Birthday Fun

Believe it or not, Garrett will be five years old tomorrow! I know it sounds trite, but it really does just seem like yesterday we brought him home from the hospital. And here we are, five years later, the "parenting experts". (It's OK, you can go ahead and laugh...) Like all parents, I'm sure, we've had a wild ride as we've learned on the go. Sometimes we're confident in our parenting abilities, and sometimes we just make it up as we go along. But, both kids are alive, healthy, and relatively well-behaved (depending on what day it is!).

We decided that 5 years was a little bit of a milestone, so we asked Garrett what he wanted to do for his birthday party. I was prepared for Chuck E. Cheese or some similar torturous...oh I mean wonderful... idea. But instead, he says "I want to go bowling." Now, we have never taken him bowling before, nor does anyone we know bowl. So, we're not sure where this idea came from. However, it turned out to be an inspired idea! We met his friends at the alley at 10:00 a.m., and they had the whole place to themselves. The staff (all 2 of them) were at our beck and call. They set up a table for the kids, brought out pitchers of soda, and even gave Garrett a Spiderman bowling pin with his name on it. (For Garrett there can be no higher joy than Spiderman!)

It was great watching eight 4-5 year olds trying to get the ball down the lane. We eventually had the staff bring out this metal ramp that the kids could set the ball on and roll it down the lane. Otherwise, it might have taken us most of the morning just to finish one turn each. It was hilarious watching them heave the ball with all their might, and then watch it roll s-l-o-w-l-y, down the lane and finally barely tip a pin. By the end of the party, they had the hang of it, and Garrett even managed 2 strikes! Does he have polyester and bad shoes in his future? We hope not, but the birthday part was a lot of fun!

Bowling Birthday