

For school outings, my kids would usually go bowling once or twice a year. And at the end of every school year, the schools give out coupons for a free game of bowling at Rossmere Lanes. My youngest son had been asking me to go bowling since school ended. We finally decided to go last weekend. His brothers and dad didn’t want to go so it was just the two of us.

“I have a reservation for two for niceheart at 3:00 p.m,” I told the guy at the counter.

He checked his computer and then he asked,

“What shoe sizes?”

“Five and six,” I replied.

“Do you want bumpers?”

“What are those?”

“They’re railings for children under six so they won’t get the balls in the gutter.”

Okay, my son is already ten and I thought that we didn’t need those. So I told the guy, “No.”

“For how many games?” he asked.

“Oh I don’t know. It’s my first time bowling. What do you recommend?”

“A game has ten frames. And lasts about 15 minutes for two players.”

I thought for a moment and said, “Two games then.”

“You’re on Lane 6.”

So Ryland and I put on these ugly shoes.

I let him go first so I can watch him play. Because I’ve never bowled before. But I’ve seen how people do it on TV and in the movies. 🙂

Ryland was a good and patient teacher. He told me what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. He’d even give me two thumbs up after I finished my turn even if my balls went in the gutter. I thought that I should probably have asked for those bumpers. 🙂

“Mommy, I think you should go closer to that line,” Ryland said.

“But I don’t want those people to see me,” I told him. “They might laugh at me.”

He even showed me how smaller kids do it and as a beginner he thought that I should do it this way. Spread my legs apart. And throw the ball from between my legs.

“It’s okay if you look like a fool, Mommy.”

He he he.

Although it was my first time to bowl, I had a lot of fun. Even if a lot of my balls went in the gutter. After two games, we wanted to play more. So we paid for two more games.

I was so excited when I got a spare, and then a strike.

But don’t be impressed too soon. There were only five pins and those balls were smaller than the regular ten-pin balls. They were not that heavy and they fit in my palm. They don’t have any finger holes.

We worked up a sweat. After about an hour and four games, we went to Dairy Queen and treated ourselves to these.

Banana split for me.

And strawberry milkshake for him.

More of our bowling video clips here.