Bo-ho-holing...then and now

Our family loves to bowl. We're not great at it, though. Okay, that's not true. When Jared and I were first "noticing each other" at Ricks College, Jared was a teacher assistant for a bowling class. After my biology class, I would walk through the Manwaring Center to get to the other side of campus and he'd be in the bowling alley having fun being a teacher assistant. His game average is way past 100, nearly 200. I'm lucky if I can break 75...and that's WITH the bumpers. Jake and Cooper took a bowling class a couple of years ago and are rising stars. The rest of us, not so much. But we love to do it together.

Now, add in some Santa hats and bowling becomes magical! There's no question that bo-ho-holing is one of our favorite Christmas chain activities to participate in.

Last year, in 2011, we were blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa Lee join us. They are super bowlers and good competition for Jared and the boys.

This picture was after one of Jake's six strikes! The family next to us was so impressed that they tried to recruit him to be on their own kids' bowling league :)

Karcyn says: "I'm number one!"

The bowling ball that's twice as big as Calvin's head. But he's got a killer granny throw!

Grandma and Grandpa Lee...part of the bo-ho-holing magic!

Grandma and baby JJ at 4 months old.

My two Jareds.

And while you're waiting for your turn to bowl...you arm wrestle your grandpa!

Here's the gang! (I'm sure the bowling alley was thrilled when we left. We're a little noisy :)

Grandma Sugar and Calvin Sugar.

Karcyn and Grandpa.

And now for the 2012 installment of bo-ho-holing. The kids love it so much that it's a coveted status just to be the one who tears off the link in the Christmas chain that declares we'll be doing it...almost like finding a Golden Ticket in a chocolate Wonka Bar :)

Here's Calvin perfecting his Granny method.

My "J" boys...the two on the right getting TOO big, TOO fast!

Calvin was "helping" Karcyn wait for the ball to come up the return. He picked it up and it slipped out of his hands and went back into the hole! Fortunately it didn't go back down the slope. We already had to call the front to unstick pins, balls and other mechanisms at the opposite end of the alley two or three times. (I'm sure they cringe when they see the slew of Santa hats coming in year after year.)

Same height and weight give or take a couple of inches and/or pounds and these two could seriously be twins now that Calvin is getting old enough to be a peaceable contributor during their play time.

Karcyn...still # 1 in my book!

The next three pictures are an evolution of Calvin's reactions to one of his turns.
Walking away...

Watching...

(Survey says)....almost!

And here's Cooper lamenting the fact that he was seriously robbed! He had so many niners, it wasn't even funny! But he picked up a couple of spares too! Good thing it's just a game, right? ;)

Jake goes to the mountain

I think it's safe to say that one of Jake's TOP birthday gifts this year was from our sweet friends, the McCulloughs. They hand delivered a birthday card that all seven of them signed--an amazing thing in and of itself. And inside was an I-O-U for a FREE day of snowboarding with them. They could not have thought of or given a more PER.FECT gift! I was so excited for him. (Actually I'm "secretly" jealous. I know how to ski...although I haven't done it in a couple of decades. But I would really LOVE to try snowboarding. I missed that boat when we moved to Alaska. I know, I know, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. What can I say? It's on my bucket list. I just want to try it once! And in the process, I will provide a much appreciated service...non-stop laughs for whomever is with me!)

Fortunately for Jake, the snowboarding stars aligned and he didn't have to wait even a month in order to cash in his gift. Wes was able to get Friday, Jan. 4th off from work, so he and Bo and Josh picked up Jake early in the morning and they headed out for a day on the mountain.

I don't know much about snowboarding or all the different areas one can go in the Mt. Hood area. They went to Timberline, that's all I know. This, however, I'm told is: the Magic Mile.

Bo and Josh went off and did their own thing, while Wes stayed with Jake and documented the day in pictures :) Considering it had been almost a year since Jake went snowboarding, Wes said he did great.

After practicing all morning and then fueling up on lunch, however, Wes said Jake was an entirely different snowboarder after the break and was doing fantastic. Jake even got to work on some tricks to bring him all the more closer to his Winter Sports Merit Badge.

Jake came home exactly 12 hours later!! He was exhausted. (Do they have snowboarding for 4 year olds?? That's what I'd like to know.) But Jake went to sleep with a smile on his face! This was so well timed, too, because he and Cooper are going to be snowboarding with the Parks and Rec every Saturday in February. And now Jake won't have to spend a full day just trying to get back into his groove. He's already done that!

Thanks....I think

My kids are really good at alerting me when JJ is in trouble or possible danger (like climbing up on the counter or dining room table). Especially Karcyn and Calvin.

Calvin came to find me just now and let me know that JJ had gotten into our DVD drawer and was taking DVDs out of their cases.

Since Calvin was a lot closer to JJ and I was otherwise engaged at the moment, I asked him, in my "you'd-be-so-helpful-to-mommy-right-now" tone, if he would get the DVDs away from JJ.

Calvin put his hands up in front of him and said, "Ohhh noooo. I am NOT the babysitter" and promptly walked away.