Mom's Moment: Area mothers get taken out and pampered

DeKalb mom Kristine Nelson relaxes between frames of bowling with her son, Jacob Bidstrup (rear), as her daughter, Penelope Price, 9 months, crawls under the scorer’s table at Mardi Gras Lanes Sunday afternoon in DeKalb. Moms bowled free on Sunday at the bowling alley, and Jacob took turns watching Penelope so Kristine could bowl. “This is kind of our pastime together, to bowl,” Nelson said. ERIC SUMBERG | esumberg@daily-chronicle.com

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Debbie Geiger of Sycamore had a Mother's Day that may sound familiar to some others in the DeKalb area. “In true Mother's Day fashion, we went to McDonald's for lunch and got Happy Meals, and the boys made me breakfast in bed this morning,” Geiger said in between turns at Mardi Gras Lanes on Sunday afternoon. What did her sons, Michael, 8, and Andrew, 6, serve her? “Frosted Flakes,” she said. “And they were the best Frosted Flakes!” Geiger, accompanied by her husband, Damon, was one of the local mothers being treated to something else special on Sunday: free bowling. This was the second year that Mardi Gras Lanes offered the discount for Mother's Day, according to employee Bill Smith, who reported higher than normal attendance for the end of the week. “Mother's Day is special. Moms always get a break,” he said. For moms such as Ellen Mays of DeKalb, Sunday's rain allowed her to spend some quality time at the lanes with her son Andy, 5. “We went to the Y to swim,” Mays said, adding that her husband, Sean, was watching 22-month-old twins Ryan and Kyle at home as part of his gift to her. “He can stay home and work, and I can come out and have fun.” Andy gave his mom a flower and a heart covered by a handprint and a poem, and Sean gave her a shirt, a purse, and the day off. “I think we're going to order out so I don't have to cook,” Mays said with a laugh. Charlie Pelton and LeeAnn Kennedy of DeKalb brought a whole crew of grandparents, sisters and kids to the lanes, including 11-month-old Tristan Pelton and 9-year-old Domanic Kennedy. Another son, Sabian, 16, couldn't make it because he was under the weather, but Sunday was otherwise a very pleasant Mother's Day for LeeAnn. She received flowers and breakfast, and Domanic put towels on the floor for a makeshift red carpet as she exited her bedroom that morning. “We went to Ruby Tuesday last night, to eliminate the rush,” she said. “It's been a great day.” Cortland's Jacob Bidstrup, 17, and his mom, Kristine Nelson, of DeKalb were at the lanes as usual on Sunday with Nelson's daughter, Penelope Price, who is 9 months old. “This is kind of our pastime together,” Nelson said, adding that Penelope enjoys seeing the balls go down the lane. While Jacob bought his mother an Italian beef sandwich at Portillo's on Sunday and gave her money to get her hair done, perhaps the greatest demonstration of how he feels about his mom was on the scoreboard. Instead of Kristine's name, the scorecard read “Supermom.”