Family outing.... ish

Kristen had the thought a while ago to make sure we had regular outings on weekends. Being both working parents we didn't want to fall into the trap of just resting on weekends or getting caught up in house work. There are so many important things to do and nice ways to relax, but I love her foresight that Greydon is more important than any of it and we need good ol' fashion family time on weekends.

Today... weeeeeeellll.

Kristen had a haircut in the morning and by time lunch was over Greydon was ready for his nap. We didn't really plan a huge outing, so as nap time came to an end we were scrambling to come up with something, and the weather wasn't exactly helping.

We got in the car and headed somewhere, though we didn't really know where. We knew we eventually needed to hit the grocery store but I was not feeling like Walmart = outing. Eventually we settled on bowling. Kristen with a shoulder shrug and I with visions of giggling skipping toddlers in my head.

As we were heading into town Greydon was playing with the cheaper little recorder we got him a week earlier. He calls it his horn. When I say recorder I mean the little clarinet-esque musical instrument that seems so prevalent in every elementary school but completely absent in any ensemble... He figured out how to properly blow into it right away, and knows that he is to move his fingers up and down on the holes... but we usually get one note only still, and I think it is starting to bother him. He knows what musical instruments are, he totally gets it. He knows violins, pianos, drums, flutes, harps, and guitars.. and everything else you blow into is pretty much a horn. So I think he is just bothered that his attempts are not matching what he expects to hear out of a horn. In the car he handed the recorder to his mom and said "It broken" She adjusted how he was holding it and he tried again. He handed it back and said "Its broken, it need new batteries." She giggled and said "it doesn't take batteries" I chimed in with "You're the battery." His response was "you're the battery" almost under his breath

We parked at the bowling alley, walked in the door and the line to get a lane was right next to arcade land. He was very excited about all of the flashing lights. Kristen walked with G-man while I got us a lane, paid for two rounds for three people, and got the cutest little bowling shoes you have ever seen... seriously, dang.

No waiting, headed to the lane, decided that "Wolverine" was easily the right choice for Greydon's bowling persona, Kristen stuck with "Tawanda" and I ventured forth as "Vinnie".

They have 6 pound balls, and Greydon can carry it, with a little effort. The bumper pads rise up automatically now only for the bowler who wants them (I should've had them after seeing my score) and they have those cool little ramps that you can point down the lane for the ball.

Did I mention I paid for two rounds? By the time we hit two frames we were having issues.

Greydon was literally growling at the people in the lane next to us every time they cheered for a good score... once he clapped at them in frustration with a little throat bark holler thing. After round two he had no intention of lug a huge six pound ball over to the lane and found very little interest in a ball, just rolling away and knocking something over... Maybe they need to make those ramp things turbo charged so the ball does more than limp along, it barely made it each round.

I think it had been a few years since I bowled, well I hope it has, I actually hope it's been at least a decade. By the end of game 1 I was a little more consistently actually making at least one pin fall over.

Greydon only wanted to go back to the arcade and was trying every play in the two year old hand book to make it happen. We side tracked him with some snacks for a second, but that only bought me one more half-hearted push off the bowling ball ramp thingy.

I kept hitting my foot on that stupid ramp thing I had pushed off to the side. Kristen somehow got the six pound ball lodged between the pop up bumper pads and the gutter half way down the lane. By the time I figured out where to push "assistance" on the lane info digital thing someone was already climbing out to retrieve it. I think someone was talking to me through the speaker on the console... but I might have just been the crazy guy talking to a table as I leaned in and loudly said "someone is already here."

Kristen got two strikes... I got two spares as my only shining moments of glory, all four instances happened as we bowled on Greydon's turn of course... two of them completely due to the bumper pad presence.

Greydon blew into the straw sending 7-up volcano style all over him, Kristen, the table I was trying to talk to, the floor, her shoes...

They refunded that second game I had so optimistically paid for...

The second we got outside he was happy and chatty and skipping... apparently I'm raising a naturalist... so we walked around the big ol' block and had a lovely time, siad hi to someone's cat, pointed at birds, bought some milk and toilet bowl cleaner at the grocery store next door and headed for home.

Bowling... not so much...

going for a walk... still free