Bowling

Houston, Texas - Mom, home alone all day with two 10 year old boys and a 5 year old boy, could grow some grey hair trying to keep the kids off the furniture, off the walls and nothing broken including the kids. But I have found creating a schedule of activities really helps keep the time moving and the kids under control. We try to plan at least one outside activity every day. Usually it is either a trip to the community pool or to a park. This year we have collected a number of coupons and are trying a few entertainment places: today - bowling.

Bowling has fond memories for me (Mom). I remember my Dad spending Daddy-Daughter time teaching me how to bowl. I remember before I married my husband, bowling with my future spouse and actually being able to beat him at something (yes, we are a little competitive. keeps things spicy.). So when my friend offered me a coupon to take the boys bowling, I thought this will be fun.

The first game was fun, but the second game was not. We went ahead and got bumpers on the lane. The 10 year olds said they would agree to bumpers to help the 5 year old, but they really didn't need the bumpers. Hmmmm. The 10 year olds loved the bumpers. They didn't worry so much about technique as they did about throwing the ball as hard as they could. They scored pretty good the first game. The second game was a lower score mostly because the boys discovered you could bank the ball off both bumpers . It became more of a game of who could hit the bumpers the most times like a pinball machine and less about hitting the pins.

The 5 year old did the "Granny" bowl placing the ball on the floor between his legs and pushing as hard as he could. We were continually amazed that the ball never stopped and actually made it down the lane. We were continually amazed at the number of pins the 5 year old hit. He was very into the game the first round, but the second round he was much more into the soda and popcorn and playing with one of his Match Box cars.

As a Mom I would recommend bowling but plan only one game, not two. At the end of one everybody will be in good spirits, but by the end of two silliness will teeter on the edge of bad behavior and tempers may flare.

Trip Stats:

Who: Mom, two 10 year old boys and one 5 year old boy

What: indoor playtime

When: early morning, weekday
Wednesday at 9:30 am - not a crowd but at 10 am two day cares came in and that really made it crowded. One day care came into the lane next to us and the kids were bad about not waiting their turn to bowl, horsing around in our sitting area (tripping over my kids) and were loud.

Where: AMF Willow Lanes facility, http://www.amf.com/corporate/index.htm

Why: exercise and fun

Costs:

• Parking - FREE
• Shoes - $4.50 / person
• Games - We had a value pak coupon for $0.99/game up to 10 games which made two games for 4 people only $9.00. I think the original cost with no coupon is $4.25 / per person / game.
• Snacks and Drinks - We got a pitcher of Sprite which was enough for one game, not two. Pitchers were $7.00 so we only got one. We also got a small popcorn for $3.00. The snack bar also sells pizza, but we decided to go home for lunch.
• Extras - They have a few video games: a couple of driving games, a punching bag game, a crane game, etc.