Of Sword-Fights and Bowling...

This week is spring break for most schools in the area, which means, job-wise, that I'm getting a taste for what I can expect in the fast-approaching summer...LOTS and LOTS of fun.  :)  For starters, Brother Bear and Sister Bear were of course home the entire day, and we did a ton of projects together--baked Bunny buns and cupcake lasagnas, watched Magic School Bus videos and did related projects on them, egg coloring, Easter crafts, etc.  But having them home also meant that the little ones had some extra playmates for the day as well...the more, the merrier!  :)

Brother Bear has a pair of swords called 'Mega-Blades'.  They're essentially long poles covered in thick foam to make them look and act like swords.  He loves to play with them, but of course, they being swords, caution must be taken and play has to be somewhat limited.  Yesterday, Munch woke up much earlier than Superman did--in fact, I have my doubts as to whether she actually napped at all, but I still require her to stay in the darkened room during naptime hours.  Brother had been playing a bit with the swords by himself (the ends can be stuck together to make a double blade), and when Munch saw them, she wanted to try them out.  So he very sweetly offered her one of the swords, and it was as if she was made for sword fighting or something.  She knew *exactly* what to do with it right off the bat.  She and Brother Bear had SO much fun together (and he was super gentle, too, playing to her level, which was awesome to see), and Sister and I had a great time watching.

Then today, my church's mom's group had arranged to go up to a northern suburb to take advantage of a weekly bowling discount where kids are $5 and parents are free.  It was Munch's first time bowling, and she caught on FAST.

 I only had to show her once how to pick up the ball...

...and set it on the bowling ramp...

...and by then she had already figured out that she needed to give it a shove.  

Shrieks of delight ensued, and she was ready for more...but she had to wait her turn...

...because there were about 3 dozen of us--parents and kids combined--who showed up for this, and while only the kids actually bowled, we still filled up 3 lanes.

And there were a lot of other people taking advantage of it too, as you can see.  The place opened at 10, and there was literally a line forming outside by 9:30.  It got very, very noisy in there, and eventually Munch decided she'd had enough and wanted her 'bo-ying shoos' off.  But she made it to the 8th frame, and, with Spike's willing assistance on the last 2 (he loved the chance to practice his new-found, floor-pounding curve), she ended up with a decent score of 88.  Not too shabby for a 2 and a half year old. ;)