Babies love bowling — who would have thought?

When you take a baby out in public, you never know what will happen. Will she enjoy the excursion? Will she cling to you? Will she run off? WIll she scream and throw her body down on the floor to let you know this isn’t something she feels like doing today?

I wasn’t sure how my Josey would take to bowling. It seemed like something a 17-month-old might not enjoy but I thought I’d give it a try. After all, it was free thanks to my friend’s GroupOn, so I wouldn’t be out anything if we ended up at a park instead.

She loved it. I couldn’t believe how easy bowling is for kids now. We went to Park Tavern in St. Louis Park. Their stuff is mechanized, so when you input names you can add that its a kid and then everytime that child is up to bowl, the bumpers automatically go up. We also used a ramp — which was perfect for the two 17-month-old toddlers. My daughter loves balls, and thought pushing the ball and then watching it roll down the lane was great fun. The first time she clapped for herself — and then dashed away before the pins were even hit. The fun is in the ball — not the pins, apparently.

Of course, we had our crazy moments. Josey climbed up on the thing that the bowling balls shoot back up into, and little Judah wanted to run down the lane. After about 1/2 hour, both of the toddlers had decided they’d had enough. Josey wanted to run around and visit all the folks bowling and check out every hiding place in the bowling alley. Judah wanted to be held — and it’s hard to bowl yourself when you’re holding a baby.

So we left after completing one game, and headed to the park across the street to enjoy the lunches we’d packed. My verdict on bowling with babies? Tons of fun.