Shameless Plug: Candlepin Bowling

Himself has gone off sailing with a friend in Florida, so the kids and I had a little end-of-February-break excursion today.  Started off at a big antiques show in Brunswick, where Thing One scored a WWII-era crush cap for his collection; grabbed Chinese for lunch; ran a few errands and then wound up at Oakland Park Lanes for some candlepin bowling.

Candlepin bowling is kind of a regional thing, I think.  The pins and balls are smaller than regular bowling, and each turn is three throws so the scoring is different.  

It's a lot more challenging than it sounds, and to be clear, I totally suck at it.  The kids are marginally better than I am.  It does not matter because it's simply a blast.  And at $2.75 a string, it's a heck of an affordable way to pass an hour or so. 

Oakland Park Lanes is exactly the sort of funky, retro, kind of shabby place you would want to go for this sort of entertainment. 

One finds serious league bowlers there, families with itty bitty kids tossing gutterballs, elementary kids having birthday parties in the arcade, and everyone in between.  

Thing Two came out on top today, edging out her brother by two points and blowing me completely out of the water.  

At least her brother has that crush cap as a consolation prize...