Sunday, December 11, 2011

Someone's Turning SIX!


  Long ago, the Beatles, a group that most of my generation and the generation before are familiar with, took a misunderstanding and went with it.  Paul McCartney was in an auto accident.  The fans thought perhaps Paul had died and because the group was experiencing such success that they had taken a look-alike and dressed him up as the now deceased Paul.  The Beatles took this odd hypothesis and they added to it by putting "hints" on their album covers and in their songs.  To most people, the albums look like 1960s albums, but to a devout fan who was certain of a cover-up, they looked like hints of Paul's demise.   Take, for instance the left handed guitar as a grave on the Sergeant Pepper Album.  Or the lyrics of "Glass Onion!"  Or the cover of "Magical Mystery Tour!"  There are MANY instances that fans cite as being hints of the loss of Paul.  I just thought that was an interesting fact...now, I'll go on to more interesting stuff!

The main point of this post, is:   My oldest nephew Eli is turning six in a few days.  He is an awesome little boy, whom I am quite fond of, and he is ALL boy!  So, it should come as no surprise that the game my sister and brother-in-law chose for everyone to play was completely boy related.  SHOOTING!  It couldn't BE more boy!  Boys LOVE shooting shit!  That's the God's honest truth!  I was a boy!  I loved shooting things!

I shot probably 500 to 1000 birds around our house between the time that I was 8 and 15.  I don't recall the exact year I received my first BB gun, but it was a wonderful toy and I spent many hours pushing .177 caliber BBs through its barrel.  I probably put more than the company-specified number through it.  It finally died.  It may be somewhere in my stuff, but I think I finally got rid of it since it wouldn't shoot past fifteen feet by the time I was 22.  I should have kept it.  It was a Daisy.

I need to get one for Chloe.

So, we had marksmanship games.  Involving BB guns, rubber band guns, and Sling shots.  My team was the Green Team.  We had my High School friend Brian, Myself, and his wife and one of the kids.  Brian nominated me as the shooter for the BB gun round.  I did my best.  I decided quantity was more important than quality, and I was rewarded.

I was greatly disappointed when I found one of the targets for my rubber-band gun was taped down and would not fly away as expected.  I know that my teammates added to our tally immeasurably, so I can't take credit for the final tally, as you can see, Brian ALSO got a bit of time in on the BB range.  It was a great time!  I enjoyed catching up with my old High School Friend and I couldn't help but notice that he would be a great parent!

But, I digress, it's nearly Christmas!!  It even showed in my sister's bathroom! 
 The Birthday Cake was homemade and delicious!  Look at the cookie snowman!
The birthday boy's youngest brother was cute as usual...

 Grandpa even tried to help his Grandson during the shootout!
I can only assume it is difficult having so many birthdays near Christmas...I'll never know, of course.
 Ahhh, back to the shooting!
Note how my father takes aim with his i-phone!

 David, observing the fall of shot.
 Uncle Brian making his best Davy Crocket impression!  "Goodbye Santa Anna!"
 Ahh, here is the Birthday boy!!  SIX is such an IMPORTANT age!

 I couldn't NOT shoot his sister, too!  Isn't she becoming a grown up!
 Now we see the birthday Boy opening gifts!
 And what both Cora and I are foreseeing as a dastardly duo...two cousins, frightening close in age, it will likely be the case that we will all be looking for them in the future when someone sees smoke. 
 Ah! CAKE!
 The SIX year old begins to wish!  I know he will be an awesome kid!  He already is!
Did I mention that the GREEN team won?  Yeah, that would AT LEAST in part, be because of ME!!!!

Never bring a knife to a shooting match!

And never challenge me to a match of marksmanship!

2 comments:

Charissa said...

I can't believe you took a picture of my bathroom... Other than that, LOVE the pictures and captions. There were lots of comments about your rifleman stance by our friends. They were genuinely impressed. Dan seemed as intense as you and I am sure it was a blow that you won by one point! Excuse me while I go clean my son's ears.

Charissa said...

One more thing, WHAT is Al and Sal doing??? They better just be watching, it's too cold out to travel via box.