Let It Bowl, Let It Bowl, Let it Bowl...

Really there's no better idea than giving a bunch of preschoolers solid six pound balls to huck down a greased up alley. After almost two weeks of vacation-y bliss (read: Ethan demanding that we crash Matchbox cars together over & over again until I thought I might run screaming from the house like my hair was on fire....), we ditched the living room 'o new toys for an afternoon of disinfected multi-colored shoes and shouting, "keep your hands out of the ball return! The balls will smash your fingers!" at a bevy of 3 and 4 year olds (okay, it was only three 3 and 4 year olds, but it felt like a bevy).

Ethan took to bowling quickly. By this I mean that it didn't take him long to realize that throwing the bowling ball overhand might not be the most effective way to get his ball down the alley to the pins. By the end of the second game, he was twisting at the waist, holding the ball with both hands and then flinging it for all he's worth. And though it slowed his ball down a bit, he seemed to really enjoy heaving the ball towards the bumper, so that it bounced off and zig-zagged its way down the alley. Bowling with flair. This technique served him well. In fact, he may or may not have beaten me (he definitely did).

But in my defense, the kids' lane had bumpers and the adults' lane did not. So there's that. Also, I've only gone bowling a handful of times since these pictures were taken at my 10th birthday party (for reference, I am the one in the sporty velour pastel striped zipped up sweater, the faux Jordach jeans, crazy-ass pony tails and the glasses so giant that they could totally beat up Nicole Ritchie's giant-est glasses, any day):

rocking my "mom jeans"....at 10.

My best friend rocking her Mickey Mouse appliqued back-pocket mom jeans, which totally steal the show in this picture that is supposed to be of me and the teeny tiny bowling ball...clearly Dad didn't have a zoom lens....If you can manage to take your eyes off that Mickey Mouse, check out the glare coming off of my glasses. Nice.

Oh, 1981 Sarah, what were you thinking with those glasses? I'm not sure how I managed to hold my head up under the weight of them, quite honestly, but I loved them.

Aside from a few forays into the laser-show type bowling alleys in my 20's, which really focused more on consuming pitchers of beer than actually knocking anything down with a bowling ball, my 10th birthday was probably my greatest bowling moment (and definitely the only one of which there is any photography evidence). So I guess we shouldn't be surprised that my four year old beat me by at least 10 points in both games we played. I seriously considered taking a cue from his 3.5 year old friend, Maddy, who simply sat down in front of her lane and gave the ball a good shove from her sitting position. Incidentally, she may have also beaten me (she definitely did.)

"Get your fingers away from the ball return!!!!" I still hear it in my sleep...

cheeky monkey.

Zen and the art of bowling...Ethan contemplates the universe & bowling pins...

The blurry arms actually make bowling look like an active sport, don't they?!...The ball must be blocked from view by the rest of his body because after that shot I took this one....

...and clearly, in spite of all that arm-blurring activity just seconds earlier, that ball is not breaking any speed records.

In fact, Ethan and his friends had enough time after their throws to sit down at their lane and watch, in breathless anticipation to see what their ball did as it moseyed down the lane. Although a couple of times, the balls went so slowly that the kids completely lost interest and by the time their ball made contact with any pins at the end of the lane, they were engaged in some dance or song, or they were busy getting their fingers smashed in the freaking ball return.