Father's Day

This year for Father's Day, the boys and I decided to take Kevin to a day camp at a hunting outfitter about an hour away from our house.

So, we got up early and drove out into the middle of nowhere.  Absolutely remote.  We already live in the middle of nowhere, and then we left that little bit of civilization and drove for an hour into the wilderness of Texas.  No GPS, no address.  Just go this many miles on this road north of this small town, and you will see a sign.

I was pretty sure we were going to get lost, but we found it!

The kids spent the morning doing a 3D archery range.  While we were doing that, Lex got stung by a bee on the arm.  Then, I got stung on the ear.  Then, we took a break for lunch.

The camp provided hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch, but the line was super long and in the hot sun.  We had brought a cooler with some snacks, so we ended up eating those.

Note to self:  chocolate cookies don't do well in the heat.

We were looking forward to doing the after lunch activities, which included shooting BB guns, 22-caliber pistols, rifles and skeet, along with more archery, tomahawk throwing and I even heard something about bombs.  There was going to be brisket for dinner, and I would have stood in line in the sun for that.

BUT it was hot.  Too hot.  And Connor was starting to show signs of heat stroke, so we had to pack it up and head home.  By the time we left, it was already 101 degrees outside.  It got up to 106 that day, and the National Weather Service asked everyone to just stay inside between the hours of 3 and 7 PM.

So, I'm glad that we left, because it was way too hot to be there.  But we were all sad that we left, because it had promised so many wonderful good things.

Maybe next time...

In any case, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to Kevin!  We love you!!

A Slice of Amarillo Life

This afternoon, the Safelite Auto Glass guy made *another* visit to our home to repair the *second* chip in my *second* new windshield since moving to Amarillo.

And it's not just me, Kevin had to take his car to Safelite yesterday to get a crack in his windshield repaired, too.

It's like they sprinkle the roads here with gravel to get good business.  There are cracked windshields everywhere you look.

Anyways, we went outside to meet the repairman, and it was a lovely afternoon, so the kids started riding their bikes and scooters, and then they found their bows and arrows in the garage, and asked if we had anything to shoot.

They wanted to shoot the fence, but I didn't think that would be a very good idea, in case their arrows would damage the wooden fence.  So, we came up with a couple of boxes that they could use as a target.

I don't know what kind of Texans we are, that we don't own a proper target.  They are on sale everywhere.  I just never bought one.  Yes, I bought the bows and arrows, but no target.  There is a shooting range just down the street from our house, so it made sense at the time.

And so, the kids had to make do with a couple of boxes (one of which was from Target, ironically) and a water bottle.  But don't let me talk it down.  They loved it.

It's time for Archery! Again!

The boys made a triumphant return to the archery range this afternoon!



First, there was a quick lesson to make sure they remembered all the archery things.  Safety first!



Then there was the shooting!  They did very well.  Many arrows hit the center of the targets.



I took a slow motion video of them shooting, and it is awesome, but the cycle of the lighting flashes noticeably when it gets slowed down, and I'm concerned that the video may trigger an epileptic seizure.  And of course, I don't really know anything about things that could trigger seizures, but I'm not entirely kidding.  Proceed at your own risk?

Archery Class

Connor and Lex took part in another level 1 archery class last night.  It was a good refresher course for them.



Lex still needs a little work on getting his arrows on the bow string correctly, but he didn't ask for my help at all last night.  And he popped several balloons on the targets.



Connor is doing really well, too.  He popped three balloons last night!

Valentine's

This year for Valentine's day, we did a few things.

I bought the boys cards and put Pokemon booster packs inside.  Both of them got an EX card in their pack, which was outstanding, and almost like I had planned it, if such a thing was even possible.  Even better, Connor got the exact card that he had wanted to order on Amazon but didn't because he had run out of money the last time we were buying things on the internets.

I bought Kevin a copy of the new Fall Out Boy CD and put that in his card.

And we went out to Red Lobster for our traditional Valentine's Day lobster fest, because there isn't a place in Amarillo where you can buy a live lobster, other than that.  I guess we are just too far away from the ocean, and there isn't much of a demand.  So we made it work.  And it was wonderful.

But the real big family Valentine gift was a membership to our local archery club.  Because Texas.

I never ever thought I would ever have a membership to an archery club, but now we do.  And so, I took the boys over to shoot a couple rounds this afternoon as a break in the middle of our homeschool today. The range is super close to our house.


So this is why we bought a membership.  Because it is so close, we can go over, spend half an hour and then go back home.  Maybe it was less of a break from homeschooling and more of the homeschool physical education for the day.

At the Archery Range

I took the kids to shoot some arrows again.



This time Lex popped a balloon that we pinned up for him with his very first shot!



They are practicing so that they can take their bows with them on a hunting trip with Daddy.  He's thinking of taking them to hunt wild boar.

Palo Duro Canyon in Winter

Do you remember when we went to visit the canyon this past spring?

We went again with my parents this past weekend, and it was somewhat different since it was winter.

Daddy and Lex hiking up a hill.

Lex and Mommy

Charmander came along, too!

The boys are still in love with the idea of hiking and climbing all over this canyon.  I foresee many a trip to the canyon when the winter weather warms up a bit.  (But before it gets too hot!)

Nana and Grandpa loved the canyon

Uncle Kevin

Connor

This guy.  When we passed him, Lex asked for his bow and arrows.  We had the boys' bows in the trunk because we had gone to the archery range that morning, but unfortunately, you aren't allowed to hunt in the park.  Well, unfortunately for Lex.  The deer was probably feeling pretty happy about that.

At the Archery Range

We took a little trip over to the archery range again this week.




This time there were some pumpkins for the boys to shoot.


Connor shot two bullseyes, and he hit the pumpkin.

I choose...archery.

Guess what is just down the street from our house?

A new archery range.



As in bring your kids and we'll give them a bow and some arrows and teach them what to do archery range.



The boys loved it.  Connor popped two balloons on the front targets, which were about 5 yards away.  They both also hit the back target area, which was about 10 yards away.

I think we will be doing this again.  I can't wait to try it out myself!  (I didn't today because I was helping the kids.  Hopefully soon they will be able to do it alone.)