bowling. bowling?!

yep, bowling! i went bowling. couldn't tell you the last time i went bowling. but this was for the junior league and for the kids of OTS (off the streets). ots is a cool program for kids of all ages up to 18 to help keep them well, of the streets, and out of trouble as well as doing productive stuff - such as homework with mentors, sports, games, and making friends. the junior league paired up with ots to host a bowling outing for about 40 of the kids one saturday in jan. it was so much fun!

ok, so this isn't bowling, but it is a junior league get together! so i decided to add it in here... this is a group called chicago explorers that my friends started - we go to various places all over the city and explore! it's a great group and great people... this is a happy hour - the group has like 70 members, but the ones there that night all happened to be my friends - it was great to be able to catch up with people just after the new year!

at lucky strike... fun colors and music... and a bar, which no, we did not have open! there is a whole area that is raised up and set aside for parties just like this. the kids (and us!) all got to bowl. i was pretty terrible, but it didn't matter. the kids were great and the whole group was pretty amazing.

some of the kids had bowled before and some hadn't... but it didn't matter - these kids were all about high fives and way to gos and that's ok - you'll get more pins next ball! and all kinds of positivity - that didn't sound fake. we all got pizza and soda for lunch. yum!

this was my group - us ladies in blue are the junior league. when the kids arrived, every single one gave us a hug - every kid gave every league member a hug. and when they left, they did the same - a hug from everyone to everyone! i left that day feeling so happy and so smiley! it was truly an awesome experience and i'm so glad i got to be part of it!