If I said the highlight of our Thanksgiving week was the feast or the pies, I would be lying...the highlight was our first ever (and now to be an annual event) turkey bowl! I was introduced to turkey bowling by our bishop last year when he suggested we have the church youth group do it. I thought he was nuts, but the kids LOVED it and so did I! Elsa and Max were on board from the minute I told them about it. We invited the neighbor kids over - at first they weren't too excited until we told them the bowling ball would be a frozen turkey. That was all it took - they showed up on Thanksgiving morning at 11:00 ready to bowl!
Elsa painted this banner for us to hang up over the garage. She suggested we get it laminated so we can use it again...that little twinkle-of-my-eye is always thinking! So of course, after T-day I did!
It was SO cold!!! We waited until 11:00 am because I was hoping for the sun to come out, which it did, but it was still 35 degrees! We used a 9.5 lb. frozen turkey breast for our ball...it was just heavy enough so the kids had to heave it down the drive but not too heavy that they couldn't lift it.
It was great fun! Parents came to watch because who throws a frozen turkey on their driveway?!? The kids loved it - and if it hadn't been so cold we would have played for hours! There were 13 kids so we only got in two full rounds before hypothermia threatened to set in.
The mister was the pin-miester - he set up the 2-liter bottles of soda, which were our bowling pins, after each throw. We put the 6-foot table on it's side in front of the garage to protect the garage door - having a frozen turkey hitting they door would not have been good! The mister whined and winched about the turkey bowl from the minute I told him about it...what a waste of turkey (it wasn't wasted...it was still frozen and the packaging wasn't torn, and while it might have a bruise or two, 90% of it is perfectly good so it will be cooked and eaten all in good time!) The mister also complained about how stupid it was...as in what was the point...the point, my dear sir, was F*U*N !!! Something he is not familiar with...but...like the Grinch who's heart grew 3 sizes...the mister was seen smiling and at one point he even clapped his hands!!! He had fun!!! Just a wee bit, but seeing those kids light up as that turkey flew through the air was enough to make even the mister laugh!
Katie kept score for us - after two rounds it was time to declare the winner. Elsa looked on, hoping her team was in the lead. Most of the kids threw "gutter balls" or as we called them, "butter balls." We moved our starting line up and back depending on the age of the kid - we tried to give the little ones a bit of an advantage but throwing almost ten pounds was a struggle for some. It was all good, clean fun...everyone was a good sport, laughed, ate cookies, drank cider and had fun...which was the point! Also, it got the kids out of the house so the moms could put the finishing touches on their feasts! Not pictured was my mom, who came out on the driveway all bundled up to watch the festivities. She thought it was crazy but after seeing the kids faces, she was a believer!
We divided the kids into teams...much better than doing it individually. The winning team members each got to take home a bowling pin/bottle of soda, as their trophy. I regret not having a real trophy for them - rookie mistake...next year I'll make sure they go home with something more than soda and frozen fingers!
Since I usually just use my phone as a phone and am horrible with taking pictures/videos, this was the best video I managed to get...not one video of the kids actually bowling...I thought I was taking videos but I was just taking pictures of my feet! This one at least captures the kids and some of their excitement! Hope your T-Day was as fun as ours!
