What a difference a little help makes

I love doing things with my kiddos. Whether it be some grand adventure or a little outing, I honestly do cherish the time that I get to spend with them. Which is funny since they all know exactly how to push my buttons and make me absolutely crazy. At which time, I have trouble remembering WHY I wanted to spend the time with them in the first place. But then there are times when everyone is helping out and lending a hand to each other without being forced and I can sit back (proverbially) and remember just WHY I do enjoy our moments together.

Today was one of those days. Since the weather was unseasonably cool (or maybe it just felt that way after the searing heat of late), we decided to head to the park to feed the ducks and geese. I was hoping to catch some glimpses of the babies but we waited far too long. Most of the soft, downy feathered little ducklings now look like adolescent ducks, complete with the gawkiness of human teens. Moreover, they were not too interested in eating our popcorn. We did manage to get a few stray "ducklings" to nibble, but we had far better results with the fish.

Punk and Peanut helped bring the tiny blue gills and sunfish closer to Sweet Pea so she could manage on her own. And Pork Chop just thought that that was hilarious, throwing all our food into the water. We even got to see a fairish number of good sized bass, which got everyone talking about going fishing before summer's end. Most likely, it won't happen until our camping trip in August but it still is something to look forward to.

We also made the best of our cooler weather by a surprise trip to the bowling alley. Even bigger surprise was that they had the training ramp open for use today! What a difference that small gadget made to Sweet Pea's game! Her first game, she bowled a 38 because she was tired from the park in the morning and a short nap in the afternoon. With the trainer though, she bowled a 93 and made her first two spares ever! I am definitely going to have to see about going during non-peak times more often this summer so she can really experience bowling in a whole new light.

Kids Bowl Free

For parents of larger families, this is one of the best summer programs out there! I am very grateful that our local bowling alley participates in the Kids Bowl Free summer program. It means for the cost of shoes, my kids can bowl two free games each day this summer. Not that we go every day. I select one day a week as "bowling day" and that's our fun activity for that day. In the past, I have stuck to a schedule with our outings but I am not sure how to approach that this year. Summer reading club and preschool skate have set days but the rest of it can be pretty fluid depending on what we want to do. So I may leave it like that. 

This year was the first year that Sweet Pea has been old enough to bowl. I was envisioning hours of waiting for her bowl to slowly creep down the lane, nearly stopping in front of the pins or breaking through to knock one down at a time. I was a little wrong! Apparently, she inherited her daddy's bowling skills because she rocked the lanes today for her first time!

Yes, we use bumpers. But she didn't need the ramp and used their smallest ball, a 6lber. Not only that, but she didn't bowl granny style. Instead, she held the ball, charged to the foul line like a little line backer and THREW the ball down the alley! I was beyond impressed!

All three of the kids did an amazing job though! Punk broke 100 both games, which made his day. He is now declaring that his summer goal is to break each "record" from the week before. Which means that next week, he needs to beat 111. Peanut's final game was a 96 which upset her because it meant that she was just bare points from 100. I reminded her that there is always next time and that she might do better with a bit of practice under her belt. As for Sweet Pea.... both her games were in the 60s! Not too shabby at all for a 3 year old's first time!

Unfortunately, all this excitement is making me consider signing up myself and hubby for the Kids Bowl Free program so we will have another cheap option of entertainment this summer. For adults, its something like $25 to register up to five adults on a card to get two free games all summer. I am not sure how much a game is normally but it sounds like a winner to me. Now to see if I actually ever do it this summer. lol