Cosmic Bowling Birthday

Avery's buddy Matthew had a bowling party for his 4th birthday, and Avery was soooo excited to be invited. He had never gone bowling before and kept asking questions like "how do you get your ball back after you roll it?" and "how many are you supposed to knock down?" in the days leading up to the party. He even slept with the invitation, "coupon" he called it, the night before.

Phil was XC this past weekend, and I was a little nervous to be taking both kids by myself. However, Elizabeth and David (Matthew's mom and dad) were super helpful in guiding Avery with the bowling and helping me chase down Claire, on occasion. They used the ramps where you just have to roll the ball, which worked out well. Avery and the kids tried just rolling the balls "granny style" every now and then, and it took FOREVER for them to reach the end of the lane. The dads started strategically pushing/aiming the ball when the kids would roll it that way right after they'd released it, and that turned out to be pretty fun for all parties involved.

Avery didn't think his bowling shoes fit very well, but I told him that he wasn't going to be running in them anyway, so they were probably fine. 

What a stud. ;)

Claire used her new found walking abilities to head straight for the bowling lanes any time I would let her down. She wanted to be right up where all the big kids were, and would have probably tried to make it to the pins, had I let her keep going. She was the hardest to handle and squirmed the whole time. She did slow down when it came time to eat a little bit of ice cream though.

Avery LOVED the bowling and would have taken everyone else's turn had they let him. He waited by the ball return and tried to hand the balls to the other kids when it was their turn. By the end, he got to where he could recognize his name/letter when it lit up on the screen. He took one bad fall when he ran past the line and slipped on the lane. He bumped his head, but was ok and back up and playing in no time.

He laughed and got a long great with all the other kids, too. They had cupcakes in Avenger colors- red, white, and blue. 

The birthday boy blowing out his candles!

I think Phil and I will have to take Avery bowling again, soon! We had a great time!

His first turn...