B O W L I N G...

I'm sure there isn't a soul on this earth who hasn't heard of Groupon, and if you haven't, well, then I'm sorry your missing out on affordable heaven on earth. Email me and I'll hook you up. With my not working, our household budget has been very tight this past year, and being able to afford luxuries like eating out, entertainment or treats has had to come to a stand still. But as most of you know, you can only hibernate in your home for so long, before either the kids or you go batty and you need a break. So these last few months I've been squirreling away and grabbing the Groupon deals when they pop up for our area. It's a great way to be able to afford a few hours out with the family for 50-75% off the regular price.

So I had purchased a Groupon a few months back for a Family deal for Bowling, and seeing how none of us had been bowling in a few years, I thought it would be fun to get the Fam Bam out on Saturday and enjoy a few hours.

It was a great deal that included Bowling for 6 people, 2 hours on a lane, shoe rentals, A large Pizza and a pitcher of Soda. Now, the kids complained LOUDLY that Bowling was boring, no fun, and totally NOT cool according to my teenage son. But I insisted and DH and I loaded everyone up and off we went.

We bowled with the rails up since my lil girl had never bowled, and since it had been about 4-5 years since my son had so he had forgotten how. And of course with my family, it's not fun unless you make a challenge out of it. So we all ganged up on my poor DH and our goal the whole day was to beat his score.

And let me tell you parents of kids who complain loudly and insist that it's "boring" and "uncool" to try something new and out of their comfort zone, these kids had a BLAST!

They were cheering, grinning, laughing, trying stunts with the ball, and overall enjoying themselves. But it was one little girl in particular that caught our eye and had us grinning and laughing.

Emily.

She had us cracking up. Each time she would grab her ball and walk up to the line, and throw it down the lane with a chunky THUD, and then stand there with her arms straight up in a touchdown pose with her one leg bent in the air behind her waiting the whole time until her ball knocked down the pins. Then she would jump in the air and cheer, clapping loudly for all to see and run to grab her ball again. It was hilarious. I wish I had remembered my camera.

She kept us on our toes, calling out whose turn it was and patting us on the back if we did poorly. Austin started the cheering chants several times to get us rallied to play, and the food disappeared quickly.

We had a great time. And for two hours that day, we all forgot about doctors appointments, homework, jobs and stress. We spent quality time as a family and made lasting memories.

So don't fear parents, stand firm with your kids, because you just never know if they try something new, whether they'll like it or not, but chances are, it just might be "cool" enough for them.

I think we did alright, when leaving the building my lil girl asks when we can come back and do that again. :)

Oh and that same lil girl, beat us all on the last game! She kept rolling strikes! Go figure! I'm signing her up for a team. :)

XOXO