My daughter, grandsons and I were all set to visit a local animal rescue farm the Saturday before Halloween. We were awakened around 5 a.m. by a very unseasonal and very LOUD thunderstorm, and we experienced some fairly heavy rainfall up until our 10 o’clock departure time. We dressed appropriately with boots, hats, raincoats and umbrellas, but as we headed out, my daughter thought it would be a good idea to check the farm’s Facebook page in case of a cancellation. Sure enough, radar readings suggested we could have more lightning, so the farm cancelled visits for the rest of the day.

Well, here we were in the car with two little guys looking for some fun; we had to come up with something, fast. My daughter suggested bowling — brilliant! We could stay warm and dry, and 7-year-old Sean, in particular, was eager to try the sport for the first time. James, at 4, is generally happy to go along with whatever his big brother is doing, so off we went to Lava Lanes (a nod to the geological history of our region) through another intense downpour.

We were pleased to see there weren’t too many other folks at the alley when we got there, so we were able to get fitted out with shoes and balls without a wait. I can’t recall when I bowled last, so I was impressed with all the new technology available with the scoreboards: If we’d wanted to, we could post our pictures alongside our names, and we found it amusing to see the speed of our balls was recorded with each throw. James had a few that clocked in at less than 2 mph, but I swear they were slower than that! We were also pleased to learn that we could have gutter rails automatically raised and lowered for specified players, letting the lane manager know who in our lineup needed them. As it turned out, daughter Sarah and I were so rusty, we should have requested the rails, as we both had an embarrassingly high number of gutter balls.

Although Lava Lanes had shoes to fit even the youngest bowlers, the smallest ball we could find for the boys weighed 8 pounds. Sean did quite well with it, but little James really struggled to get up to the line and launch it. He managed to do so with flair, however, often kicking his back foot up in the air jauntily as the ball thumped and then rolled down the lane. His style served him well because he scored not one but two strikes in the game, and he celebrated appropriately.   Sean also scored a strike as well as a few spares, and at the end of the game James and Sean both bested we ladies.

We limited our first bowling outing to one game, but both boys enjoyed themselves (though Sean really wanted to outscore his brother) and are excited to plan our next outing to Lava Lanes. Good to know we’ve got a sure-fire winner for the next rainy day.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor