More Adventures with Friends

Caelan started her first nannying job this week. She did some job shadowing the day before and then dove straight in for seven hours of kiddo care the next! We were so bored at home without her, that we just had to think of SOMETHING to do while she was gone ;) Hello, Kids Bowl Free program! We grabbed our bag of bowling shoes (they all still fit, except Brennen's--he had to go the rental route, but Graysen benefited from his like-new hand-me-downs) and met our friends--so, so many friends--at the bowling alley.


As six moms and one dad (brave Buck :) tried to organize 30 teens, tweens, and toddlers, the bowling alley workers' eyes just kept getting bigger and bigger. It was a little chaotic because we didn't have a plan for organizing kids into lanes (and the computers specifically assign a lane to the number of bowlers on each individual family's membership), but the kids didn't notice. They were just thrilled to be together--again!! On like eight lanes, whew!



Buck and Graysen ended up bowling with the younger crowd. Buck was so patient and helpful to the little dudes. They would run with all their tiny might to the foul line and then drop the ball *thump* to let it slowly . . . slowly . . . sloooooowly . . . progress to the end of the lane (usually in the gutter :) Buck helped them sort through turns, which ball was whose, how to use the red plastic dragon slope to get the ball to roll a little faster, bumpers up, bumpers down, and finally how to take silly selfies to go along with their names on the score screens. THIS was a big hit! I think he's their new hero :)



Gabby found her girl crew and they had a great time. Brennen and the older boys formed a team, which would have been perfect if I put six games on our lane (that's why G$ bowled with Buck and the younger boys). 





Because everyone was so spread out and the abilities were somewhat lopsided, not all the games ended simultaneously. As we approached hour three at the bowling alley (to complete two games), we all got bit by the hungry bug. We listed off several different Mexican restaurants (because these are often the easiest to manage with the special food needs in the group), and then I remembered a new one in the empty mall. Buck was thrilled! This one carries the name of one of his favorites, and I'm sure our subsequent business made their budgets for the week :) It was perfect though, the kids could spread out at all the empty food court tables. The long-local moms could reminisce about this empty shell once being "the place" to be when they were growing up. "I never thought I'd be eating with friends here, again!" said one, nostalgically.





The younger kids soon headed for the dilapidated children's area, while the older kids went to dig through bins in the junk store. We found them quite awhile later still finding "treasures" and (ew) trying on wigs (not my kids though, lol :) We, surprisingly, found a few items--like compression socks for Buck's feet (which have been hurting him badly the last couple weeks) and protractor/compass sets to replenish our geometric supply. Brennen found a few old XBOX games, so now they can play more sports than football, and I found a High School Musical gameboard with included CD for one of Buck's cohort buddies. He knows all the songs and the dance moves, and it has kind of made him a legend among the youth group. I mean, for a dollar? :)



So, we really hadn't intended to spend six hours roaming around town with our friends, but that's what happened! The boys brought a friend home to chill 'til youth group, and Caelan needed to be picked up from her first day with the three wee amigos. She said it went well :) But pretty much no sooner than we arrived home, we were packing up the music to head to church for worship team rehearsal before the youth grand finale and senior night! (Okay, technically we're meeting every week this summer, but it's more informal than during the school year). 

The youth pastor from our former big church taught the lesson, and it was excellent! The kids really responded well to him and we had a good discussion afterwards. In fact, the girls and I were there for more than three hours talking and discussing plans for the summer and changes for the fall (Buck and the boys headed home about 30 minutes earlier). That was a whole lot of socializing for one day, let me tell you! But we had a good time connecting with our friends. Also, we skipped baseball, because it was a late game and we didn't want to rush out of youth group to get there. Turns out, the team won! Go team :)

Hot off the press! New good friend pics that just arrived in my phone!