Yet Another Medium

We're still having problems with our used copy of Mario Kart for the Wii, so Noah and I made a trip down to Play N Trade.  They polished it again and we hope that fixes it.  If not, I may have to replace the whole drive in the Wii.  I replaced the laser back in the fall, but replacing the whole drive will almost certainly fix the problem.  It's still cheaper than buying a new Wii.

While there I browsed through the old PS2 games.  I picked up 4 games for about $8.  One of those is a new bowling game.  Noah is pretty excited about this.  This means that he can now bowl the following ways:

• With the pins from the Target set
• With his Christmas present
• On Wii Sports
• On the PS2
• Three different games on the iPod Touch (or iTod Pouch, if you prefer)

He's pretty stoked.

Helpers

Amanda was fighting a summer cold yesterday and was kind of down for the count.  Fortunately, I worked from home and was able to take the kids out pretty early.  We left the house at 4:30 for a fun-filled evening.  First, we went bowling.  Lily got pretty down about it until she had a spare in the 9th frame of the last game.  Noah still beat her, but then again he did have my help.  I had a few doubles through the course of the two games, so that made me happy.

Next, we ate at Chick-Fil-A, which as anyone knows is practically like tithing.  The kids were a little disappointed that they couldn't play in the playground, but we were just getting started.  We next went to Marmalade Skies for yogurt.  Then the fun really began because we went to the library for me to do some research for my thesis.  Overall, that went well though Lily got into some trouble when she punched Noah over a game of tic-tac-toe.  It seems that he was not playing well and was messing up her stats against the computer on my iPod Touch.

We got home around 8:30 and everyone went to bed.  Today I plan a trip up to Wake Forest to use the big library.  Lily may or may not join me.

Keeping Busy

Amanda and the kids had a whirlwind day yesterday.  They met Aunt Tiff and Brenna for a movie at the theater just around the corner from our house at 10:00.  Then they came back here for lunch.  Everyone left around 3:00 or 3:30 and then we had some dinner.  I took the kids out bowling and then it was back home for bath and bed.

Bowling went well.  Noah had a strike and a spare back-to-back.  Lily and Noah both opened the second game with spares.  In fact, Lily beat Noah in the second game 76-74.  When Noah only got 3 pins with his first ball in the 10th frame of the second game I had to kind of think things through.  I didn't exactly tank the last shot, but I didn't go out of my way to get him 4 more pins either.  It was really important to Lily that she score higher than Noah.

Now I have to decide if that was a good idea.  Despite what Captain Kirk says, sometimes losing is a part of life.

Striking Out

Amanda watched our nephew Clark last night, so I took the kids bowling.  Last night may have been our best night at the lanes yet.  Lily had two strikes in one game.  Noah had a spare.  I came back from a dismal first game to bowl a 140 in the second.  We had dinner at the bowling alley, but I'm not sure that it was of any higher quality or any cheaper than going to Chick-Fil-A.  All I know is that Lily wanted to try eating at the bowling alley at least once, so that's what we did. 

I'm hoping that today can be a productive one.  We're having a fairly cool morning, so it looks like a good day to get some outside stuff done.  I'd rather study for my upcoming test, but you need to carpe diem when you get a cool morning.

New Shoes

I picked up Noah's bowling shoes on Monday.  They are a little big on him, but it doesn't matter too much.  He can walk in them and he can get up to the line to throw the ball.  That's all that really matters.  He is to the point now where not only does he eschew the ramp, but he wants to throw the ball with one hand.  I get him a 6-pound ball with "X-small" finger drillings.  He puts his fingers in the holes and I hold the ball with one hand.  We still do "one...two...three...THROW!"  It's now even harder to get the ball to roll down the lane in any consistent manner.  We did manage to pick up a spare one time.

We plan to take him bowling for his birthday.  It should be fun.  He can't get enough of it.