bowl.baby.

After most of the kids moved out of my parents' house, one of our yearly christmas presents was a family outing to a show (lion king, etc), grabbing dinner beforehand. This was mostly because we didn't see each other as much as we'd like, so it was a nice way to combine the present and the quality time. Two years ago, instead of going to a show, we were blindfolded and driven (not really blindfolded, but may as well have been) to a mystery location. We were all guesses for a while there, but without success. Our first stop was at a little italian restaurant someone had recommended. From there, we drove another 20 mins until it was obvious where we were going...bowling! We had such a fantastic time that it's become our new tradition. While the shows were fun, bowling lets us talk and be competitive (kids against grown-ups) which all of us, our mom in particular, loves. This year, i had the best three games of my life. The first round the four kids totaled 503, and i pulled my highest score yet- 147! I felt bad since kevin also hit his highest of 135, but still lost to me. The second round i had 109, and my final was 117. I considered becoming a professional bowler- purchasing the ball, the shoes, etc.- it could be fun! Then brian pointed out how you can always tell the professionals from the every-once-in-a-whilers because they're in peak physical form. Case in point, the beer bellied fellow next to us who was clearly in need of a personal hygiene class. He got strike after strike and even showed my mom how to hit some buttons on the computer to show her the best angle to bowl the remaining pins. He also talked excitedly about his upcoming trip to vegas for some bowling thing. Maybe i'm better off sticking with my current schedule of once yearly bowling.