Bowling

Graham is going to have his belated birthday party this Saturday (which happens to also be Bobby's birthday!) at a bowling alley.  So I figured to prep the boys, we would go to our first bowling session during the week when there is no one around.

Well, so much for no one around. There was a company outing in the bowling alley but thankfully there were still lots of lanes available.  It's normally Dhs105 (US$29) per hour but we could also pay Dhs15 (US$4) per game per person, so that made more sense since who knows how long the boys will take to play just one game!

The staff at the bowling alley were very helpful:

He showed us our lane, picked out a bowling ball for all of us - 6 lbs for both Graham and Charlie and 10 lbs for Mommy. I'm feeling strong!

And now, for the dinosaur looking slide! What's gonna work...? Team work!

"Yes, Graham. That's where the balls come back from. Please don't stick your hand in there!"

After a quick briefing from the bowling staff, we're off!

The anticipation as the ball rolls down the lane...

And the excitement!

And Graham even had a strike in the 5th frame!

Charlie was really excited too, thinking it was always his turn.  Who knew bowling would be a good lesson for kids to learn about taking turns!

Here's Charlie's reaction after scoring his first spare.  Pure excitement!

Well, it didn't take long for Charlie to figure out the goal of the game. When he only knocked down a few pins, he would be sad and then, he would slouch his shoulders down.

By the 8th frame, Charlie is asking for a snack (it's a good thing we didn't pay by the hour!).  I did manage to convince him to bowl out.

And the results are in:

Not too shabby for the boys and for Mommy! I even got 2 strikes! :-) Okay, so the bumpers were up but I swear I did not use them once!

Anyway... once it was all said and done, Graham obviously gravitated towards the video games:

Thankfully with my super "Mommy" powers, we were done for the day.  The boys had a good time but by the end of the day, I asked Graham again if he had fun at the bowling alley and he said "No, because we didn't eat there."  Again, gosh - kids these days are so difficult to please!