Birthday Bowling

Thanks to our connection to the toddler scene (Emma), we were invited to celebrate Saydee Walker's second birthday at The Bowling Depot in Deerfoot Mall. Emma fancies herself a bit of a bowler here at home and makes good use of the Dora bowling set Santa brought her for Christmas, but watching her walk into that alley was a like watching some kid off the farm walking into Madison Square Garden. Welcome to the big leagues of five pin bowling. The sights, the smells...well maybe not the smells, the sounds perhaps, it was all so enchanting. The stakes were a lot higher than she was used to, the balls were ten times heavier than her foam balls at home, the lanes were at least five times longer than our living room, and a high-powered computer keeps a hyper-accurate score. Both Braysen and Saydee were no doubt experiencing the same sensations as Emma was, as it was their first time bowling at the professional level as well, but it wasn't until it was all over, that we realized that it was the parents who were in some serious need of coaching staff.

I've never thrown so many gutter balls in my life. I don't think I've even seen someone throw that many gutter balls in my life. When I wasn't in the gutter, I was a sniper with that ball, taking out one lone pin at a time. I don't think Tammy or Cheryl did that badly, but I don't remember Dave doing much better, I've seen hockey games with higher scores. I think I'm more of a ten pin guy anyways, bigger ball, more targets stacked closer together, greater chance of gutter balls actually rolling back onto the lane before they reach the pins, just all around better odds.

The kids blew our scores out of the water, but not without a few mechanisms to help them along the way. The staff raised the gutters for them, but I don't think they really needed them raised thanks to a make-shift steel ramp that the kids turned into a precision targeting device. It was pretty fun to watch them play and celebrate and learn what it means to take turns. After the game was done, we sang Happy Birthday to Saydee, ate cupcakes, and she opened her presents. We tried to hit Applebee's for dinner, but it was packed, so we ate at Wendy's instead, and then headed home.

We had told Emma about the party a few days before and she was so excited about the prospect of bowling with other kids, that she would ask if it was time to go bowling with Saydee after almost everything we did. Thanks to the Walkers for a fun night out.