Hey, Loud crowd! This is the eighteenth part of Lincoln's Memories, and will be about Lincoln's sixth birthday! The other seventeen parts can be read here, here. here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
"Happy birthday, Lincoln!" said everybody in unison (except for the twins, who couldn't speak properly yet).
It was Rita, Lynn Sr., and the eight Loud sisters-- Lori who was twelve, Leni who was eleven, Luna who was ten, Luan who was nine, Lynn Jr. who was eight, Lucy who would be three in two months, and the twins, Lola and Lana, who'd turned one two weeks ago.
Lincoln, who was turning six, eagerly threw on his clothes and ran downstairs.
When he got downstairs, he found that Lynn Sr. had cooked a big plate of French toast with blueberries and maple syrup and a cup of cocoa with marshmallows and whipped cream.
He ate and drank gleefully, and then his family gave them their cards and presents:
Rita gave him a bathrobe with alien heads on it, and a card with a rabbit dressed as a guru saying, "Another year older is another year wiser."
Lynn Sr. gave him a card with a frog that played a little tune and said, "Have a hoppy birthday." His present to Lincoln was a bouncy ball with a silly face.
Lori gave him a drawing pad and a card which had an astronaut on the cover.
Leni gave him a shirt she'd made herself and a card that had a cat in a party hat.
Luna gave him an animatronic scorpion and a card that had a dog in sunglasses.
Luan gave him a box of silly putty and a card that played the Happy Birthday song in sheep noises with a picture of a sheep saying, "Have a baa-rilliant birthday."
Lynn Jr. gave him a book on astronomy and a card of a penguin playing ice hockey.
Lucy gave him a black teddy bear and a card with a haunted house on it.
And finally, the twins were too young to give cards or gifts, but Rita and Lynn Sr. had given him a globe and a birthday card of a snake in a tiara on their behalf.
An hour later, Lincoln was at the bowling alley, with his sisters, parents, the McBrides, Liam, Liam's mother, and Pop-Pop.
Lincoln, Clyde, and Liam were very excited because they'd never been to the bowling alley before. The walls were beige in colour with stars painted on them and a logo that read, "Royal Woods Bowl".
There were four lanes, so Lincoln, Clyde, Liam, and Lynn stood at their lanes, while the rest waited in line for their turn. Everyone was allowed to have ten tries.
Lincoln picked up a bowling ball, grunting a bit because of how heavy it was, and planned to throw it.
"Hold on, son," said Lynn Sr., You don't throw it, you sort of roll it, and you're meant to stick your fingers in these little holes."
"OK," said Lincoln, and set off the ball, but it rolled into the gutter. "Dang it," he said.
"That's called a gutter ball," explained Lynn Sr.
Clyde was next, and he knocked over three of the pins.
"Good job, buddy!", said Lincoln, and they did a high-five.
Liam knocked one pin over, but Lynn Jr. managed to knock all of them over. "Wahooo!", she said, jumping in the air.
"That's called a strike," explained Lynn Sr.
"I thought that was when people refused to work," said Leni.
"That's going on strike," explained Rita.
Eventually, everyone got their turn, but Lincoln still hadn't gotten any strikes. He'd manage to knock some of the pins over on a few of his turns, but he was a bit disappointed because he was the only one to not have any strikes. Pop-Pop had gotten the most, with Lynn Jr. and Luan tying for second ("My skills just bowl me over", Luan had remarked.)
"Don't be discouraged, champ," said Lynn Sr., "Who knows? You might get a strike on your last go-- and even if you don't, it's still fun."
Lincoln smiled a slight smile, which turned into a determined expression, and he set off to roll the ball down the lane, but his hand was stuck.
He gave it a tremendous push, but that just sent him flying downt the alley with the ball still attached to his hand.
"Whaa!", he exclaimed, with everyone else looking on with expressions of a mixture of surprise, concern, and amusement.
He crashed into the pins, sent them falling over, and ended up upside-down, with the ball still attached.
After a struggle, Lincoln got the ball off his hand, then skipped back to everyone else, whooping and chanting, "I got a strike!".
He didn't care that it was the result of an accident, he was too excited, and Clyde said, "Yeah, good job, bud!", and they did their little handshake.
When the game was over, everyone went back to the Loud house for cake and presents.
The cake was a chocolate cake with strawberry icing, six dripping candles, and sprinkles that spelled out, "Happy Birthday, Lincoln!". He managed to blow his candles out with one puff, in contrast to his bad luck with bowling.
From Pop-Pop, he got a copy of a movie titled, "Ricky the Wrong Baby?!".
"I got you this because when you were born, your sisters thought you were an imposter."
"Don't take it personally," said Lori, "We were literally only two through six and it was only for that one day."
The McBrides had gotten him a laser-eyed toy dinosaur.
"Thanks, guys, this is amazing!", he said.
Finally, Liam and his father gave him a book of Ace Savvy quotes.
"This gift was ace!", Lincoln joked.
"Now, let's have a bubble party!", said Luna, turning on her bubble machine and everyone began to dance.
And that was Lincoln's sixth birthday.