Bowling with Barbara Manatee

We're wrapping up our week at home in which we had no company, no camps, no summer school, no R--no-thing!

We ran some short errands, to keep RJ2 venturing out into new places and to take care of things that needed to be taken care of--like back-to-school supply shopping and spending CJ's birthday gift cards. Oh, and Sweet Frog (frozen yogurt)! There was one more thing on my list--take the girls bowling.

RJ2 had such a wonderfully successful moment when she went bowling with the day camp group. CJ and I had a nice morning outing bowling, too. (Except for the Josh Grobin that they were playing that day--a whole album! Really... bowling to Josh Grobin?!) Could we all go bowling together and could this be something we could do as a family? And with cousins on our upcoming "Cousin Tour" road trip?

We are fortunate to have AMF based here in Mechanicsville, and our bowling lanes are top-notch. The company has done a lot of work to make the bowling experience family-friendly and nice. We bowl in a prototype center, really, and a corporate support center adjoins the lanes. Overall, pretty cool!

On a Friday morning, there's no league play, so things are not too busy. They assign every other lane to customers, so you don't feel like you're playing in a narrow closet. We were fitted for balls and shoes, then off to lane #26!

RJ2 was reliving her camp experience and doing a great job until we were actually ready to start bowling. She lost it for about five frames of bowling, but then recovered as if nothing had happened. I think the issue was that she needed to bowl with her new best friend....

Barbara Manatee!

Who is Barbara Manatee? Well, she's a complex character, all right. See if you can follow these threads. (It's like playing the Kevin Bacon game!):

Barbara Manatee originates with a VeggieTales' "Silly Songs with Larry" called "Endangered Love." Larry the Cucumber, watching a soap opera, sings back to his television to the lead character female in distress--singing a tango--Barbara Manatee.

For some reason, RJ2 decided to name the turquoise bear Beanie Baby Barbara Manatee. Mind you, this particular Beanie Baby bear is a special edition bear named Ariel. This Ariel was Ariel Glaser, daughter of Paul Michael Glaser [of the Starsky and Hutch TV series, circa 1975] and Elizabeth Glaser, who passed away from HIV, and the bear was named in her honor and with her artwork. CJ first received Ariel bear at her second Christmas, so the bear has been around for awhile. The Barbara Manatee name just happened a few weeks ago and led to lively discussions with RJ2 about the difference between manatees, dolphins and bears (Oh, my!). So, that's the story!

Once Barbara Manatee started bowling, things were great. AMF has ramps for the kids to use,
the computer keeps the score. We flew through two games!

The three of us are getting ready to bowl. That's actually my hand holding the ball underneath, while the other hand is driving the ramp into position. You can see Barbara Manatee's ear just over the ball.

Set.... GO!

CJ is developing a very stylish approach! (Thank you, bumpers!)

Looks like an 8--All right!

Even though the computer kept score, we weren't keeping score. With Barbara Manatee bowling, and Barbara Manatee and RJ2 bowling in my spot, and CJ bowling when RJ2 didn't want to bowl a frame, it made actually scoring kind of pointless. (HA!) And, really, who cares!

WE WENT BOWLING!!

And was it excellent?

Everybody did excellent!