While watching an episode of Reading Rainbow recently, Liam decided that we needed to go bowling for our next “Daddy Date.” The show featured both a visit to a bowling alley, where Levar Burton was showing off his mad bizowling skillz, and a trip to the ball manufacturing plant, which was a lot more interesting than you might expect. (Incidentally, it still rather surprises me every time I see Levar Burton without a hairband over his eyes.)

So last night, Liam and I hit the bowling alley together. Since it was Liam’s first time, we put up the bumpers which, instead of letting your ball fall into the gutter as it otherwise might, bounces it back into the lane. I’d like to say that the bumpers were entirely for Liam’s benefit, but I must admit that my score was a bit higher than it would have been without them. The alley had some extra-light balls for children, which were startling to pick up. There was a family with two little girls, one smaller than Liam, next to us, so there was no shortage of entertainment for the adults.

After taking a few frames to warm to it, Liam really enjoyed himself, and was disappointed when our two games were done. He got a 75 the first game and an 89 the second, even bowling a couple of spares. (No strikes yet, though I’m sure he’ll get there eventually.)

Among the last things he said about it when we were putting our shoes back on: “Daddy, I want to be a bowler when I grow up!”