The Beach and Duck Pin Bowling (Summer Vacation Journal Entry #1)

We have settled into our summer vacation at our house just off the Narrow River in Rhode Island. We have walked to the river beach numerous times with girls and they have spent hours swimming in the water--sometimes in their street clothes and sometimes in proper swimsuits. We are so happy the beach is dog friendly and we can have Cubby join us. He'll wade in the water for a few minutes, but he gets nervous as it gets deeper. He prefers sunning himself on the beach and keeping a close eye on the girls as they swim. 

While the girls have had a blast at the river beach, they were very anxious to swim in the ocean. There were threats of rain, but we decided to risk it and head to the ocean. In all honesty, my fair-skinned children do best with a cloudy day at the beach. We ran into the water and jumped into every wave that came. We practiced floating on our backs and riding the waves as they came to us. When she wasn't in the water, Anne worked on her ninja skills on the beach. Meg and Clare focused on collecting beautiful seashells--some of which they plan to paint. 

After a quick lunch at the well-loved local establishment, Aunt Carrie's, for some chowder and clamcakes, we headed to Meadowbrook Lanes for duckpin bowling. Duckpin bowling uses a smaller ball (without finger holes) and smaller pins. It is so much fun for kids and has become a favorite in our family over the last few years. My husband has remained the undefeated champion in our family games--until today. As the ninth frame approached, he appeared unbeatable, until Clare managed a spare. On the tenth frame, she scored another spare and was permitted to bowl another ball for scoring purposes. With that ball, she knocked down eight pins and beat her father by a whopping six points. 

While Anne came in last, the game was quite an accomplishment for her as well. For the first time, she bowled every ball herself and did so without the help of a ramp. During one frame, she even managed to get all ten pins down. She was a champion in her own right. 

Meg and I might not have been champions today, but we had a great time. We were typically within a point of each other throughout the game and were even tied for several frames. 

If it appears to you that Anne is in her pajamas in the picture above, you are correct. Anne's view of a vacation is that you stay in your pajamas as much as possible and linger at home. The rest of us force her out of the house more than she likes, but our compromise is that she can wear pjs, so long as she wears shorts or otherwise properly covers herself. That's our way of honoring her view of a vacation, though I am wishing I had packed her a lot more pjs. 

We finished out the day at the Twin Oaks Restaurant in Cranston, Rhode Island. This local favorite has been around since 1933 and has huge serving sizes. We brought home a lot of leftover spaghetti and meatballs. 

Today was a great start to our vacation adventures.