Today, we played hard for charity. The Junior League in Minneapolis organized great event today, Bowling For Books. It’s simple, really. You bring in your books. You trade them in so that kids who are less fortunate can have books. You eat pizza. You drink beer (well the kids didn’t). And, you bowl.
This was Cora and John’s first time bowling. I have to say, they were quite brave. There was no ramp and no bumper guards. Nope. We don’t use enablers or crutches at my house
I love bowling. It’s a simple activity that anyone can play regardless of age. As I was meeting all these new people and watching all these people engage with one another it reminded me of something very important. Real connections, real relationships and real conversations are way better than virtual ones on twitter, Facebook and the like. I mean think about it. You can’t share a beer virtually and have the same REAL effect. That alone makes it a more meaningful activity.
Get out from behind the computer, put the Nexus One down and start engaging in real life. You just might like it.
As you can see from the photos and video below, we had a great time.
I’ve always been a fan of the grand gesture. The grand gesture is something so big that it’s completely memorable years later. As I thought about what to get Cora this year for Christmas, I really wanted to ger her something that she would look back on years later and say, “I remember that Christmas when I was 2 and you got me…” Picking a present that memorable is pretty damn hard.
After considering many options, I finally decided on building her a ball pit. I mean seriously, what kid wouldn’t want their own ball pit? This ended up being much more difficult than I thought. The “pit” portion was insanely easy thanks to Amazon. But, trying to find the balls proved to be problematic. Based on the calculator on this site, I knew I needed somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 balls. So of course I turned to Amazon. The cost of the balls was cheap, but the shipping was insane. By insane, I mean we are talking $800.00 for shipping. Nuts. That meant I had to go old school. I went to Target. They sell balls in 150 pack quantities and the per ball cost was actually cheaper than Amazon. Awesome, right? Well, not so fast.
Not every Target carries the balls and the ones that do rarely have more than 4 packages on shelf. Hmm…well over the course of 4 weeks I hit up a variety of Target stores and finally had enough balls.
So we’ve got the balls and the pit. But, we need something to blow up on the pit. I thought I had a blower that would work. It didn’t. So, on December 23rd, it was off to Target again to get a blower that would work. I had tried Wal-Mart earlier in the day, but that didn’t work out. Can you believe it, they didn’t carry one. Oh well, there loss is Target’s gain.
It took roughly 30 minutes to pump up the pit and fill it with the balls. All told we used 2,250 balls. I’ve got an extra 5 bags of balls just in case we need it at some point. If you have kids I highly recommend this. The cost is fairly manageable and the experience will last a long time. When you see the joy on your kid’s face, you know you’ve nailed it.
It happens every once in a while, but Adam does find time to get out from behind the camera and actually make it into a photo. This was taken on Sunday September 20, 2009. Beautiful weather, beautiful day, beautiful girl.
Kids never stop amazing you. I love capturing photos of Cora “in the moment.” This was taken yesterday on our porch. I love how she’s trying to hide from the camera while clutching her toy cell phone.
Sure, technically March 21st was the first day of Spring. But, the weather really hasn’t been consistently Spring-like till this past week. We made some time to get a bunch of yardwork done. While there was a break in the action, I snapped this picture of Cora enjoying a snack.
Cora officially turns 2 on Monday, April 13th, but getting together people on a Monday night for a birthday part is a bit tough. So we decided to celebrate Cora’s 2nd birthday on Saturday instead. Friends and family from near and far helped Cora officially cross into the terrible twos. This is just one of the many awesome photos.
Our guests were generous and to say she has a treasure chest of presents to enjoy would be an understatement. Cheryl and I gave her a Radio Flyer tricycle.
I was dead set on this being her big gift. There’s just something about the idea of her riding this thing down the street.
Made it back to Minneapolis this weekend to spend some time with the family. Cold or no cold, Cora just loves being outside. She was a good sport in letting me snap these 3.
Interactive marketer, innovator, boat rocker, continuous learner, movie lover, risk taker, dad and all around good guy. I'm always up for a spirited conversation. These are my thoughts and ramblings, not those of my employer. Learn More »
Interactive marketer, innovator, boat rocker, continuous learner, movie lover, risk taker, dad and all around good guy. I'm always up for a spirited conversation. These are my thoughts and ramblings, not those of my employer.
