During this quarter of the year we have a flurry of birthdays, Jake in March, Evie in April and both Ben and Amelia in May. This year Ben turned 21 (that does not get any easier the more I say it – how the heck did that happen when I swear I was only 21 not so long ago myself!) He was working his birthday weekend so we took the chance to call through during the week when he had his first day off. Of course this meant we only had Amelia with us as the rest of the kids were at school. This worked out well as it made some special time for both birthdays.
After dining at The Chinese Buffet in Darlington we headed over to Teeside Park and the Hollywood Bowl. Having never been before I was relatively surprised to see how big it was and the seating/food area inside looked great – we will try dining there next time.
Having made the decision to wear flat shoes without socks I was a little worried about wearing random bowling shoes but thankfully they said as long as people had flat shoes without open toes then you were ok to play without the bowling shoes – this must be a new rule as every time I have been in the past to other alleys we have always had to wear their shoes.
With it being a week day it was relatively quiet which was just as well as I completely forgot how to bowl…look at that score board and it wasn’t until 4 turns in that Ben told me I was suppose to be holding the ball with different fingers!
Seriously I have a bruise from trying to use my index and middle fingers – since kids my brain is mush…this is just another example! My score picked up when I started holding it right! HA!
I was worried Amelia would get bored but she loved it, she pushed the ball down the ramp each time and did a little jig when she smashed the skittles. Lifting the balls was a little difficult as even the kids one was huge for her but she thoroughly enjoyed it, telling us who was next to go and playing with Milo between rounds. We enjoyed it so much as a family I may even get us stylish custom bowling shirts made with our names on!
After the bowling was over we spotted a section with arcades and never one to shy away from a grab a toy we headed over! Amelia loves pressing the buttons, watching the flashing lights and listening to the thumping music of the games, we did try the grab a toy but no luck – I swear these things are rigged! (In fact I know these things are rigged – Ben worked at a well known Theme Park for a while!)
Amelias favourite machine paid out each time though and she was happy with her prizes! 😉
I love this photo of Milo, although its a little fuzzy it captures the fact he smiled all day and wasn’t a bit of trouble at all. He sat and played the whole time and I am sure it won’t be long before he is out there playing with us all!
XOXO
Debbie
