Time to Spare

Riley had her first bowling experience on Thursday morning. The night before we explained what bowling is. "You push a big ball and then it hits the pins and knocks them down." Her response: "Uh-oh. No hitting." So we decided it might be better to wait and show her what bowling is.

She was excited that the bright yellow-green ball was just for her. And once she got used to it, she didn't have a problem lifting and carrying it, even though it was more than a quarter of her body weight.

The most fascinating part of the experience for her was how the balls would magically appear from the big hole. She wouldn't take her eyes off it for a while.

We started with a metal ramp that she could push the ball down. But she seemed afraid of it (more on her bizarre fears in the next post) so we just had her sit at the top of the lane and push the ball.

It didn't take her long to figure out that Daddy wasn't sitting down when it was his turn, so she decided to stand up and push instead.

And there you have it. The ball hit the pins and knocked them down, and no one got in trouble for it.

She even got to help Daddy bowl a time or two. It's hard not to be enthusiastic about a strike when she's bouncing and squealing.