The following was submitted by contributing editor, Minna, a.k.a. Louise...

Alexa and I set off to experience bowling the day after Thanksgiving. It was brisk outside and started to rain but we ventured forward undaunted!

We were told that there was one pair each of the shoes we needed and lucky for us,
Alexa could wear the smallest shoes in the place! Shelburne provided the alley, shoes,
and low weight bowling balls at Champlain Lanes... we brought our enthusiasm and
energy!

We got all set up with our shoes and gutter guards... then the gentlemen running the alley told us we could start and explained how to use the overhead tally sheet so we could put our names.

Alexa had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! She jumped in full hearted and ready for any challenge - as usual! With both hands and one of mine, we muscled the small child's bowling ball up to the ramp and placed it on top and Alexa was told to push it forward so it could roll its way down the alley and push over the 10 pins to knock them down.

Throughout our playing, she was a bit pre-occupied with the people to our left who ran up and down much faster than we did, and seemed to eject their bowling balls with a force of nature - slamming onto the wood and speeding past our slower moving attempts on their right.

Alexa managed to get 10 over - both spares - in at least two frames, as I recall. We played two games together and she was fascinated with how the balls returned and sprung up from the underground tunnel. She loved running back from her launch pad over to the tray to retrieve the bowling balls.

Observant as ever, she saw how others held the ball with a thumb and two fingers in the three open holes. She attempted to mimic what she saw - but - it was quite a spread for her tiny (yes / tiny ones!) fingers!

At the end, she had a pretty impressive score for a 2 1/2 + year old! On our way out we discovered that there's more to the bowling alley than just bowling and we played some of the electronic and other games just like the big kids! We even left and
got a few more quarters so we could ride the race car too.

We went back out to the car and Alexa decided she would drive us home... huh? "It's not a pickle!!"!! We joked about all the silly things we think of from time to time - like her recent favorite expression "it's not a pickle" - huh? and we laughed in the car together as we drove away from Champlain Lanes, vowing to return soon for some more fun with large heavy "bouncy" balls!

Minna, Alexa and I carved out pumpkin masterpieces on Halloween afternoon. Minna grew her own pumpkin from a tiny seed planted back in the Spring. Strangely, it never turned orange, but that made for a great canvas for a spooky skeleton design. I carved a monster design and Alexa refreed to each cut out piece as cheese! We placed candles inside and they adorned the front porch fro trick-or-treaters to enjoy! Despite the rain earlier in the evening, we did get out for a bit of trick-or-treating ourselves, along with Eva.

We got together on Friday night for a pumpkin carving party at our friend Sara's house. Alexa, Anna and Charlotte, along with a friend of Anna's, colored pumpkins before the mom's carved them! We enjoyed seeing the girls in their costumes, although Alexa was not keen on the idea of dressing up!

Just as we finished carving our pumpkins, the skies opened up and it didn't look like we wold be trick-or-treating this year. We waited it out and at about 6 pm we put our costumes on and ventured out into the windy night. We met Eva at her house and headed up the road to Jane's house and then back down to Kathy's and a few more neighbors before heading back home to have pizza and check out the treats that Alexa had gotten! Despite lots of rehearsing, Alexa was a little reluctant to say "Trick or Treat" at the doors of our neighbors. Eva did a great job of taking Alexa by the hand and helping her up to each doorway!