Tomorrow is my cousin Jack's 10th birthday and so last night he had two friends over to spend the night and have their own little birthday party. Unfortunately, this party just happened to coincide with my uncle being out of town and my aunt having a meeting here at the house. The job, therefore, fell to me to take the boys to the mall and entertain them for a few hours. Thankfully, my aunt suggested I take along one of my own friends to help balance out the madness that is three 10 year old boys. The day started with the ever so popular game, "Dani chasing the boys around the house and trying to catch them accompanied by trumpets of laughter and screaming". Once everyone was officially worn out, me included, we headed to the mall. The mall here is less than 5 years old and is complete with a kids adventure center, movie theater, and mini bowling alley. Jack loves bowling so we took his friends for a rousing bowling game. As far as I know, this is the only bowling alley in town and the people of Temuco, and possibly Chile in general, have grown up with absolutely no working knowledge of bowling and how it is to be played. As much good as it does for my self-esteem to be automatically viewed as a tremendous bowler, it is a little sad to watch the young and old alike not having a clue how to hold, let alone throw, a bowling ball. Our first young man, Felipe, would stand back at the starting line, swing the ball behind his back, then hold it behind him in his outstretched arm till he got up to the throwing line. Then, he would violently swing it forward and let go at such a point as the ball would go straight up in the air and then proceed to come violently crashing down onto the floor and head for the gutter. My friend threw with her body completely sideways and Jack's other friend, well, it's hard to pin-point exactly what his problem was. After bowling, we walked around the arcade for a while before heading back home. When we got back to the house, it was almost 8:30 and time for pizza and a movie. Needless to say, I didn't get to bed till late, and the boys even later. The difference is that I didn't get up 10:30 while they got up at 7. This of course meant that we had 3 1/2, I'm including my 4 year old cousin William as the half, very tired boys who claimed they weren't tired still wanting another rousing game of "Dani chasing the boys around the house and trying to catch them accompanied by trumpets of laughter and screaming" and Dani and Aunt Barb counting down the minutes till the boys went home and we could crash. Basically, great birthday, but I'm exhausted and need to go to bed. Nighty night!