Let's Bowl!

Scott's parents were in town for the weekend as they drove back to Michigan from Arizona.  Unfortunately, the weekend was cold and rainy making a lot of the outdoor activities that were going on around town less than desirable.  So, we decided to go bowling Saturday afternoon to get everyone out of the house.  We went to a small bowling alley in Maplewood (The Saratoga) and were able to have the place pretty much to ourselves and to bowl without fear of severe overstimulation from all of the people, loud music, and crazy lights that often accompany the bigger (newer) alleys.  This was really an old-school experience -- manual scoring and all.  Luckily Scott was an avid bowler back in his college/post-college days and was happy to show off his skills.  Though, our scores did not truly reflect what awesome bowlers we really are ;).  

Merrill's balls usually made it all the way down the lane (thanks to the make-shift bumpers), but they went so slow that by the time the balls were knocked down, the gate was already coming down to sweep the rest of the pins down and reset.  This made it a little difficult to tell which pins were knocked down by the ball and which were swept down.  Merrill was okay with this, as she interpreted every frame as a strike or spare :).

 Teddy bounced around between being held by Scott's parents or bowling with either Scott or me.  He loved watching the balls come back up the return and I'm pretty sure he would have been happy if we had let him get down to chase the balls down the alley.

 anticipation ...

 ... the agony of defeat

 Millie was happy to cheer everyone on

 sometimes you just have to sit down and wait...

 and sometimes you just have to dance

 learning to keep score

What a fun way to spend a rainy Saturday!