Annabel has been asking to go bowling for a few weeks now. Who knows why – she probably saw a commercial for a bowling alley or something. When she mentioned wanting to go bowling to me, I was always like, “Yeah, we’ll do it soon.” She should have known to go directly to Dad. Mike loves to bowl, so to have his daughter ask if we could all go? He couldn’t make a reservation fast enough.

The first time we took Annabel bowling, she was almost three. James isn’t even two-and-a-half yet, but we thought he might be able to handle bowling because he’s pretty physical…and we figured if he couldn’t do it, I’d take him to the arcade or something while Annabel and Mike bowled.

Our bowling order was me, Mike, Annabel, then James. James had no idea what was happening when I bowled. He started to get it when it was Mike’s turn, and by the time Annabel bowled, he couldn’t WAIT for his turn. He didn’t need anyone to tell him what to do:

Bowling

He just grabbed that ball and before any of us could stop him, he ran and threw it down the lane:

Bowling

And he was so excited about it:

Bowling

Bowling

However, he also got really into it, and would get very upset if he didn’t knock down all the pins.

James is upset

Oh, James. The highs, the lows, the struggle.

Meanwhile, Annabel had a great time with bowling moves all her own:

Bowling

Bowling

Her throws went 1.4 miles an hour (literally, the bowling alley clocked the speed), buuuut…

Bowling

…she bowled strikes with that! Clearly I could learn a thing or two from her.