Bowling

Today we all went to my friend's daughter's birthday party.  Maddy* turned 6 and had a bowling party.  Karina and three other little kids were there, as well as about 6 or so of Maddy's friends her age.  There were three lanes for us, so the little ones got their own lane with one of those bowling helper ramp things.  Ever seen them?  It's a big ramp made of poles basically that you put the ball on and the child can just push the ball down.  You can easily move the ramp around to 'aim' where you want it.  It makes it so that you don't even have to worry about the weight of the ball, because you're carrying it, not the child. 

When we got there, Karina was overwhelmed, as she usually is in new situations.  We said hello to the birthday girl, who was pretty excited and full of energy.  She and her friends were really eager to get started bowling.  We checked on bowling shoes and were told Karina was so little she could just use her tennis shoes.  They got the ramp in place, got all the names listed, and we were set.  Karina was first and was really unsure about what we were doing.  She had to be held and was watching the few other bowlers and kept saying, "Ball!  Ball!  Ball!  Bang!  Bang!  Bang!"  She was kind of upset about it all.  I took her up to the ramp, and she wasn't sure she wanted to push the ball.  Bill and I coaxed her gently and when the ball rolled down the lane and knocked down some pins, she was really upset.  She didn't cry, but she had this pained expression and was practically yelling, "Bang!"  When the pins fell over, we clapped and cheered for her, and for the second roll, she was ready to push the ball.  But I could not call it "bowling".  I had to call it "pushing the ball".  She did not want to bowl.  She wanted to push the ball. 

The next few turns, she was happy and excited.  She loved watching the ball come back up the chute.  She loved watching other people bowl.  Lunch arrived and she ate almost nothing, not even the french fries.  I hoped that sitting with another little girl, Elise*, would encourage her to eat, but no luck today.  Elise is only about 6 months older than Karina.  She has an older sister and a younger brother on the way.  Elise is absolutely adorable.  But I digress.  (It's hard not to when talking about her.  She is an absolute DOLL.)

After lunch, we continue bowling.  It took the kids a while to get through the first game, simply because they're all so little.  Next, we had cupcakes and ice cream.  Karina loved the icing on the cupcakes, and was trying to eat it with her spoon.  Then the cupcake fell over and she started crying.  She was really tired at that point!  I told her to just eat it with her fingers, and she did and that was okay.  Then she ate some of the ice cream.  Then we finished up the game.  Karina got a strike!  I couldn't believe it!  It was on the 10th frame.  She wound up scoring 98, the highest score of all the kids, big and little!  It was all luck, but I was still proud of her.  She was followed closely by Oliver* who got 94.  He did it with more than just luck.  He's a pretty athletic little kid.  He definitely had a little skill involved in his score. 

The bigger kids were ready to bowl another game, but most of the little ones were ready to go home.  Maddy opened her presents and we said goodbye to everyone.  I figured Karina would fall asleep in the car, but she didn't.  Poor baby, she stayed awake (it is about 35 minutes from our house to my friend's house and area) and told me she was hungry.  She wanted some cheese.  I assured her she could have cheese when we got home, and that's what we did.  Cheese and cracker and blueberry muffins.  Then she went down for her nap around 2, which wasn't too bad.  She slept for her usual 2 hours and woke up pretty happy.  I was worried that the day would be all out of whack, but it wasn't at all.  Everything went great, Karina was a trooper, and overall, it was a wonderful day!

The one bad thing was:  I forgot to take pictures of her bowling!!!  I know, can you even believe it?  I do have a picture of the scoreboard, but I have to edit it before I can post it so the kids' names don't show, but I have none of Karina actually bowling.  I could have kicked myself.  And Bill was there!  Bill, my camera-happy, photo-obsessed husband, also did not take a single picture.  What is wrong with us??


*Names have been changed because I don't have permission from their moms to use their names on here.