The Shoe Swap

So, we sold our house this week. No, we don't have another house yet and we don't know exactly what neighbourhood we are moving to, but that isn't the point of this post anyways. This post is about the ups and downs of bowling -- the house sale is mentioned just as back-story.

The sale of our home was conditional on an inspection, so we went bowling during the three-hour block set aside for the inspection. We went five-pin bowling in the spring as part of a work event and Scott absolutely loved it, so he nearly broke into song when I told him we were going bowling again. He fully expected everyone from my work to be there and for there to be a dinner spread and prizes. We had to temper his expectations a bit to say that it would just be us, there would be no prizes, but I would buy him a donut from the bakery afterwards if he wanted.



Katie was super-cute to watch bowl. The five-pin bowling balls are small enough that she can carry them on her own, although she has a bit of trouble trying to pitch them forward. We found the best system was to have her kneel down with the ball on the floor and then push it down the lane. With the bumpers blocking the gutters, it was only a matter of time before the ball finally nudged a pin down. I usually knelt beside her and boosted the ball a little after she released it.

Katie was pretty good about waiting to take her turn, although she started to get tired of it a bit near the end and just wanted to bowl all the time. Finally a song came on that she really liked and she was more concerned with her dance moves than the batting order. This girl can shake it, and she does.



So, in the end R was the big winner. We were all pretty terrible and the bumpers were used to maximum effect (a bank-shot strike is still a strike, right?).



We turned in our bowling shoes to retrieve our street shoes and were shocked to find that R's boots were gone. There was another pair of black boots there, so either someone accidentally put hers on (there was a high school gym class that had been in the same time as us) or someone outright stole them. Either way, she had nothing but socks and there was a slushy parking lot between us and our car.



The owners of the bowling alley tried to contact the gym teacher to try to track down the boots, but no one answered so they took pity on us and gave R a pair of bowling shoes to wear home.



Now she has a killer pair of size sixes in perfect colours to see her through snow and slush of the Christmas season. I say it was a great outcome, but she demurs.

Oh, and instead of a donut, Scott opted for a green frosted cookie. Katie got pink.

Katie Was Here

Yes, that's a giraffe plush-toy jammed into the printer.
This is Katie's secret hiding place for her favourite things.

The Iron Incident

Alternate Titles:
"Striking While the Iron is Hot"
"Ironman Was Here"

Two lessons learned:
1) Irons can be dangerous (damage, injuries or fires)
2) If you wreck something, you should try to make it right

Scott got to spend the morning playing with cousin H's house two weeks ago. The two boys noticed the iron was out and decided to plug it in and conduct some experiments. They pressed cousin A's toy football and essentially melted it. By some miracle, neither of them got burned before they finally abandoned their experiments and the iron.

Unfortunately, they abandoned it sitting hot-side-down on the carpet, which burned a distinct iron shape in carpet at the base of the basement stairs. So the total casualty list included the football, the carpet, and the iron itself.



In addition to a lengthy discourse on the subject of safety and the destruction of private property, R suggested Scott give aunt J some money from his savings -- he had accumulated $22.50 in his wristband-bank for his Buzz Lightyear purchase fund (he recycles bottles and does chores to earn money). He immediately caveated that we should reimburse him for whatever amount he gives to Jenny. At first I thought this was a hilarious reaction from Scott, but then I realized this is very similar to the recent conversation we'd had about about buying H's birthday present. We had suggested we buy H a gift and Scott had offered to help pay for it with his money. We told him that his money was his Buzz Lightyear fund, so he should just save it and we would pay for H's present. I can see how our later suggestion would seem to run contrary to the H-present argument.

Scott helped make a card to apologize. He coloured in the pictures, wrote in his name and inserted a dollar coin in the envelope. Then he gave it to J at the Sunday family dinner. He also gave A a new toy football (he had come home with four new ones when we went to the Stampeders game that week).

Will he remember these lessons? Well, a few weeks after the incident, we were reading a book about firefighters and Scott told me that irons can start fires. If he remembers the lectures on safety so well, the rest of the experience must be quite vivid in his mind.

Mannequins

On the weekend I took Katie to the mall to exchange something at Old Navy. There was a "family" of mannequins in the front entrance that included a little girl only a bit taller than Katie.



Katie was so thrilled with this fabulous life-size "doll" that she hugged it.



She also climbed up on the stand and started petting the dog.



After making our exchange we checked out some sale racks. Katie drifted across to a mannequin standing nearby. A few minutes later, she came back to me with a flip-flop in her hand. This girl LOVES shoes and she had taken the flip-flop from the mannequin to try it on, but she was having trouble putting it back.



After I helped her return the flip-flop, she made amends with the mannequin by giving it a quick hug. Personally, I think this little girl is adorable.